U.N. expert voices fears for seven Rohingya India looks to expel to Myanmar

Abstract: GENEVA - A United Nations legal expert has voiced concern over India’s plan to deport on Wednesday seven Rohingya to Myanmar, where the army is accused of ethnic cleansing of the Muslim minority. The men have been held in prison in Assam state on charges of illegally entering India and are due to be sent back Wednesday, the U.N. special rapporteur on racism, Tendayi Achiume, said Tuesday. “Given the ethnic identity of the men, this is a flagrant denial of their right to protection and could amount to refoulement,” the law professor said in a statement. “The Indian government has an international legal obligation to fully acknowledge the institutionalized discrimination, persecution, hate and gross human rights violations these people have faced in their country of origin and provide them the necessary protection.” Achiume said New Delhi was obliged to refer Rohingya under its custody to the U.N. refugee agency to assess their protection needs. More than 700,000 ethnic Rohingya fled an offensive by Myanmar troops launched nearly a year ago in reprisal for attacks on border posts by Rohingya rebels who took up arms against the ill-treatment of the stateless minority. The United Nations has termed the repression “ethnic cleansing” and “genocide. Myanmar’s army has denied nearly all wrongdoing, insisting its campaign was justified to root out Rohingya insurgents. The U.N. expert said she was “appalled” at the amount of time the seven men from Kyauk Daw township in central Rakhine state had been detained. “Prolonged detention of this kind is prohibited,” Achiume said. “It could be considered arbitrary, and could even fall under the category of inhuman and degrading treatment.” The scheduled deportations follow an Indian government order last year to return Rohingya, but the Supreme Court is still considering a petition challenging the order on the grounds it was unconstitutional. The U.N. expert said nearly 200 Rohingya are known to be detained in India on charges of illegal entry. “We urge the government of India to abide by the international norm of non-refoulement and protect the rights of asylum seekers and refugees including Rohingyas,” she said. While successive waves of Rohingya have fled into Bangladesh, small numbers have found their way to India and Nepal while a small community has also been established in Pakistan.

india
myanmar
u.n .
genocide
rohingya
ethnic cleansing
tendayi achiume


Airports act against rising seas and stronger storms as climate changes

Abstract: SINGAPORE - Global airport operators, faced with rising sea levels and more powerful storms as the climate changes, are starting to invest in measures including higher runways, seawalls and better drainage systems to future-proof immovable assets. In early September, a seawall at Kansai International Airport, built on a reclaimed island near Osaka, was breached during Typhoon Jebi. The runway was flooded, and it took 17 days to fully restore airport operations, at a high cost to the region’s economy as well as the dozens of airlines that canceled flights. Major airports in Hong Kong, mainland China and North Carolina were also closed due to tropical storms last month. Such incidents highlight the disaster risks to investors and insurers exposed to a sector with an estimated $262 billion of projects under construction globally, according to Fitch Solutions. “There is a kind of one-way direction with regards to the frequency and severity of climate change-related events,” said Fitch Solutions Head of Infrastructure Richard Marshall. “If people aren’t taking that seriously, that is a risk.” Fifteen of the 50 most heavily trafficked airports globally are at an elevation of less than 30 feet (9.1 meters) above sea level, making them particularly vulnerable to a changing climate, including rising sea levels and higher storm surges. “You see it at individual airports that are already seeing sea rise and are already dealing with water on their runway,” Airports Council International (ACI) Director General Angela Gittens said, citing examples in island nations including Vanuatu and the Maldives. “But even in some of these mature economies they are having more storms, they are having to do more pumping. My old airport in Miami is in that scenario.” A draft copy of an ACI policy paper reviewed by Reuters and due to be released this week warns of the rising risks to facilities from climate change. It encourages member airports to conduct risk assessments, develop mitigation measures and take climate change into account in future master plans. The paper cites examples of forward-thinking airports that have taken climate change into account in planning, such as the $12 billion Istanbul Grand Airport on the Black Sea, set to become one of the world’s largest airports when it opens next month. Investor interest Debt investors in particular have high exposure to airports, most of which are owned by governments or pension funds. Ratings agency Moody’s alone has $174 billion of airport bonds under coverage. Earl Heffintrayer, the lead analyst covering U.S. airports at Moody’s, said the risk of climate change became apparent to investors after Superstorm Sandy closed major New York airports for days in 2012. Sandy led to the cancellation of nearly 17,000 flights, costing airlines $500 million in revenue and disrupting operations around the world, according to a 2017 presentation by Eurocontrol on climate change risk. Investors are increasingly asking about mitigation plans at low-lying airports like San Francisco and Boston as they look to invest in bonds with terms of up to 30 years, Heffintrayer said. San Francisco International Airport, built on reclaimed land that is slowly sinking, has completed a feasibility study on a $383 million project to make the airport more resilient to rising sea level along its 8 miles (12.9 km) of bay-front shoreline by 2025. “We are seeing a lot more thought going into protection against flood damage, catastrophe, making sure that the storm drains around the airport are fit for purpose,” said Gary Moran, head of Asia aviation at insurance broker Aon. “There definitely is a lot more thought going into potential further worsening in weather conditions further down the line.” Taking action Singapore’s Changi Airport, which has analyzed scenarios out to 2100, has resurfaced its runways to provide for better drainage and is building a new terminal at a higher 18 feet (5.5 meters) above sea level to protect against rising seas. Moran said such steps are prudent and will provide comfort to insurers. “If you were to look at Singapore, if something was to happen at Changi in terms of weather-related risk, Singapore would have a problem,” he said. “There isn’t really too much of an alternative.” Singapore expects sea levels to rise by 2.5 feet (76 cm) by 2100. Changi Airport declined to comment on the cost of the extra protection. ACI, Fitch, Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s were unable to provide Reuters with an estimate of the global cost of climate change protection at airports. The protective action is often folded into larger refurbishment and expansion projects. In Australia, Brisbane Airport is located on reclaimed coastal land just 4 meters (13 feet) above sea level. It is constructing a new runway 1 meter higher than it otherwise would have done, with a higher seawall and better drainage systems as sea levels rise. Paul Coughlan, the director of Brisbane Airport’s new runway project, said the incremental cost of such moves is relatively low — for example the seawall cost around 5 million Australian dollars ($3.6 million) more than without taking into account sea level rises — and the potential benefits are big. “At the end of the day, whether you are a believer in climate change or a disbeliever, doing a design that accounts for elevated sea levels, more intense rainfall, flooding considerations, that is just prudent,” Coughlan said. “If you build it into your design philosophy from day one, you don’t pay that much of a premium and you have bought a lot of safeguards.”

climate
hurricanes
airports
typhoons
kansai international airport


Chinese star Fan Bingbing fined $129 million over tax evasion

Abstract: BEIJING - China has ordered A-list movie star Fan Bingbing to pay about 884 million yuan ($129 million) in overdue taxes and fines, the Xinhua News Agency said on Wednesday, as a crackdown on tax evasion in the entertainment industry gathers momentum. The 37-year-old actor, whose June disappearance touched off wild speculation about her whereabouts, has appeared in the “X-Men” and “Iron Man” film franchises, attracting more than 62 million online followers in China. Xinhua said an investigation by Chinese tax authorities found Fan had split her contract to evade taxes of 7.3 million yuan ($1.1 million) over payments for her role in “Air Strike,” a film due to be released this year. Fan and companies she represented also evaded 248 million yuan ($36 million) in additional taxes, Xinhua said, but it gave no details regarding this figure. The tax bureau in the eastern coastal province of Jiangsu delivered its judgment to Fan on Sunday, levying fines of more than 596 million yuan ($86.7 million) for tax evasion and assessing overdue taxes of more than 288 million yuan ($42 million), Xinhua said. In a letter posted on her official account on the Twitter-like platform Weibo, Fan said she fully accepted the authorities’ decision, would overcome “all difficulties” to pay the penalties, and step up supervision of her companies. “I’m ashamed of my behavior and I apologize here to everyone,” Fan wrote. “Every bit of my achievement is inseparable from the support of the state and the people. Without the good policies of the Communist Party and the state, without the love of the people, there is no Fan Bingbing.” Xinhua said that under Chinese law Fan, as a first-time offender, would face no criminal charges if she complied with the judgment and paid all the money by an undisclosed deadline. Fan or a representative could not immediately be reached for comment. Xinhua said police had put a “restriction” on Fan’s agent for attempting to conceal and destroy evidence during the investigations in June. Fan dropped off the radar that month, amid reports that she was involved in the investigation, a vanishing act that prompted reports she had been detained. On Wednesday, the South China Morning Post said Fan was released two weeks ago from “residential surveillance” at a “holiday resort” in Jiangsu used to investigate officials. She was transferred to Beijing for further investigation, the Post said, citing unnamed sources. Since June, China has been investigating tax evasion in its film and television industry, following reports that some of its most famous actors have been accused of signing so-called “yin-yang” contracts, one of which sets out the real terms, while a second, with a lower figure, is meant for tax officials. The State Administration of Taxation (SAT) said companies and individuals in the industry who voluntarily “rectify their behavior” and pay back taxes evaded prior to December 31 will be exempt from administrative punishment and fines, Xinhua said.

