'Father of Pac-Man,' Masaya Nakamura, dies at age 91

Abstract: Masaya Nakamura, the founder of game developer and distributor Namco Ltd. and known as “the father of Pac-Man,” died Jan. 22, Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. announced Monday via a corporate website. Nakamura was 91. The cause of death was not announced. After graduating in 1948 from Yokohama Kogyo Senmon Gakko (now Yokohama National University), he founded Nakamura Seisakusho in 1955, which was renamed Namco in 1977. The company developed numerous hit video games, including “Galaxian,” “Pac-Man” and “Ridge Racer,” that could be played on home consoles or in entertainment facilities such as game centers. Namco merged with Bandai Co. in 2005 to form Bandai Namco Group, and its game production assets were branched into Bandai Namco Games Inc. in 2006, which is now known as Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc. Nakamura was a chairman and a supreme adviser of Bandai Namco Entertainment since 2006. “Pac-Man,” designed by Namco’s inhouse video game maker Toru Iwatani, is one of the most recognizable and popular video games in history. In 2005 it was listed by Guinness World Records as the “most successful coin-operated arcade machine.” The game became a social phenomenon soon after its release in 1980, inspiring all sorts of merchandise and even an animated TV series. “From its launch in 1981 until 1987, a total of 293,822 ‘Pac-Man’ arcade machines were built and installed in arcade venues around the world,” according to the Guinness World Records website. “Ms. Pac-Man” was the first video game to feature a playable female character, and “Pac-Man” was the first video game family, which also included “Baby Pac-Man” and “Jr. Pac-Man.”

video games
namco
pac-man
masaya nakamura


A-bomb museum shows newly discovered photos of 1945 mushroom cloud, A-bomb dome

Abstract: HIROSHIMA - The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum on Tuesday showed to the press 10 newly discovered photos, including one taken by the crew of the Enola Gay that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The shot shows the mushroom cloud rising skyward on the morning of Aug. 6, 1945. The photographs collected from the Library of Congress and the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in the United States also include a picture of U.S. Navy sailors observing the so-called Atomic Bomb Dome 10 years after the bombing. With the new findings, the museum now holds two photographs of the mushroom cloud taken from the Enola Gay. Late last year, Hiroshima museum officials checked around 2,100 photographs related to the atomic bombing and found that at least 10 of them were not in the museum’s collection already. The photograph of the mushroom cloud is believed to have been taken by crew members aboard the Enola Gay when the plane approached Hiroshima a second time to confirm the extent of damage caused by the bomb. Among the pictures, one is an aerial photo of the city of Hiroshima in 1946. The signatures of three Enola Gay crew members are apparently written on it. “As they show the detailed cityscape soon after the bombing, we may have a new discovery if examined,” a museum official said.