china
film
celebrities
taxes
corruption
fan bingbing


Japan space probe Hayabusa2 launches new robot onto Ryugu asteroid

Abstract: A Japanese probe launched a new observation robot toward an asteroid on Wednesday as it pursues a mission to shed light on the origins of the solar system. The Hayabusa2 probe launched the French-German Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout, or MASCOT, toward the Ryugu asteroid’s surface, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said. “We can confirm that the MASCOT separated from the spacecraft as planned,” the agency said in a tweet on its official account. “I’m doing it! I’m descending to Ryugu! Can’t stop me now!” the lander’s official Twitter account @MASCOT2018 added. JAXA tweeted shortly after the landing began that it was in communication with MASCOT. But it was not clear when the agency would be able to confirm that the robot had landed safely on the asteroid, where it is expected to collect a wide range of data. “It is hugely significant to take data from the surface of an asteroid; we have high expectations for the scientific data,” Hayabusa2 mission manager Makoto Yoshikawa said at a briefing before the landing. The 10-kilogram (22-pound) box-shaped MASCOT is loaded with sensors. It can take images at multiple wavelengths, investigate minerals with a microscope, gauge surface temperatures and measure magnetic fields. MASCOT’s launch comes 10 days after the Hayabusa2 dropped a pair of Minerva-II micro-rovers on the Ryugu asteroid. That was the first time a moving, robotic observation device has successfully landed on an asteroid. The rovers will take advantage of Ryugu’s low gravity to jump around on the surface — traveling as far as 15 meters (49 feet) while airborne, and staying in the air for as long as 15 minutes — to survey the asteroid’s physical features with cameras and sensors. Unlike those machines, MASCOT will be largely immobile — it will “jump” just once on its mission, and it can turn on its sides. And while the rovers will spend several months on the asteroid, the MASCOT has a maximum battery life of just 16 hours. It is planned to transmit the data it collects to Hayabusa2 before running out of juice. Hayabusa2 is scheduled later this month to deploy an “impactor” that will explode above the asteroid, shooting a 2-kg copper object into it to blast a small crater on the surface. The probe will then hover over the artificial crater and collect samples using an extended arm. The samples of “fresh” materials, unexposed to millennia of wind and radiation, could help answer some fundamental questions about life and the universe, including whether elements from space helped give rise to life on Earth. Part of MASCOT’s mission is to collect data that will help determine where the crater should be created. Hayabusa2, about the size of a large fridge and equipped with solar panels, is the successor to JAXA’s first asteroid explorer, Hayabusa — which is Japanese for falcon. That probe returned from a smaller, potato-shaped, asteroid in 2010 with dust samples despite various setbacks during an epic seven-year odyssey, and was hailed as a scientific triumph. The Hayabusa2 mission, which costs around ¥30 billion ($260 million), was launched in December 2014 and will return to Earth with its samples in 2020.

jaxa asteroid hayabusa mascot minerva ryugu


Abe's latest Cabinet reshuffle casts doubt on 'womenomics' policy

Abstract: So much for “womenomics”? Tuesday’s reshuffle of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet reduced the number of female ministers to just one — the lowest number since the prime minister retook office in December 2012. Not that there were many women in his previous Cabinet, which had just two. But in a nation where female participation in politics remains doggedly low, the number of portfolios held by women is always a topic subject to heavy scrutiny — especially because Abe himself has declared boosting the profile of professional women to be one of his top policy priorities. In the latest overhaul, Abe has tapped Satsuki Katayama, a two-term Upper House lawmaker for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, as minister in charge of regional revitalization and female empowerment. When asked about the dearth of female Cabinet members, Abe told a news conference on Tuesday that he admits “the percentage of women in my Cabinet is internationally low.” “But then again, the society where women are truly engaged has just started off here in Japan, so I’m sure we will see more female talent grow and enter the Cabinet going forward,” Abe said, adding he believes the industrious Katayama can do the work of “two or three.” Ever since his return to power, Abe has recruited at least two women for his Cabinet upon each reshuffle. His effort to do so culminated in September 2014 with the naming of five women, including former Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yuko Obuchi, under the much-hyped slogan of “realizing a society where women can shine.” Official records show that the last time the Cabinet had only one woman was October 2012, when ex-Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, head of what was then called the Democratic Party of Japan, overhauled his team for a third time. Yuki Senda, a sociology professor at Musashi University in Tokyo, said Tuesday’s reshuffle revealed the apparent superficiality of Abe’s commitment to put more women in leadership roles. “Numbers don’t mean everything, but one woman in the Cabinet is just too few,” Senda said. Observers say faction-to-faction competition seemed to heavily color Abe’s personnel decision this time around, with the leader assigning portfolios almost equally to those from four LDP factions that most loyally backed his successful candidacy in last month’s leadership election.Their support helped him earn up to three more years as the prime minister. “It looks to me that Abe had only conveniently used women to advertise his policy. When the situation got tougher like this time, with him having to pay extensive attention to the severe, male-to-male power struggle, it seems his commitment to the concept of gender equality slipped away easily,” the professor said. She also said Abe’s suggestion that Katayama alone is worth three recruits “verges on being a gaffe,” as it evokes the history of women being discriminated against under the logic they have to work “twice or three times harder than men to be recognized as their equals.” One of the outgoing female ministers, Seiko Noda, bemoaned Tuesday what she called the Abe government’s apparently dwindling interest in female empowerment. “I find it very worrying that the number of female ministers has decreased from three down to one in the last three reshuffles,” Noda, who held the post as internal affairs minister, told reporters. Noda herself knows all about the glass ceiling in Japan’s political area, having twice failed to amass enough intraparty support to even run in the LDP’s leadership election. In her pre-campaign speech at a Tokyo hotel in August, Noda recalled what she was told by her senior, male lawmaker upon her first election as a Diet member in 1993. “He warned me the world of Japanese politics is full of men — men who are so prejudiced that they wouldn’t treat us fairly, because they think women are fundamentally emotional creatures and prone to hysterics,” she recalled. Times have changed since then, and the situation isn’t perhaps as pessimistic as before. But Japan still lags other countries in its effort to facilitate female participation in politics. According to the latest data published by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, a Geneva-based organization fostering cooperation between national parliaments around the world, Japan ranked 161st out of 193 countries as of September 1 this year for its percentage of seats held by women in unicameral parliaments or the lower house in countries with multiple chambers. The data, reflecting the result of last October’s general election, showed women in the Lower House accounted for a mere 10.1 percent, compared with 39.6 percent in France, 30.7 percent in Germany, 19.6 percent in the U.S. and 17 percent in South Korea. In an encouraging sign of progress, the Diet enacted a bill in June urging each political party to make efforts to “equalize as much as possible” the number of male and female candidates it fields for national and local elections. The bill, however, has no legally binding power, and a failure to achieve this goal would entail no penalty.

shinzo abe
gender equality
cabinet reshuffle
womenomics


Tokyo stocks fall further on profit-taking

Abstract: Stocks lost further ground on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Thursday, weighed down by selling to lock in profits following the recent surge. The Nikkei 225 shed 135.34 points, or 0.56 percent, to end at 23,975.62, slipping below the 24,000 line for the first time in a week. On Wednesday, it sagged 159.66 points. The Topix closed down 1.54 points, or 0.09 percent, at 1,801.19, after falling 21.30 points the previous day. The Nikkei sank into negative territory in midmorning trading, after gaining over 130 points as soon as the market opened following Wall Street’s advance Wednesday. The key market yardstick remained in negative territory throughout the afternoon session. The broader Topix moved on the sunny side for most of Thursday’s session thanks to strong performances of financial issues, according to the sources. Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management Co., said that the market experienced “a speed correction.” The market was hit by futures-led selling following the recent rapid advance backed by futures-linked purchases, Ichikawa noted. “There is still a sense of overheating” in the market after Wednesday’s retreat, an official at a bank-affiliated securities firm pointed out. Ichikawa said the market’s downside “was supported by the yen’s drop” versus the dollar. Despite the falls of the key indexes, rising issues outnumbered falling ones 1,236 to 800 in the TSE’s first section, while 74 issues were unchanged. Volume increased to 1.590 billion shares from Wednesday’s 1.463 billion shares. Drug-maker Shionogi met with selling to cash in after recent gains. Restaurant chain operator Toridoll Holdings Corp. was downbeat, after announcing Wednesday that its sales in September went down 7.4 percent from a year before on a same-store basis. Clothing-retailer Fast Retailing Co. and cosmetics-maker Shiseido Co. were among other major losers. By contrast, financial names — including mega-bank groups Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. and Mizuho Financial Group Inc., and insurers Dai-ichi Life Holdings Inc. and Tokio Marine Holdings Inc. — were upbeat after a rise in long-term interest rates. Also on the plus side were automaker Toyota Motor Corp. and mobile phone-carrier SoftBank Group. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key December contract on the Nikkei average dropped 220 points to 23,920.


City of Houston blocks plans to open 'robot brothels'

Abstract: CHICAGO - The city of Houston on Wednesday blocked a Canadian businessman’s plans to open what local media dubbed a robot brothel, after an outcry from residents. The KinkySdollS shop in Toronto was set to expand to the Texas city with dolls that the company says have interactive artificial intelligence and robotic technologies. Customers would have been able to “rent before you buy” to try out the dolls before spending thousands of dollars to purchase one, but the plan caused a backlash from religious leaders, residents and politicians in Houston. “This is not the sort of business that I’d like to see in the city of Houston,” Mayor Sylvester Turner told reporters after the city council voted to effectively ban any “robot brothels,” as local media have dubbed the business. Updating a 20-year-old law, the city’s leaders expanded the definition of what can be regulated as a sexually oriented “arcade.” The original law’s “focus was on human use, but now, so much is technology-driven,” Turner said. The change of law effectively bars customers from using sex dolls or robots inside any Houston business. “You can sell but you cannot use. You cannot engage in sexual activity with any inanimate object at the business,” Turner said. KinkySdollS has been operating in Toronto for about a year. “We are not a brothel,” the owner of the shop told the Toronto Sun in September. The newspaper said the man had asked to remain anonymous. “We are a shop, and we are here to sell dolls to move inventory,” he said.


U.S. warns of new hacking spree from group linked to Beijing after lull

Abstract: WASHINGTON - The U.S. government on Wednesday warned that a hacking group widely known as cloudhopper, which Western cybersecurity firms have linked to the Chinese government, has launched attacks on technology service providers in a campaign to steal data from their clients. The Department of Homeland Security issued a technical alert for cloudhopper, which it said was engaged in cyberespionage and theft of intellectual property, after experts with two prominent U.S. cybersecurity companies warned earlier this week that Chinese hacking activity has surged amid the escalating trade war between Washington and Beijing. Chinese authorities have repeatedly denied claims by Western cybersecurity firms that it supports hacking. Homeland Security released the information to support U.S. companies in responding to attacks by the group, which is targeting information technology, energy, health care, communications and manufacturing firms. “These cyber threat actors are still active and we strongly encourage our partners in government and industry to work together to defend against this threat,” DHS official Christopher Krebs said in a statement. The reported increase in Chinese hacking follows what cybersecurity firms have described as a lull in such attacks prompted by a 2015 agreement between Chinese President Xi Jinping and former U.S. President Barrack Obama to curb cyber-enabled economic theft. “I can tell you now unfortunately the Chinese are back,” Dmitri Alperovitch, chief technology officer of U.S. cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, said Tuesday at a security conference in Washington, D.C. “We’ve seen a huge pickup in activity over the past year and a half. Nowadays they are the most predominant threat actors we see threatening institutions all over this country and Western Europe,” he said. Analysts with FireEye, another U.S. cybersecurity firm, said that some of the Chinese hacking groups it tracks have become more active in recent months. Wednesday’s alert provided advice on how U.S. firms can prevent, identify and remediate attacks by cloudhopper, which is also known as Red Leaves and APT10. The hacking group has largely targeted firms known as managed service providers, which supply telecommunications, technology and other services to business around the globe. Managed service providers, or MSPs, are attractive targets because their networks provide routes for hackers to access sensitive systems of their many clients, said Ben Read, a senior intelligence manager with FireEye. “We’ve seen this group route malware through an MSP network to other targets,” Read said.

china
u.s .
hacking
cyberattack
homeland security
cloudhopper


Released from reformatory, Japanese 'idol' launches support group for neglected children

Abstract: Parental neglect, bullying and juvenile delinquency — these are the things the 20-year-old idol who goes by the name Kanano Senritsu says she has gone through. But she seems to be transforming the pain of her past into strength, having launched a group to support children who are struggling the same way she did. “I want to save children who do not have anywhere to go,” said Senritsu, whose disclosure that she went to a juvenile reformatory is a rarity for a person in the entertainment business. She is a chika “ idol” whose main activity is performing live concerts, despite not belonging to a major agency, and she has over 30,000 followers on Twitter. Senritsu was born in Osaka Prefecture, but she moved to Tokyo after her parents divorced. When she was a second-grader in elementary school, her mother did not return home for a week. “I used all the money that was prepared, and in the end there was nothing to eat,” she recalled. Being a young girl, she grew worried that her mother might have actually died. She and her younger sister waited in hunger, drinking tap water. Her mother eventually returned and Senritsu found that she had just gone for a trip abroad with a man she was seeing. Her mother had brought back a souvenir to the children, but Senritsu said she “couldn’t even vent anger” against her mother. Due to neglect, Senritsu did not take baths and her hair was untidy. Her classmates called her “dirty,” and the bullying, which sometimes escalated into violence, continued through the third year of junior high school. She shoplifted and even went so far as to join the “JK” business, which offers dating services by joshi kōsei , or female high school students, to adult men. “I was obsessed with money because I had been hungry. I wanted to earn money and live independently,” she said. Senritsu was temporarily placed in a child consultation center for her protection and then sent to a family court before entering a girl’s training school for juvenile delinquents in the city of Komae in western Tokyo in January 2014, meaning she had quit high school. She initially took a defiant attitude toward the instructors at the facility, but eventually she engaged in self-reflection, as she was not allowed to use a smartphone and reading books was one of the few recreational activities allowed there. “When I did some soul-searching after reading a book, I was able to think ‘So that’s why I felt such and such’ and come to terms with those feelings.” She passed a high school equivalence test and was released from the reformatory in the summer of 2016. She then started her activities as a chika idol, drawing attention by winning one of the prizes in the Miss iD 2018 audition, an event hosted last November by major publisher Kodansha Ltd. that looks for unique girls to develop into idols. As her Twitter account followers have grown, Senritsu believes she can now have her voice heard and so set up the support group, named Bae, in the hope that its existence will assist children who need help. “This was what I wanted to do most,” she said. She decided to disclose her past because she thought it would build trust. The group is in its early stages, but Senritsu has a lot of plans, such as creating a canteen for children living in poverty or starting a delivery service for such households. She is also considering starting a mental support service provided by juveniles released from training schools to children who have suffered abuse. Senritsu said she aims to create a safety net so society will not miss signs from children that they need help. She also passed a university law exam this spring and is now busy responding to requests asking her to speak about her experiences to others. “Things can change if you take action,” she said.

bullying
idol
neglect
juvenile training school


False quake alarm gives Tokyoites a midnight scare

Abstract: Brace yourself, a strong quake is coming. This dramatic emergency message sent to smartphones and loudspeakers caused a brief panic after midnight Wednesday in Tokyo and neighboring prefectures, with many taking to social media to express their confusion over whether or not to get ready for the worst. The Meteorological Agency warned of a strong quake off the east coast of Chiba Prefecture at 12:15, warning of possible severe jolts in the capital and Ibaraki, Kanagawa, Saitama and Tochigi prefectures. The agency warned that a 6.7 magnitude quake could reach lower 5 on the Japanese intensity scale in Ibaraki, but even though a quake did occur, it was relatively weak and unnoticeable in some areas. “The advance warning system predicting quakes miscalculated the location of the epicenter and predicted a quake of a larger magnitude with more intense shaking,” an official with the agency said in explaining the cause of the erroneous alert. The agency eventually announced that a quake occurred east of Chiba at a depth of about 30 km and with a magnitude of 4.6. In some areas in southern Ibaraki and northeastern Chiba Prefecture, the jolts were recorded at level 4 or lower on the intensity scale. The tremor didn’t trigger tsunami, the agency said. According to the agency’s website, it sends out emergency warnings to areas expected to experience an intensity of 4 or stronger when a quake of lower 5 or greater is estimated to occur. The alert may have triggered deja vu in many residents. In January, the agency issued a false alert to residents of the Kanto region and parts of Fukushima Prefecture, warning of a strong quake that never came. In August 2016 the agency issued an erroneous alert for a level 7 quake, highest on the seismic intensity scale. “Well, such (errors) are quite rare but they do happen,” the agency official admitted. After the alert, Twitter blew up with reactions. “You woke us all for this? It’s not even shaking,” wrote Twitter user @B_SatyaKishore. Another user with the handle @Ayumi511010 suggested the outcome should be seen positively. “We shouldn’t complain that despite last night’s quake alert ‘nothing serious happened,’ but should be happy the quake wasn’t serious. False alarms are welcome. We can see it as a drill that will prepare us for a day when a big one strikes,” the user wrote. False quake alarm?


Record 37,113 children suspected to have suffered abuse in Japan in first half of 2018

Abstract: The police have referred a record-high 37,113 suspected victims of child abuse to child welfare authorities in the first half of this year, a report released Thursday showed. The preliminary figure marks an increase of 6,851 children age 17 or younger compared to the same period last year, according to the National Police Agency. The agency believes the figures do not necessarily indicate there is a general increase in abuse, but rather that people are reporting more suspected cases to authorities amid heightened public awareness. Police say the increased reporting has allowed early intervention in potentially dangerous situations. “I understand that abuse leaves a serious impact on a child’s mind and body,” Junzo Yamamoto, the new head of the National Public Safety Commission, told a news conference, adding he intends to instruct police to promote measures to help abused children across the country. The issue re-entered the spotlight in March after the death of 5-year-old Yua Funato in Tokyo. Police suspect she was beaten and neglected by her parents. The case sent shock waves throughout society when it was reported that Funato had recorded messages pleading for forgiveness in a notebook, all while her parents allegedly underfed her in order to keep the young girl “slim like a model.” The girl was also allegedly woken up at 4 a.m. every day to practice writing and to carry out other tasks. Following her death, the government compiled emergency measures to tackle child abuse, including a plan to employ an additional 2,000 child welfare staff nationwide by fiscal 2022, up from the 3,253 employed as of April last year. The latest report showed police also removed 2,127 children from their homes in the six months through June, deeming that their lives had been threatened, while forwarding 14,869 abuse reports to government child consultation centers that they could not immediately confirm, according to the report. Of the 37,113 minors affected, roughly 70 percent, or 26,415, were suspected of having been subject to psychological abuse, including 16,869 who had witnessed domestic violence. A total of 6,792 victims were suspected to have suffered physical abuse, 3,795 were believed to have been neglected, and 111 were thought to have been raped or forced into some other form of violent sexual activity, the report showed. The number of child pornography cases handled by police rose to a record 1,423 in the first half of the year, up 281. The number of cases involving possession of illegal materials increased, while cases where people were suspected of making explicit content involving children decreased.