Conspiracy bill's fourth bid dressed in Olympic clothing

Abstract: As the debate on counterterrorism heats up ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, some are pushing for stronger measures and others are warning against the potential for government overreach and the loss of constitutional rights. In the Diet, the government aims to pass a bill this year to revise the organized crime law so authorities can crack down on individuals who merely conspire to commit a crime. Although there have been three similar attempts to enact an anti-conspiracy law in the past, all failed under harsh scrutiny and were attacked for having vague criteria for determining both conspirators and their targets. This time, the government plans to change the name of the legislation and cast it as a measure against “cross-border terrorism.” Here is a look at the contentious bill and how an anti-conspiracy law would affect the public. What is the nature of the bill? Its purpose is to create an anti-conspiracy law that would allow the police to punish people who conspire and prepare to commit “serious crimes” warranting four or more years in prison. Similar bills were submitted to the Diet in 2003, 2004 and 2005 but failed amid criticism they were prone to vague interpretation. Because past bills had only referred to conspirators as “groups,” opponents claimed they could be used to silence citizen groups including anti-government activists, labor unions or other entities whose opinions differed from the government’s. To avoid this, the government is looking this time to narrow down the intended targets of the legislation to those deemed by authorities as “organized crime groups.” The targets would presumably include terrorists, gangsters and perpetrators of bank transfer scams, according to the Justice Ministry. The government also plans to stipulate that individuals would be subject to the law only if they committed preparatory acts for crimes, such as casing a target beforehand or raising funds to commit crimes. Past bills only required the act of conspiring to be prosecuted. Why is the government so eager to pass this bill? The government says this kind of bill is a prerequisite for ratifying the U.N. convention against transnational organized crime. The U.N. treaty was adopted in 2000 and took force in 2003 to crack down on organized cross-border crimes, such as human trafficking, narcotics trading and money laundering. The Diet approved the treaty in 2003. But because Japan lacked laws that made criminal conspiracy a crime in itself, the government couldn’t ratify it, the Foreign Ministry said, adding that signing the treaty will allow Japan to take part in international efforts to combat transnational crime. Currently, the police cannot prosecute individuals for conspiracy except in particularly serious crimes, such as illegal use of explosives. How many charges could be filed in connection with a conspiracy? The bill can technically apply to conspiracies involving more than 600 offenses, since the U.N. convention defines a “serious crime” as “an offense punishable by a maximum deprivation of liberty of at least four years or a more serious penalty,” according to the Justice Ministry. These would include murder and arson but could also include offenses not overtly related to counterterrorism, including traffic and election law violations. But the ministry insists any such law would only target “organized criminal groups” and stresses it would not affect the ordinary lives of the public. As examples, the ministry cited scenarios that would not be subject to such a law, including workers who, over drinks, idly voice a desire to kill their boss, or activists planning a sit-in at a construction company to block the building of a new structure, or labor unionists who agree not to let a company president go home until a pay hike has been granted. What are the main concerns with the legislation? Even if the list of potential conspirators is narrowed, there is still a risk that investigators will abuse their powers and authority, said Motoji Kobayashi, president of the Tokyo Bar Association. A conspiracy law will allow authorities to attack organizations they deem subversive and to disrupt their activities, Kobayashi said in a statement published earlier in January. “The legislation will infringe on not only their freedom of association and freedom of expression, but also encroach on their freedom of thought and beliefs,” he said. Kobayashi said the legislation also would allow investigative authorities to decide which entities count as criminal organizations. It can therefore be used to attack activists or labor unions once they are judged to have conspired to commit a crime. Another lawyer group, the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, warns that the legislation could also be used to justify the use of wiretapping and sting operations if those activities are deemed effective in cracking down on alleged conspiracies. What is the situation overseas? Among the Group of Eight developed nations, Japan is the only one that hasn’t signed the U.N. convention, the Foreign Ministry said. As of Dec. 20, 187 countries and regions had signed the treaty, the ministry said. But the JFBA pointed out that the government could name only two countries — Norway and New Zealand — that had newly enacted conspiracy laws for the purpose of ratifying the U.N. treaty. The JFBA also asserted that Japan can sign the U.N. treaty without criminalizing conspiracies involving over 600 types of crimes. The lawyer group said that at least five signatories — Brazil, Morocco, El Salvador, Angola and Mexico — managed to ratify the treaty without criminalizing all of the “serious crimes” outlined by the U.N. Japan has drawn criticism from activists and opposition lawmakers who say the government’s real intention is to silence dissent. The head of the secretariat at the Japanese Communist Party, Akira Koike, compared the conspiracy bill to a prewar law that was used to clamp down on people who opposed the government’s policies at the time, under the pretext of security.

terrorism
diet
organized crimes
conspiracy law
legislaton


Fiat Chrysler on back foot, awaits next administration after EPA alleges diesel emissions scam