crime
survey
sex crimes
minors
child abuse
npa


U.S. seeks deeper farm tariff cuts than in Japan-EU pact: Sonny Perdue

Abstract: WASHINGTON - The United States will push Japan to reduce tariffs on agricultural products beyond levels agreed to under a free trade agreement between Japan and the European Union, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue indicated Thursday. “We think frankly that we are a better ally of Japan than the European Union is and we would expect to have an equal or better deal than Japan gave the European Union regarding agriculture,” Perdue told journalists. The remark came after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed last week to start negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement on goods based on the understanding that Washington will not demand deeper farm tariff cuts than levels in Japan’s trade pacts such as the Japan-EU FTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an 11-member regional FTA. “We’ve been a great protectionist of Japan and their country for many years and this is what President Trump is saying,” Perdue said. According to a joint statement issued after an Abe-Trump meeting on Sept. 26 in New York, the two governments agreed that in conducting trade negotiations, they will “respect” positions of the other party. “For Japan, with regard to agricultural, forestry and fishery products, outcomes related to market access as reflected in Japan’s previous economic partnership agreements constitute the maximum level,” the statement said. The Japanese government responded on Friday by saying it will act based on the agreement reached between Abe and Trump. “I refrain from making any comment on remarks from every single U.S. official,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference in Tokyo. Levels of trade liberalization under the Japan-EU FTA are similar to those under the TPP, from which Trump withdrew the United States last year. Japan has made larger concessions on wine, spaghetti and soft cheese with Europe in comparison to the TPP, whose members include Australia, Canada, Chile, Mexico and Singapore. Under the Japan-EU pact, Japan will eliminate tariffs on 94 percent of all imports from the European Union, including 82 percent of agriculture and fishery products. Japan and the European Union — which signed the pact in July — aim to put the FTA into force by late March next year, when the U.K. is scheduled to leave the 28-member bloc. Sources also said Thursday that Washington and Tokyo are arranging an economic dialogue in mid-November in Japan involving Vice President Mike Pence and Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso. The topic of the Pence-Aso meeting could turn to negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement, which Toshimitsu Motegi, the economic and fiscal policy minister, and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer last month agreed to begin.

u.s .
tpp
trade
fta
japan
donald trump
sonny perdue
japan-eu fta


Nikkei loses further ground, ending at 23,783

Abstract: Stocks lost further ground Friday, weighed down by continued selling to cash in gains following a recent rapid advance. The 225-issue Nikkei average lost 191.90 points, or 0.8 percent, to end at 23,783.72 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. On Thursday, it shed 135.34 points. The Topix index of all first-section issues closed down 8.54 points, or 0.47 percent, at 1,792.65, after retreating 1.54 points the previous day. Both market gauges fell for the third straight session. The Tokyo market came under selling pressure following Wall Street’s downturn on Thursday. “A speed correction continued” for stock prices following the recent surge, Chihiro Ota, general manager for investment research and investor services at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc., said, noting the losses were “mild” thanks to a wave of buying on dips. An official of a midsize securities firm said, “Selling to square positions emerged ahead of a three-day weekend.” The Tokyo market will be closed on Monday for a national holiday. A wait-and-see mood prevailed prior to the announcement of U.S. jobs data for September later on Friday, Akira Tanoue, senior investment strategist at Nomura Securities Co., said. Tanoue said he believes the market’s downside was supported by purchases of exchange-traded funds by the Bank of Japan. Falling issues far outnumbered rising ones 1,506 to 536 in the TSE’s first section, while 68 issues were unchanged. Volume fell to 1.489 billion shares from Thursday’s 1.590 billion shares. High-tech issues, including semiconductor-related Tokyo Electron and Sumco as well as electronic parts supplier Murata Manufacturing, met with selling after their U.S. peers lost ground on Thursday. Oil companies JXTG, Inpex, Showa Shell and Idemitsu were also downbeat, reflecting lower crude oil prices. Other major losers included clothing retailer Fast Retailing and cosmetics maker Shiseido. By contrast, retailer FamilyMart Uny Holdings attracted purchases after revising up on Thursday its consolidated earnings projections for the half year that ended in August. Also on the plus side were drugmaker Shionogi and advertising agency Dentsu. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key December contract on the Nikkei average dropped 100 points to 23,820.


India deports seven Rohingya men to Myanmar despite U.N. protest

Abstract: NEW DELHI - India on Thursday deported seven Rohingya men to Myanmar despite U.N. warnings that they faced persecution in a country where the army is accused of genocide against the Muslim minority. The men, who had been in detention for immigration offenses since 2012, were handed over to Myanmar authorities at a border crossing in India’s northeast state of Manipur. “Seven Myanmarese nationals have been deported today. They were handed over to the authorities of Myanmar at Moreh border post,” said senior Assam police officer Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta. Photos showed the seven men seated in a bus bound for the border in the remote hilly state bordering Myanmar’s far northwest. The U.N. had voiced concern that returning the men ignored the danger they faced in Myanmar, where for decades the Rohingya have been targeted in violent pogroms by security forces. A U.N. special rapporteur had warned India risked breaking international laws on refoulement — the return of refugees or asylum seekers to a country where they could be harmed. Legal efforts to stymie their deportation failed when India’s Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a petition on their behalf and upheld their status as illegal immigrants. “Even the country of their origin has accepted them as its citizens,” a three-judge bench said. The Rohingya are despised by many in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, which refuses to recognize them as citizens and falsely labels them “Bengali” illegal immigrants. They were concentrated in Rakhine state, the epicenter of a Myanmar army offensive that over the past year has driven 700,000 Rohingya Muslims into Bangladesh. Myanmar’s army has denied nearly all wrongdoing, insisting its campaign was justified to root out Rohingya insurgents. But a U.N. fact-finding mission said there was enough evidence to merit prosecution of several top Myanmar military commanders for crimes against humanity and genocide against Rohingya civilians. India’s decision “to deport seven Rohingya refugees back to Myanmar is cruel and could put lives at risk of persecution including torture and potential death,” said John Quinley III, a human rights specialist with Fortify Rights, a non-profit organization. New Delhi considers the Rohingya a security threat, pointing to intelligence which it says links the minority group to extremist organizations. The government had ordered last year that all Rohingya inside India — New Delhi puts the figure at 40,000 — be deported. The Supreme Court is considering a petition challenging the order as unconstitutional. The U.N. says there are 16,000 registered Rohingya in India.

india
myanmar
u.n .
rohingya
rakhine
ethnic cleansing


With Kavanaugh probe firing up Republican base, Trump likely a winner whether judge confirmed or not

Abstract: WASHINGTON - The ugly partisan brawl over U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation remains undecided, but President Donald Trump appears likely to come out on top regardless of the outcome. If Kavanaugh is confirmed by the Senate in a vote planned for Saturday, Trump will have succeeded in placing his second justice on the top U.S. court and fulfilled his pledge to solidify its conservative majority. But even if Kavanaugh is rejected, the battle to save his nomination in the face of sexual misconduct allegations has jolted a slumbering Republican base to life just ahead of the Nov. 6 elections, political strategists and new polls suggest. “This has done more to wake up complacent Republican voters than anything I have seen,” said Robert Cahaly, a pollster and senior strategist at The Trafalgar Group, a Republican-leaning consulting and polling firm. Trump’s pugnacious style is well suited to the messy drama, and his decision to stick by Kavanaugh, mock the woman who accused the nominee of sexual assault and use the controversy to fire up supporters could help Republicans in key Senate races in conservative states — even if it turns off independents and women voters in suburban House of Representatives districts that were already trending away from Republicans. Several recent polls show that Republican enthusiasm about voting, which had lagged behind Democrats, jumped after the dramatic Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week in which Christine Blasey Ford accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault in 1982, and the Supreme Court nominee angrily denied her accusation and sexual misconduct allegations by two other women. The shift has bolstered Republican hopes of saving their Senate majority in the upcoming elections. Democrats must gain two Senate seats and 23 House seats to claim majorities in each chamber, enabling them to block Trump’s agenda and investigate his administration. Fueled by resistance to Trump, polls have found Democrats were far more enthusiastic about voting than Republicans for most of the year. But a new poll from NPR, “PBS Newshour” and Marist showed the Democratic advantage in voter enthusiasm slipping to only 2 points this week, down from 10 points in July. That newfound enthusiasm, which Republicans strategists say they are seeing around the country, could bolster Republicans in close Senate battles in Florida, North Dakota, Missouri, Montana, Indiana, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia — all states carried by Trump in 2016. “There is no question the Kavanaugh fight has provided a burst of energy to Republican voters at a critical time,” said Brian Walsh, a Republican strategist and former staffer for the party’s Senate campaign committee. Democrats contend that the Kavanaugh nomination and sexual misconduct allegations have motivated women and independents in contentious House races, many of which are in suburban and swing districts where Trump already was less popular. “I think women are going to turn out in very big numbers to express their opinion,” Representative Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 Democrat in the House, told reporters on Wednesday. “While I believe there is some energy on the other side as well, I don’t think it matches the energy that was created on our side that was already at high level,” he said. Trump has stoked outrage over the Kavanaugh hearing on the campaign trail, enthusiastically using it as Exhibit A in why Republicans need to retain control of Congress. At stops over the past week in West Virginia, Tennessee and Mississippi, Trump painted Democrats as villains who had to be stopped for trying to sink Kavanaugh’s nomination. “Democrats are willing to do anything and to hurt anyone to get their way, like they’re doing with Judge Kavanaugh,” he told cheering supporters in Johnson City, Tennessee, where Republican Marsha Blackburn and Democrat Phil Bredesen are embroiled in a toss-up race. A source familiar with Trump’s campaign strategy said that whatever drawbacks Republican candidates might face from standing with Trump were far outweighed by the benefits of energizing Trump voters. “Democrats can’t get more motivated,” the source said. “Who can be more motivated is Republican voters.” Republican Senate candidates in Missouri and Montana have made the Supreme Court fight part of their campaign message and released television ads referencing it. Incumbent Democrats Claire McCaskill in Missouri and Jon Tester in Montana have both said they will vote against Kavanaugh. “I will fight for the Supreme Court. It’s the last line of defense for our values,” Republican Senate candidate Josh Hawley of Missouri says in his ad. Given the tumultuous political atmosphere and short shelf life of controversies in Washington, it is possible, however, the fallout from the Kavanaugh fight could fade before the election. “The question is whether this will really last for another 30 days.” Walsh said. “There are still going to be about 100 news cycles between now and the election.”

congress
women
sex crimes
supreme court
donald trump
brett kavanaugh
2018 u.s. midterm elections


Macron tells French to stop moaning and instead emulate Charles de Gaulle

Abstract: HAUTE-MARNE, FRANCE - France’s President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday urged his compatriots to moan less, saying the country would be better off if they emulated wartime leader Charles de Gaulle. Macron — on a visit to the northeastern village of Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises, known as the home and burial place of the former president — made his comments after speaking to a pensioner who complained he only had a small pension. “The grandson of the general (Charles de Gaulle) told me a little while ago” that his grandfather’s rule was: “You can speak freely, the only thing we should not do is to complain.” “I think that the general had the right idea. The country would be different if everyone did the same,” Macron said. “We don’t realize how lucky we are. We are seeing more and more elderly people in our country in good health,” he added. Reacting on Twitter, the leader of France’s far-right National Rally — formerly the National Front — Marine Le Pen, wrote: “Those who complain don’t do it just for the fun of it but because they are the victims of nonstop tax rises and endemic insecurity.” Marcon’s comments came a week after the government unveiled billions of euros in tax relief for businesses and households, alongside more budget cuts. Pensions and welfare benefits will be shaved further in the 2019 budget — Macron complained in June that France spends “a crazy amount of dough” on social programs. In August, he also came under attack from the opposition after he described the French as “Gauls who are resistant to change” during a trip to Denmark. Macron made the comments in an exchange with French expatriates in the Scandinavian country, which he admires for its economic model that mixes a strong social security system with rules allowing companies to easily fire workers.

france
taxes
pensions
emmanuel macron
charles de gaulle


Number of foreign visitors to recovering Kansai International Airport returning to last year's levels

Abstract: OSAKA - The number of foreign visitors to Kansai International Airport are now returning to levels seen last year, one month after a powerful typhoon caused the major hub to shut down. The number of flights to and from the airport in Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture, has also recovered to pre-disaster levels. Typhoon Jebi caused heavy rain and a storm surge, flooding the airport’s runways on Sept. 4. The airport was closed until it reopened partially on Sept. 7. But the recovery is not yet strong enough to reassure those involved with airport operations. “The numbers suggest recovery, but we actually expected growth to 110 percent” of levels the year before, Yoshiyuki Yamaya, president of the airport operator, told a news conference Wednesday. “We must achieve a stronger recovery,” he said. Since Sept. 21, when the airport fully resumed its operations, the hub has seen over 80 percent of the number of foreign visitors who used the facility in the previous year, according to the Osaka Regional Immigration Bureau’s Kansai airport branch. Visitor numbers slumped to 20 percent of last year’s numbers Sunday, when the airport closed to prepare for the approach of another typhoon. But the number bounced back to almost the previous year’s level the next day. “It’s great to see such a quick recovery,” a bureau branch official said. “But the figures are small, given that the number of foreign visitors has risen by over 1 million annually in recent years.” The Osaka Convention & Tourism Bureau and others are publicizing the quick recovery of the airport through social media to attract more visitors to the Kansai region. In terms of cargo operations, the airport’s handling capacity has recovered to about 80 percent of pre-disaster volumes. A temperature-controlled warehouse for pharmaceutical products was restarted Monday and put back into use Wednesday. But some 1,000 tons of disaster-hit cargo remain, blocking a full recovery of cargo operations. The airport also needs to win back firms that have already switched to different airports. The Kansai Association of Corporate Executives is calling on companies to switch back to using international cargo flights at Kansai International Airport. The airport operator has set up three teams to work out anti-disaster measures, planning to draw up an interim report by the end of this month.


Tokyo adopts ordinance banning discrimination against LGBT community

Abstract: In a bid to curtail hate speech ahead of the 2020 Games, Tokyo on Friday adopted an anti-discrimination ordinance aimed at protecting the LGBT community. The rule is the first ordinance at the prefectural level to contain a stipulation prohibiting discrimination against LGBT people and other sexual and gender minorities. The Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly approved the ordinance at its regular session held Friday, despite criticism that there had been insufficient debate over potential conflicts between the measure and laws to protect free speech. The goal of the ordinance, which is scheduled to take effect in April, is to use edifying campaigns and education to realize the Olympic Charter goal of respect for human rights. The charter is a set of rules and guidelines documenting the fundamental Olympic principles. It states: “The enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in the Olympic Charter shall be secured without discrimination of any kind, such as race, color, sex, sexual orientation, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.” In 2014 the International Olympic Committee added an anti-discrimination clause for hosts, after the global controversy that surrounded the Sochi Games following Russia’s passage of an anti-gay law in 2013. To ensure equal enjoyment of human rights, the Tokyo ordinance will regulate use of public spaces such as parks to prevent groups from promoting hateful rhetoric. The ordinance is designed to improve access for same-sex couples in situations such as hospital visits and shared renting of apartments as family. It also stipulates the disclosure of names of groups and individuals promoting hate speech if the governor deems their activities a violation of human rights. Under the ordinance, such groups can be required to remove hateful content from their websites. The ordinance includes awareness-raising measures to improve understanding of the LGBT community, and the metropolitan government also plans to set up centralized consultation centers for LGBT people to offer various forms of support for sexual minority groups. Although Japan doesn’t have laws against homosexuality or other sexual minorities, it also doesn’t have national-level laws to protect their rights. Lawmakers from Tomin First no Kai (Tokyoites First), Komeito, the Constitutional Democratic Party and the Japanese Communist Party backed the ordinance. “We can’t wait for the central government (to introduce such steps) as its timeline remains vague,” Hirotaka Motohashi of Tomin First said at Friday’s assembly meeting. He said that ensuring sexual minorities’ equal rights will become a legacy of the 2020 Games. The Liberal Democratic Party strongly opposed the ordinance, saying its content and preparation were sloppy, and stressed that the rule may curtail freedom of expression. Kagayake Tokyo, an independent assembly faction, abstained, pointing to lack of penal provisions and emphasizing that the topic requires more thorough discussion.

lgbt
gender discrimination
tokyo metropolitan government


Memorial for victims of Japanese vessel sunk during World War I unveiled in Wales

Abstract: ANGLE, WALES - A memorial dedicated to the victims of a Japanese merchant ship sunk by the German navy in the final days of World War I was unveiled Thursday in Wales. The churchyard ceremony, which took place exactly 100 years after the sinking, was attended by descendants of the victims and members of the British royal family. Only 30 of the 240 sailors and passengers on board the Hirano Maru survived when the ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat in the Irish Sea on Oct. 4, 1918, just over a month before the peace armistice was declared to end the conflict. As Japan was one of the U.K.’s allies, its merchant vessels were targeted by the German navy. Residents of Pembrokeshire found at least 20 bodies along the county coastline, 10 of which were buried in the churchyard in the small village of Angle where Thursday’s ceremony took place. The wooden post erected at the time to commemorate the 10 victims rotted away and has now been replaced by a new granite memorial inscribed with a dedication written in English, Japanese and Welsh. Bouquets and wreaths were placed by Queen Elizabeth’s cousin Prince Richard after he unveiled the memorial, followed by representatives from the Japanese Embassy and Nippon Yusen K.K., the company that owned the ship. Only one victim is named in the church records and on the memorial, as the other nine could not be identified. Flowers were also left by Yoshiko Nakamura, 72, whose grandfather was among the victims. Shintaro Yamamoto, her grandfather, had been an officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy and was returning to Japan after visiting Britain on business when the boat was sunk, she explained. After seeing a story about the planned memorial in her local newspaper, she decided to attend the ceremony with her daughter to pay her respects. “My father, my mother, and all the people who remember the war have gradually disappeared,” she said. “I want to pass on this history to my daughter.” Funds were raised for the memorial by David James, secretary of the West Wales Maritime Heritage Society. “I feel a great sense of satisfaction … (to have) brought something to so many people,” he said. “Wars are easy. It’s the peace that’s hard to find and keep.” He said he was “humbled” to have helped Nakamura connect with her family’s history. “She came as an act of remembrance, which I find quite touching,” he said. The memorial was carved by a local stonemason and cost approximately £3,500 pounds ($4,500), paid for through contributions from residents and Nippon Yusen. A spokesman for the shipping company said it was “a great honor and privilege” for representatives of the company to be present at the ceremony.