Abstract: WASHINGTON - The U.S. government accused Fiat Chrysler on Thursday of failing to disclose software in some of its pickups and SUVs with diesel engines that lets them emit more pollution than is allowed under the Clean Air Act. The Environmental Protection Agency issued a “notice of violation” to the company that covers about 104,000 vehicles including the 2014 through 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Ram pickups, all with 3-liter diesel engines. The California Air Resources Board took similar action. “Failing to disclose software that affects emissions in a vehicle’s engine is a serious violation of the law, which can result in harmful pollution in the air we breathe,” said Cynthia Giles, EPA assistant administrator for enforcement and compliance. Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne denied any wrongdoing, saying the EPA was blowing the issue out of proportion. “We have done, in our view, nothing that is illegal,” he said Thursday on a conference call. “We will defend our behavior in the right environment.” Marchionne said he was told by company lawyers that the Justice Department is investigating the company in concert with the EPA, raising the likelihood of an ongoing criminal probe. He said the company halted production of Grand Cherokees and Rams with diesel engines in September, but will continue to sell models manufactured before then that are still on dealers’ lots. The company said it intends to present its case to the incoming Trump administration. “We will work with the new leadership to get this issue through,” Marchionne said. A spokesman for President-elect Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House said Thursday that the EPA makes enforcement decisions independently and that outgoing President Barack Obama wasn’t involved in the decision to cite the company. If found liable, Fiat Chrysler could face more than $4.5 billion in potential fines for violations of the Clean Air Act. EPA said it will continue to investigate the “nature and impact” of the eight software functions identified through an intensive testing program launched after Volkswagen was caught in a 2015 cheating scandal involving its “Clean Diesel” line of vehicles. Regulators were not yet defining the software found in the Fiat Chrysler vehicles as “defeat devices” intended to cheat on government emissions tests. However, the agency said that numerous discussions with Fiat Chrysler over the past year had not produced any suitable explanation for why the company had failed to disclose the software, which regulators said caused the vehicles to emit less pollution during testing than during regular driving. “This is a clear and serious violation of the Clean Air Act,” Giles said. “When companies break the law, Americans depend on EPA to step in and enforce.” On Thursday, California regulators also announced they were citing Fiat Chrysler for 11 violations under that state’s strict air quality standards. Fiat Chrysler said in a statement that its emissions control systems “meet the applicable requirements” and that it spent months giving information to the EPA to explain its emissions technology and proposed a number of actions including software changes to address the agency’s concerns. Regulators said owners of the affected models do not yet need to take any action and that they should continue driving their vehicles. Fiat Chrysler shares tumbled 20 percent to $9.12 Thursday morning as the EPA action was reported, wiping out about $3 billion of the company’s market value. The shares recovered a bit to $9.91 by early afternoon but still were down nearly 11 percent. Shares of Cummins Inc., which makes the diesel engines in the affected Fiat Chrysler vehicles, fell just over 2 percent to $137.59. The announcement comes one day after Fiat rival Volkswagen pleaded guilty in federal court to criminal charges related to widespread cheating involving emissions tests, agreeing to pay a record $4.3 billion penalty. Six high-ranking VW executives have been charged in the scandal, which prompted a nationwide recall of more than a half-million affected cars and SUVs. In the Volkswagen case, prosecutors alleged that top officials at the company approved of the cheating scheme, repeatedly lied to U.S. regulators and then orchestrated a mass attempted cover-up that included deleting computer files and emails. EPA regulators made no such allegations against Fiat Chrysler on Thursday, though they said their investigation is in the early stages and is ongoing. This isn’t the first time the company has run afoul of a federal agency. In 2015, Fiat Chrysler was slapped with $175 million in penalties by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for mishandling recalls and failing to report safety data. Marchionne, who clearly was agitated on a conference call with reporters, expressed confidence that the EPA will find no evidence of an illegal “defeat device” in the Jeeps and Rams. He said some of the computer software on the engines was not disclosed because it’s standard among automakers and disclosure wasn’t previously required. But he said the EPA changed the rules after the Volkswagen case. Marchionne said there is no comparison between his company and VW because there was no intent by Fiat Chrysler to deceive the EPA or cheat on emissions tests. “There’s not a guy in this house that would even remotely attempt to try something as stupid as that,” he said. “And if I found a guy like that I would have hung him on a door.”

epa
donald trump
clean air act
fiat chrysler
diesel emissions


Bilateral pact limiting U.S. base workers' immunity to be inked next week

Abstract: Aiming to deter crime, Japan and the United States will sign an agreement next week narrowing the scope of legal immunity granted to U.S. military base workers, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday. The pact will supplement the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), under which the United States has primary jurisdiction over U.S. military personnel and base workers accused of crimes while on duty. The move is a response to the arrest in May last year of a civilian U.S. base worker in Okinawa Prefecture over the violent death of a local woman. The victim, Rina Shimabukuro, 20, was allegedly raped and murdered by Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, a civilian employee at Kadena Air Base. The slaying intensified anti-base sentiment in the prefecture, which shoulders much of the U.S. military presence in Japan. “The U.S. will also make clear how it will control military personnel, helping to prevent incidents in Okinawa that involve them,” Kishida told a news conference. Amid the furor over the Shimabukuro slaying, the Japanese and U.S. governments decided in July last year to clarify the scope of the “civilian component” of the Status of Forces Agreement. They also established four distinct categories of civilian personnel to be covered. Shinzato, a former U.S. Marine, is to be tried in Japanese court. Kishida said in late December that the two allied governments had agreed to sign a supplementary pact. The announcement came ahead of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s historic trip to the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor, which followed U.S. President Barack Obama’s historic visit to Hiroshima in May. With numerous issues unresolved in Okinawa, Tokyo is apparently eager to settle the immunity issue while Obama is still in office, since the future of the Japan-U.S. alliance under President-elect Donald Trump is filled with looming uncertainties.

okinawa
fumio kishida
u.s. military
sofa


Rural 'furusato nozei' beer, beef thank-yous costing urban Japan much-needed revenues