Nordic budget carrier Primera Air ends flights just after announcing trans-Atlantic routes

Abstract: BANGALORE, INDIA - Nordic budget airline Primera Air said that it was ceasing all operations from Tuesday. “On this sad day we are saying Goodbye to all of you,” Primera Air said in a statement on its website. bit.ly/2P2AiZW Primera Air, which is Icelandic owned but based in Copenhagen, began in 2003 and has served 97 destinations in more than 20 countries. The airline announced last month that it planned to launch routes from Madrid to New York, Boston and Toronto next year at an introductory price of €149 ($172) each way. It also announced in September plans for direct long-haul flights from Frankfurt to New York, Boston, Toronto and Montreal from next year. Britain’s Monarch Airlines collapsed exactly a year ago, after falling victim to intense competition for flights and a weaker pound. Air Berlin, Germany’s second-largest airline, filed for bankruptcy protection in August 2017. ($1 = 0.8641 euros) (Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru; Editing by Adrian Croft)

iceland
copenhagen
primera air
budget airlines


Sharp acquires Toshiba unit to re-enter PC business

Abstract: OSAKA - Sharp Corp. has completed its acquisition of Toshiba Corp.’s personal computer business, marking a return to the PC business after pulling out eight years ago. Aiming to nurture the PC operation as a new revenue source, Sharp will take over Toshiba’s high-profile Dynabook brand and adopt the business reconstruction methods of its Taiwanese parent, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Based on an agreement in June, Sharp acquired an 80.1 percent stake in Toshiba Client Solutions Co., a fully owned PC unit of Toshiba, for about ¥4 billion. Yoshihisa Ishida, executive vice president of Sharp, took up the post as chairman of Toshiba Client on Monday, the day the acquisition was completed. Until 2000, Toshiba held the largest share of the laptop market. In recent years, however, its PC business has stagnated amid price competition with Chinese and Taiwanese rivals. Toshiba Client plans to accelerate moves to develop products and services using cutting-edge technologies, such as artificial intelligence, by utilizing Toshiba’s human resources and technical capabilities, as well as introducing Hon Hai-style cost cuts and other reconstruction methods. Sharp made PCs under the Mebius brand but withdrew from the business in 2010 as competition intensified. The company began considering a return to the PC market after becoming a Hon Hai unit in 2016, a company official said.

electronics
toshiba
sharp
personal computers


Nobel laureate Tasuku Honjo hopes Japan invests more in science

Abstract: KYOTO - Nobel Prize-winning scientist Tasuku Honjo voiced hope on Tuesday that Japan would invest more in science, a day after he was chosen for this year’s award in physiology or medicine along with American James Allison for their studies on cancer therapy. “I was able to prove that it is not rare for fundamental research to lead to applications,” Honjo, 76, said at a news conference held at Kyoto University, where he is currently a professor. “Science is an investment for the future.” News that Honjo became the 26th Japanese Nobel Prize winner was met with a shower of praise from cancer patient groups and the Japanese government on Monday. “Cancer patients are being saved by (the new cancer medicine) Opdivo, which originated from a study carried out by the Japanese researcher. We are delighted that it was positively evaluated,” said Shinsuke Amano, head of the Japan Federation of Cancer Patient Groups. When new medicine is developed abroad, it usually takes time to gain approval from authorities for its use in Japan. But Opdivo became available not long after its development and has proven to be effective, according to Amano. However, he expressed hope that further progress is seen in related studies due to the high costs required for the treatment, which are said to top over ¥10 million per person annually. In his youth, Honjo was not necessarily clear on what path he should take. After pondering what career to pursue — diplomat, lawyer or doctor — Honjo entered the Faculty of Medicine at Kyoto University in 1960 and moved on to the graduate course. During his university days, a fellow student died of stomach cancer, which led him to think that he would someday like to get involved in tackling the disease. After studying for a few years in the United States, where he was exposed to the latest research on genes and immunology, he decided to return to Japan and continue his research there, partly because he wanted to give his children a Japanese education. In 1992, when Honjo was a professor at his alma mater’s faculty of medicine, one of the members at his laboratory discovered the protein PD-1, which opened a pathway for a new cancer treatment that came to be known as immunotherapy. But at the time, the substance was just a byproduct of an experiment and no one knew what kind of function it had, according to Yasumasa Ishida, an associate professor at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology, who found the protein. The study was later joined by Nagahiro Minato, an expert on antibodies, who is now executive vice president of Kyoto University, and researchers found ways to enhance the human immune system to attack tumor cells through animal testing and other experiments. The process of making the drug was not easy. “Everyone thought it was a lie that cancer could be treated by immunity,” Minato said. But the researchers worked hard to pitch their findings to drugmakers. In 2006, their research was tested in clinical trials and the new medicine, Opdivo, was approved in Japan in July 2014 and subsequently in the United States and Europe. Honjo was “not interested in earning fame,” Minato recalled. “He probably thought it was his obligation to make medicine that is helpful.” At the news conference Tuesday, Honjo described his life as “blessed.” “It has been so fulfilling that I wish I could live this life all over again,” he said, while thanking his family for allowing him to focus on his research. Also attending the news conference was his 75-year-old wife, Shigeko, who said, “I have taken upon myself the job of supporting my husband, so I am very happy that he received the Nobel Prize.” Shigeko, who studied math and science at university, said the Nobel Prize made her think she can now settle down after years of supporting her family while Honjo went from job to job, forcing their children to change schools.

awards
medicine
health
cancer
nobel prize


Discoveries that revolutionized cancer care win Japanese and U.S. researchers a Nobel Prize in medicine

Abstract: The two researchers, from Japan and the U.S., who won the Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday are credited for discoveries that have revolutionized cancer care, turning the body’s immune system loose to fight tumors. James Allison of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and Tasuku Honjo of Kyoto University learned how cancer can put the brakes on the immune system — and how to release those brakes. Their work, conducted separately during the 1990s, led to the development of drugs known as “checkpoint inhibitors,” first used to treat the deadly skin cancer melanoma but now used for a growing list of advanced-stage tumors, including those of the lungs, head and neck, bladder, kidney, colon and liver. The drugs marked an entirely new way to treat tumors, a kind of immunotherapy that uses the patient’s own body to kill cancer cells. Up until then, the standard arsenal consisted of surgery to remove the tumor and radiation and chemotherapy to poison the cancer. The research was “a landmark in our fight against cancer,” the Nobel Assembly of Sweden’s Karolinska Institute said in announcing the award. “Not all patients respond to this, but for the ones that do, it has made a huge difference to their lives,” said Dr. Arlene Sharpe, co-chair of microbiology and immunobiology at Harvard Medical School. “There are patients over a decade ago who had an incredibly poor prognosis and now, a decade out, they are living normal lives.” Dr. Jedd Wolchok, chief of the melanoma and immunotherapeutics service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, said, “An untold number of lives … have been saved by the science that they pioneered.” Indeed, a drug based on Honjo’s research was used to treat former President Jimmy Carter, who was diagnosed in 2015 with melanoma that had spread to his brain. A year later, he announced he no longer needed treatment. Allison, 70, who was at a New York hotel for a scientific meeting, said at a news conference that the Nobel committee evidently had trouble reaching him to break the news. But his cellphone lit up with a call from his son at 5:30 a.m., when the names of the winners were released. And soon, “there were people beating on my door at 6 in the morning with Champagne,” he said. At a news conference in Kyoto, Honjo, 76, told how a member of his golf club once walked up to thank him for the discovery that was used to treat his lung cancer. “He told me, ‘Thanks to you I can play golf again,’ ” he recalled. “That was a blissful moment. A comment like that makes me happier than any prize.” Scientists had been trying for a century to harness the immune system against cancer, but it was a struggle. Normally, key immune system soldiers called T cells seek out and attack invaders. But for poorly understood reasons, it was hard to rev them up against cancer. In an interview Monday, Allison said he wasn’t trying to cure cancer but to understand how T cells work when, at the University of California, Berkeley, he was studying a protein named CTLA-4. He learned that the protein could put the brakes on T cells, creating what’s called an immune “checkpoint.” He then created an antibody that blocked the protein’s action — in other words, it released the brakes so the T cells could do their job. Working separately, Honjo discovered another protein, called PD-1, that also hampers T cells’ ability to attack cancer, but in a somewhat different way. Allison’s research led to development of the drug Yervoy, approved in 2011 after studies showed it extended the survival of some patients with late-stage melanoma. A few years later, developers created drugs that release the PD-1 brake Honjo discovered — Keytruda and Opdivo, now commonly advertised on TV. Allison said the biggest challenge with immunotherapy now is to learn why it helps some patients but not others — and how to combine it with traditional therapies to improve outcomes and reduce side effects. “It’s a great emotional privilege to meet cancer patients who’ve been successfully treated with immune checkpoint blockade. They are living proof of the power of basic science,” he said in a statement.


Carrot nanomaterial found to make cement stronger and greener

Abstract: LONDON - Crunchy and tasty, yes, but could carrots also strengthen cement and cut carbon dioxide emissions for the building industry? A group of researchers at Britain’s Lancaster University has been using a household food blender to mix particles from the root vegetable with concrete to see if they can produce a stronger and more environmentally sound product. “We found out you could increase the strength of concrete by 80 percent by using a small amount of this new material,” said lead researcher Mohamed Saafi. The addition of carrots prevent any cracks in the concrete, the team said. It also means less cement is required, therefore lowering the global carbon dioxide output. Cement is responsible for 7 percent of total global emissions of carbon dioxide, according to International Energy Agency estimates. “Our preliminary results show that adding about half a kilogram of carrot nanomaterial will reduce about 10 kilograms of cement per 1 cubic meter of concrete,” Saafi said. The team have also tried sugar beet fibers in cement mixtures, with all their vegetables coming from food waste. They will continue to test their mixtures alongside their commercial partners, a Scottish company that makes paint using root vegetable fibres.


Europe and Japan send spacecraft on seven-year journey to Mercury

Abstract: BERLIN - European and Japanese space agencies say an Ariane 5 rocket has successfully lifted a spacecraft into orbit for a joint mission to Mercury, the closest planet to the sun. The European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) say the BepiColombo spacecraft successfully separated and was sent into orbit from French Guiana early Saturday to begin a seven-year journey to Mercury. The ESA says the €1.3 billion ($1.5 billion) BepiColombo mission is one of the most challenging in its history. Mercury’s extreme temperatures, the intense gravity pull of the sun and blistering solar radiation make for hellish conditions. The spacecraft will have to follow an elliptical path that involves a fly-by of Earth, two of Venus and six of Mercury itself so it can slow down sufficiently before arriving at its destination in December 2025. Newly developed electrical ion thrusters will help nudge the spacecraft, which is named after Italian scientist Giuseppe ‘Bepi’ Colombo, into the right orbit. When it arrives, BepiColombo will release two probes — Bepi and Mio — that will independently investigate the surface and magnetic field of Mercury. The probes are equipped with special insulation to cope with temperatures varying from 430 C on the side facing the sun, and minus 180 C in Mercury’s shadow. Scientists hope to build on the insights gained by NASA’s Messenger probe, which ended its mission in 2015 after a four-year orbit of Mercury. The first spacecraft to visit Mercury was NASA’s Mariner 10 that flew past the planet in the mid-1970s. Mercury, which is only slightly larger than Earth’s moon, has a massive iron core about which little is known. Researchers are also hoping to learn more about the formation of the solar system from the data gathered by the BepiColombo mission. “BepiColombo is coming like a white knight with better and more precise data,” said Alain Doressoundiram, an astronomer at the Paris Observatory. “To understand how Earth was formed, we need to understand how all rocky planets formed. … Mercury stands apart and we don’t know why.” According to Pierre Bousquet, an engineer at France’s National Centre for Space Research and head of the French team contributing to the mission, Mercury is “abnormally small,” leading to speculation that it survived a massive collision in its youth. “A huge crater visible on its surface could be the scar left over from that encounter,” Bousquet said. Finding out if this is true is on BepiColombo’s “to do” list. This scenario would explain why Mercury’s core accounts for a whopping 55 percent of its mass, compared to 30 percent for Earth. Mercury is also the only rocky planet orbiting the sun other than our own to have a magnetic field. It is the second recent cooperation between the Europeans and JAXA after the Japanese agency’s Hayabusa2 probe dropped a German-French rover on the asteroid Ryugu earlier this month.

space
mercury
jaxa
european space agency
bepicolombo


Japan to make charging for plastic shopping bags mandatory

Abstract: A government advisory panel has approved a set of proposals for plastic recycling, including making it mandatory for retailers to charge for plastic shopping bags. The government plans to officially adopt the measures aimed at reducing plastic waste, crafted by the Environment Ministry, before a summit of the Group of 20 leading economies set for June next year in Osaka, it said Friday. The government believes the measures will help the country showcase its efforts on plastics recycling at the G20 summit. Japan has been under fire for being slow to deal with plastic waste. Japan and the United States did not sign the Ocean Plastics Charter, approved by other members of the Group of Seven nations at a summit in Charlevoix, Quebec, in June this year to promote plastic recycling. The ministry’s proposals call for setting a goal of reducing the volume of disposable plastic products, including drinking straws, plastic bottles and shopping bags, by 25 percent by 2030. The proposals seek to increase the percentage of plastic packaging products recycled to 60 percent by 2030 and use all forms of plastic waste, including the heat emitted when it is burned, effectively by 2035. It has not been decided when the mandatory charging for plastic shopping bags will start. Some relief measures will be taken for small businesses, according to the proposals.

pollution
environment
plastic
plastic waste


Spain expected to dethrone Japan in life expectancy rankings by 2040: U.S. study

Abstract: LONDON - Spain is expected to push Japan to second place in global life expectancy rankings by 2040, estimates by a U.S. research institute show. Spain’s Mediterranean lifestyle is key to the change, according to the study by the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. According to the study, published in the British medical journal Lancet, the average life expectancy in Spain, which ranked No. 4 in 2016, is seen topping the list at 85.8 in 2040. Japan, which sat atop the 2016 list, will fall to No. 2 at 85.7 years, followed by Singapore at 85.4. Portugal, Italy and France also made the top 10 on the 2040 list. This suggests healthy lifestyles, such as vegetable- and fish-rich diets, contribute to longevity, according to the study. In Japan, “men are not doing so well,” Christopher Murray, a member of the research group that conducted the study, told The Guardian. “Smoking is probably part of that and obesity has gone up for men but really not for women.” For the study, the institute estimated average life expectancies for 195 countries and regions until 2040, based on analyses of data related to causes of deaths between 1990 and 2016.


Okinawa's Tamaudun ancient royal mausoleum to be listed as national treasure

Abstract: The Tamaudun ancient royal mausoleum in Okinawa will become the second cultural asset in the prefecture to be listed as a national treasure. The Council for Cultural Affairs submitted recommendations Friday for the national treasure listing, as well as eight designations as important cultural properties, to culture minister Masahiko Shibayama. The designations are expected to be officially announced soon. Built west of Shuri Castle in Naha, the prefecture’s capital, in 1501, Tamaudun was the mausoleum of the second Sho dynasty in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It has three chambers and is surrounded by stone walls. Bodies were first placed in the middle chamber. After the senkotsu bone-cleansing ritual, the remains of kings and queens were moved to the east room, and those of others to the west room. Tamaudun and Shuri Castle are part of the Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu on the UNESCO World Heritage List. In Okinawa, Sho dynasty-related documents have already been designated as a national treasure. Tamaudun will be the first building to obtain the status there. The eight assets to be listed as important cultural properties include Osaki Shrine in the city of Mooka, Tochigi Prefecture. The shrine, which is said to have a history dating back over 1,500 years, is known for the colorful exterior decorations of its halls, including dragon reliefs and geometric designs. It is believed to have started the spread of decorative architecture in the Kanto region.


'Terrace House' opens its doors to LGBTQ members in Japan

Abstract: Warning: The following may contain minor spoilers for “Terrace House: Opening New Doors.” If you live in Japan and have either a passing interest in pop culture or a Netflix account, you’ve likely heard of “Terrace House.” The basic premise of this Japanese reality show is simple : Three men and three women are filmed living together in a spacious house as they go about their daily routines and, ideally, fall in love. The show doesn’t demand that the participants have to go on dates with one another — in every episode, a commentator named You says, “There is no script” — but it’s highly encouraged. The eligible bachelors and bachelorettes are a mix of regular people — college students, baristas, tap dance instructors and so forth — and a variety of plot-twist characters that you’re unlikely to run across on Tinder who are brought on to keep the show entertaining — a member of pop act AKB48 , the son of a wealthy CEO and a swimsuit model , among others. The latest member to put a fresh spin on the show is 21-year-old Shunsuke Ikezoe , an aspiring makeup artist from Tokyo who is openly questioning his sexuality and is leaning toward identifying as bisexual. (Ikezoe is later joined by 19-year-old fashion student Maya Kisanuki , who also casually mentions that she’s open to the possibility of being with a woman.) “Terrace House” has pretty much avoided any social commentary up to this point — none of its numerous hafū (mixed race) cast members have ever discussed discrimination in Japan, for example — but this time the TV program is consciously opening its doors to the LGBTQ community. In an interview on YouTube with more than 200,000 views, Ikezoe talks about his interest in hair and makeup, but also the discovery of his own sexuality. “If I lived in a environment with men and women, I thought I would be able to find something out about myself,” Ikezoe says in the video. “That’s the main reason (why I joined the show).” Social media channels, especially YouTube and Twitter, are infamous for being places where trolls can roam free and spread hate speech, but Ikezoe seems to have attracted mostly positive comments so far. His YouTube interview has a respectable ratio of 900 upvotes and only 100 downvotes. (Like many videos posted by corporate accounts in Japan, the comments section has been closed.) Ikezoe’s tweet announcing that he was joining “Terrace House” is full of messages of “Sugoi!” (“Wow!”) and “Ganbatte!” (“Good luck!”). “I’ve liked this show since forever ago, and this makes me happy!” wrote Twitter user @sakurappei . The same announcement on Instagram garnered equal amounts of praise, including comments from people who were happy to see LGBTQ representation on television. “I’ll start enjoying (the show) from now on,” wrote @hnka02. “I’m also bisexual, and I truly respect that you can say (you’re bi) with such courage,” wrote another user. Even Ikezoe’s co-stars gave him a warm reception after he explained that he is still trying to understand his sexual orientation. Cast member Noah Ishikura went the extra mile by mentioning that he has a bisexual friend outside of the show and later takes a bath with Ikezoe — just treating him like one of the guys. The panel of commentators on “Terrace House,” a group of TV personalities and comedians who dissect and mock every interaction on the weekly program, have shown great restraint thus far. They haven’t joked or acted puzzled about Ikezoe’s goal, a sign that the show is trying to keep up with the times. The positive response, both online and on TV, may reflect the open-mindedness of Japan’s younger generation. One survey from 2015 revealed that more than 70 percent of Japanese people aged 20-40 years old supported same-sex marriage. When taking all age groups into consideration, 51 percent said they were in favor. In addition, several cities across Japan have passed pro-LGBTQ legislation, including Tokyo with its new law that bans any discrimination based on sexual orientation. Meanwhile, other municipalities such as Sapporo and Naha have started issuing certificates that recognize same-sex couples. Ikezoe’s experience on “Terrace House” doesn’t necessarily mean it’s easy to be LGBTQ in Japan, however. The aforementioned 2015 survey also reported that 72 percent of respondents said that they would “feel reluctant to accept the fact their child is gay.” There has also been a recent barrage of anti-LGBTQ essays being published in Japan — backlash to which led to the suspension of Shincho 45 magazine . And a 2017 survey discovered that nearly 60 percent of LGBTQ people were bullied in elementary, middle or high school. Any potential for rude comments isn’t stopping Ikezoe from being himself on social media, though, whether he’s posting photos of him doing silly poses or pictures of his extensive makeup collection. In one Instagram post , Ikezoe thanks his online fans for being supportive and for coming up with cute nicknames for him. And he finishes the post by writing one simple and unapologetic hashtag: # burikko (#over-the-top cuteness).