Abstract: Want a free case of craft beer? If you send ¥30,000 or more of your taxes to the town of Yamanouchi in Nagano Prefecture, they’ll send you 24 bottles of a locally brewed beer to say thanks. Want beef? Redirect ¥50,000 of your local area taxes to Miyakonojo in Miyazaki Prefecture, and you’ll get 3 kg of high-grade beef in return. This furusato nozei (hometown tax) system began in 2008 as a way for people to channel part of their taxes to help rural areas struggling with falling populations and shrinking revenues. But its popularity isn’t driven by altruism or nostalgia for the countryside. Belying the program’s name, money can be sent anywhere, and much of it is going to places that offer regional produce as gifts in return. Hokkaido — famed for its seafood, dairy and many other foodstuffs — is one of the prefectures that gains the most. On the other hand, Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward estimates the system will cost it ¥1.6 billion in tax revenue in the fiscal year through March — enough to build five nursery schools, said Akihiro Sasabe, chief of the policy planning division. Setagaya, which has almost 900,000 residents and the worst child-care crisis in the nation — with more than 1,000 children on waiting lists — is expected to lose more revenue to furusato nozei than any other municipality in Tokyo in this fiscal year. About all it can offer to attract tax revenue itself are frugal gifts such as museum tickets, which helped it bring in ¥15.8 million last fiscal year, said Sasabe. By comparison, Miyakonojo has almost 164,000 people and attracted ¥4.2 billion through the system during the same period. That’s the most among the 1,700 or so municipalities in Japan. Its website features beef, pork, chicken and shochu liquor that you can receive in return for directing tax to the area. “The main focus is to promote our city,” said Shuichi Nomiyama, an official who runs Miyakonojo’s tax program. “We only offer gifts made in Miyakonojo, and the local economic impact is big.” Nomiyama estimates that more than 90 percent of the people taking part have no connection to Miyakonojo. The equivalent of about 70 percent of the revenue from furusato nozei is spent promoting the program and buying gifts from local producers, he said. “We are well aware that part of the tax revenue in urban areas is donated to us,” Nomiyama said, but it has created local jobs and allowed the city to fund dental checkups, children’s centers and other community programs. “We can only return the favor by doing what we can do locally.” The rising competition among municipalities has drawn warnings from internal affairs minister Sanae Takaichi. She said in 2015 and again in 2016 that towns shouldn’t solicit tax revenue with gifts, offer cash-like gifts such as shopping vouchers, or reveal the retail price of a gift. Still, the system more than quadrupled to a record ¥165 billion last fiscal year after the government doubled the amount of local taxes that residents can channel into furusato nozei. And there are now commercial websites that show taxpayers how to shop around “hometowns” all over Japan and maximize the value of the “gifts” they get in return.


Monkeys can make strategic choices based on memory: Japanese research

Abstract: Monkeys can make judgments based on memory and be confident about their strategic choices, according to a study released Friday. Researchers from Juntendo University and Tokyo University tested to see if “metamemory” — the ability to monitor one’s memories, a process that is characteristic of humans — affected how confident macaque monkeys were in responding to prior stimuli, according to the study, published in the U.S. journal Science. The monkeys were shown four graphics and later were tested to see if they could identify those images among others. The researchers also tested to see how confident the primates were about their answers. The monkeys were presented with two choices tied to rewards. In the “high bet,” the reward was greater — a lot of juice — if the answer was correct but was nothing if incorrect. The other choice was the “low bet,” which rewarded the monkey with smaller amounts of juice regardless of whether or not the answer was correct. The study found the monkeys “more frequently chose ‘high bets’ when they correctly answered the precedent test than when they failed it,” the researchers wrote, indicating that when the monkeys were confident about their answers based on what they remembered, they would strategically choose the high-bet option. Yasushi Miyashita, the team’s leader, said the finding “could be helpful in the diagnosis and treatment of memory-related disability, as well as development of a new method for education.”