social media
netflix
terrace house
japan pulse


Spotlight falls on Japan's female TV presenters

Abstract: On Sept. 4, the new presenters for Nippon TV’s nightly news show, “News Zero,” were introduced at a press conference in Tokyo . It’s not unusual for TV stations to revamp current affairs shows, but the new version of “News Zero,” which premiered Oct. 1, has attracted more than the usual measure of attention because of its new anchorperson. Yumiko Udo was an announcer at NHK for 27 years before resigning in spring. Numerous media outlets competed for her services, with Nippon TV eventually winning. The network hired her for “News Zero” and then decided to replace most of the show’s roster, predominantly with young women. When it was Udo’s turn to comment at the news conference, she focused on age differences. Udo is 49, while the regular guest on the show, one of the few holdovers from the previous version, Sho Sakurai of boy band Arashi, is in his 30s. The other female presenters are in their 20s and, as Udo described them, “very fresh.” “I feel like the madame of a geisha house,” she said at the time. The comment was derided online and in various media. A show-biz journalist told Asagei Plus that Udo is a famously plain speaker, but she obviously isn’t good with metaphors — you can’t refer to newscasters as “geisha.” The new “News Zero” premiered without further incident and in its Oct. 6 “News Q3” media column, the Asahi Shimbun said Udo “made a good start.” Nevertheless, the Asahi Shimbun felt obliged to analyze her geisha comment and the reaction to it more closely. The column cited a tweet by former TV presenter Keiko Kojima, who questioned whether female newscasters were employed as presenters or offered little more than decoration, which is how she interpreted Udo’s remark. However, show-biz reporter Hiroyuki Sasaki believed that people were reading too much into it. All Udo was saying was that she was older than everyone else. Such self-deprecation was “typical of her style.” Columnist Nameko Shinsan surmised that Udo’s comment was a means of selling herself. She had secured a desirable job and needed to defuse any envious feelings on the part of viewers and fellow professionals. However, the remark highlighted something other than just the age discrepancy. Udo had burnished her brand as a “good talker” on NHK, where such a skill is difficult to cultivate owing to the public broadcaster’s overreliance on scripted content. For years Udo hosted NHK’s popular morning information show, “Asaichi,” where she developed a breezy style that kept things interesting and moving along. Thanks to her image, she was able to quit NHK in middle age without any negative career repercussions. NHK even released a statement after she announced her resignation on March 31 and wished her luck, an unusual move that, according to Gendai Business , indicated the broadcaster would welcome her back on a contract basis at any time. So, by referring to herself as a “madame” and her new colleagues as charges, a hierarchy was established, even if that wasn’t her intention. Gender studies associate professor Natsuno Kikuchi of Nagoya City University told the Asahi Shimbun that Udo’s remark was “careless,” since the geisha system was created under a patriarchy, and thus it reinforced the current structure of TV, where women are still hired for their appearance. Web magazine Litera made a similar point in relation to a different presenter. In late August, it ran a story about TV Asahi’s nightly news show, “Hodo Station,” which was also undergoing a makeover. The magazine had earlier reported that the show’s chief producer was being replaced by someone supposedly close to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. “Hodo Station” had always been a thorn in the side of the current administration and the content has since become less confrontational. In Litera’s view, “Hodo Station” has been dumbed down, with less analysis of current affairs and more sports. However, the most significant change has been the loss of presenter Ayaka Ogawa, who had been with the program since 2011. According to the weekly magazine Bunshun, Ogawa was bullied out of her position by anchor Yuta Tomikawa, but Litera prefers to think that TV Asahi’s management, in order to facilitate the new tone of “Hodo Station,” wanted to dull its journalistic edge and so transferred her to a different job within the company. Over the years, Ogawa had transcended her “decorative” function to tackle real reporting, usually on social issues. She was insightful, critical and questioning. Udo says she quit NHK to do newsgathering herself. After all, she originally applied to NHK for a reporter’s job . She may get the chance on “News Zero,” but so far the show is even fluffier than it was before she joined. Like many daytime “wide shows,” it spends most of its time on sensational stories, celebrity gossip and in-studio chatter, all of which Udo serves up with her legendary fluency. “News Zero” was never a model of hard-hitting journalism, but it’s now gone further into infotainment. By coincidence, another NHK veteran left the organization this summer, but with less fanfare and some bitterness on his part. Journalist Fuyuki Aizawa told another NHK alumnus, Jun Hori, during the latter’s radio program on Oct. 11 that he had been informed in May that he would be transferred to a nonreporting position within the company. Aizawa was responsible for an NHK scoop last year about the suspicious land deal secured from the government by private education corporation Moritomo Gakuen for a new school. Aizawa, who worked for NHK’s Osaka branch, believed that the story’s suggestions of favoritism in the government, which oversees the public broadcaster, had outraged senior NHK management in Tokyo, and he assumed that was the reason for the transfer. Since he wants to pursue the story further, he resigned and now works for a local newspaper. “I don’t hold a grudge against NHK,” Aizawa said. “I worked there 31 years. They trained me.” NHK made Aizawa a reporter, and then the broadcaster tried to take away his vocation. Udo also left NHK to do journalism, although it’s not clear at this point if anyone will let her.

nhk
nippon tv
yumiko udo
ayaka ogawa
fuyuki aizawa


Conservative magazines set sights on Ikegami

Abstract: “I don’t watch much TV on my own,” writes university lecturer Atsushi Iwata in WiLL magazine (November), “but sometimes I watch together with my wife. I don’t particularly care about what she watches, but there are times when I ask her to change the channel — particularly when it’s a program with Akira Ikegami providing commentary.” Appearing in a collection of articles labeled “Media suicide,” which also attacked the liberal Asahi Shimbun as “An enemy of the people,” Iwata’s piece in WiLL was titled “What is it about Ikegami that’s impartial, fair and neutral?” That’s quite an accusation considering that the 68-year-old Ikegami is one of the most familiar faces on TV. A native of Nagano Prefecture, Ikegami joined NHK in 1973. From 1994 to 2005, he played the role of “Dad” in the half-hour “Weekly News for Kids.” Partly for this reason, Japan’s millenials grew up getting their news and commentary from a non-confrontational father figure, whose presence still resonates into their adulthood. In numerous popularity surveys, Ikegami has been ranked at or near the top as a critic, journalist and political commentator. In 2010, Ikegami’s trademark expression, “Ii shitsumon desu ne!” (That’s a good question!) ranked second in the year’s list of popular buzzwords. He was also rated first as the “ideal boss” in a 2012 survey by a major life insurance company. As it turned out, the November issues of two other conservative magazines, Seiron and Hanada, also ran articles critical of Ikegami’s journalistic ethics and credibility. It’s analogous to a slot machine hitting three lemons. Depending on the media format, Ikegami might be described a journalist, program moderator or commentator, although Japan Times contributor Philip Brasor uses the term “media explainer” to describe Ikegami’s most familiar role. It’s fair to say he’s extremely popular and attacks on him have been rare, up to now. What had Ikegami allegedly done, then, to warrant virtually simultaneous attacks in three magazines? At first glance, I thought the articles might be objecting to coverage of the late Emperor Taisho in his 253-page book, released on July 20, titled “Tenno to wa Nan Desu ka?” (“What is the Emperor?”). That book is part of a growing genre of printed matter about Japan’s Imperial family being issued in the lead-up to the abdication of Emperor Akihito, which is scheduled for next April. As reported by J-Cast News (Sept. 10), however, Ikegami appears to be embroiled in a dispute with Kazuo Yawata, a former Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry bureaucrat and currently a professor at Tokushima Bunri University. A day earlier, Yawata had posted on his Facebook page that a researcher employed by Ikegami had spent “considerable time” interviewing Yawata to obtain information for an upcoming program, but on that program Ikegami appears to have followed guidelines “so as to present the views expressed as his own.” According to J-Cast, journalist Kaori Arimoto also claimed she’d received similar treatment at Ikegami’s hands. And a large number of visitors went to Yawata’s Facebook page, leaving behind more than 2,500 likes within a few days of the posting. In the WiLL article, Iwata — not to be confused with Yawata — accuses Ikegami of engaging in kopipe (copying and pasting), that is, using source materials verbatim without giving proper attribution. His article devotes a full page to then-Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s meal schedule for the entire month of August 2010. Iwata’s intent was to debunk Ikegami’s praise of the prime minister as being a “regular guy” who often enjoyed a steaming bowl of ramen noodles. In fact, Kan did eat ramen — once, in Hayabusa-cho, near his office, on Aug. 27 of that year. On the other 30 days of that month, however, he dined at high-class specialty restaurants, in major hotels or at official functions. So, Iwata argues, for Ikegami to inform his viewers that the prime minister’s dietary intake was any more plebian than, say, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso — who is privately wealthy and known for his high-rolling lifestyle — was, in Iwata’s words, an “editorial deception.” Meanwhile, in the November issue of Hanada — a spinoff founded two years ago by WiLL’s original editor, Kazuyoshi Hanada — an article by the same Kazuo Yawata mentioned in J-Cast News accuses Ikegami of engaging in “preposterous faking” and “ripping off material as common practice.” Another article by Yawata also appears in the 45th anniversary edition of Seiron, published by the Sankei Shimbun, which featured a special section titled “Media rhapsody” in which the aforementioned Yawata lambasted Ikegami for presenting “fiction” and labeled him with the creative sobriquet “ikega#metoo.” Without going into the specifics of his perceived injury at the hands of Ikegami, however, Yawata comes across as a bit touchy. While it’s probably no excuse, he surely realizes that in a tightly edited medium such as television, where literally every second of a broadcast counts, use of attribution can be daunting. The guidelines might encourage citing names such as Einstein or Newton, but refrain from mentioning obscure individuals who are unfamiliar to most viewers. As touched upon in this column two weeks ago concerning the demise of Shincho 45 magazine, Japan’s monthly A5 format periodicals have been struggling to maintain readership, and it may be that iconoclastic attacks on a popular TV persona are further evidence of a trend toward more abrasive reporting — a sign of the times that mirrors the media wars going on in other countries.