university of tokyo
monkeys
juntendo university


Media sidesteps calling Japan Tobacco out on advertising conflicts

Abstract: When I want a coffee I seek out Starbucks, not because I think it has the best product, but because it’s the only coffee shop I know of that’s 100 percent nonsmoking. Almost all others in Japan have separate smoking and nonsmoking sections, which are useless in terms of keeping smoke away from people who don’t want to breathe it. Generally speaking, inhaling secondhand smoke is the norm for eating and drinking establishments in Japan, where smokers are allowed to light up almost anywhere as long as they observe “manners.” Here, the division between smokers and nonsmokers is not considered a matter of health, but one of civility. That’s why it’s unlikely Tokyo will pass a law prohibiting smoking in all indoor public spaces before the 2020 Olympic Games, despite the fact that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) demands not only that venues for the games be smoke-free, but that the entire host city be smoke-free. Since the dawn of the millennium every city except Tokyo that has held or will hold the Olympics has outlawed smoking in indoor public spaces , including Athens, Beijing and Pyeongchang, all of which are in countries with higher smoking rates than Japan’s . Last fall the health ministry came up with a “foundation” for new “ guidelines ” to address the problem of secondhand smoke. At present, Japanese law simply says that businesses and managers of public spaces must “make an effort” to prevent nonsmokers from breathing smoke-filled air, which is why separate smoking sections is considered sufficient. A recent edition of the NHK news shows “ Closeup Gendai ” showed a representative of the World Health Organization inspecting a family restaurant in Tokyo that had installed an “air curtain” to keep smoke from drifting into the nonsmoking section, but the representative explained that the technology doesn’t work. The NHK report was typical of the media’s handling of the issue. Although it showed how the family restaurant’s efforts were ineffective in solving the secondhand smoke problem, in an attempt at fairness it also visited a bar where everyone smoked. If smoking is banned in such places, the proprietor said, he would lose all his customers, thus suggesting that many eating and drinking establishments would go out of business if a blanket anti-smoking law were enforced in Tokyo. NHK didn’t bother to go to Starbucks, which seems to be doing fine with such a rule; or, for that matter, Tokyo drinking establishments that actually ban smoking, which are rare but nevertheless do exist. The health ministry guidelines were drawn up in response to an earlier study that estimates 15,000 nonsmoking Japanese will die each year due to the effects of secondhand smoke. Of married couples in which one spouse smokes and the other doesn’t, the latter has a 28 percent higher chance of contracting lung cancer than does a nonsmoking spouse whose partner does not smoke, not to mention a 29 percent higher chance of stroke and 23 percent higher chance of cardiovascular disease. However, while these statistics have been publicized in the press, countermeasures have not been discussed in a realistic way. The obstacle is the Liberal Democratic Party faction in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly. Two years ago, when then-Gov. Yoichi Masuzoe proposed a regulation to prohibit smoking in public spaces expressly as a response to the IOC, LDP assembly members blocked it , citing the belief that all dining and boozing operations would go bankrupt. They could do this because the central government, which is controlled by the LDP, has their back. The Finance Ministry, which is more powerful than the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labor, has a stake in the prosperity of Japan Tobacco, since the government holds one-third of Japan Tobacco stock and collects a lot of money from taxes on cigarettes. Consequently, many Finance Ministry bureaucrats retire to cushy jobs at Japan Tobacco. These facts are not secret, but the media sidesteps them in its coverage of the smoking situation. The only press outlet to report recently on the apparent collusion between media and Japan Tobacco is the right-wing magazine Sentaku. The onus of the July 2016 article in question was placed mainly on the Mainichi Shimbun, which is thought to occupy a center-left position. On Jan. 28, 2016, the Mainichi ran an interview with a doctor who claimed that the “stress” from quitting cigarettes might be more harmful than cigarettes themselves. According to an anonymous ad executive quoted by Sentaku, the Mainichi article was “worth much more than any paid advertisement” to Japan Tobacco and the newspaper subsequently ran at least one Japan Tobacco ad a month. The Mainichi even ran an ad for Mevius cigarettes. Although cigarette ads are not illegal in Japan, newspapers voluntarily stopped running them on principle more than two decades ago. The Sankei Shimbun ran the same Mevius ad after publishing an article about Japan Tobacco’s “separate smoking section consulting business” and its promotion of “peaceful coexistence between smokers and nonsmokers.” Sentaku also asserted that on May 31, 2016, which was U.N. World No Tobacco Day as well as the day the health ministry was set to announce its secondhand smoke findings, only the Asahi Shimbun and Sankei Shimbun carried the ministry’s announcement due to pressure from Japan Tobacco and advertising giant Dentsu. Japan Tobacco spends ¥20 billion a year on advertising, almost all of which promotes “manners.” The real reason, according to Sentaku, that Japan Tobacco buys space and air time is to quash anti-smoking reporting by making media dependent on JT-related ad revenue. On Jan. 6, however, the Mainichi dedicated a full page to the dangers of smoking centered on a piece by columnist Hiroshi Fuse that blasted Japan’s cigarette-tolerant public stance, saying it was hypocritical and “shamed Japan before the world.” As long as the press uses a market-based revenue model, there will always be conflicts such as these between sales and editorial divisions, but in any case only in Japan is smoking considered a right.


Kansai sizes up ways to work with a Trump administration

Abstract: In 3½ weeks, Kansai’s business leaders will gather in Kyoto for their annual summit. Some of the world’s most recognizable firms will send their top executives to the two-day retreat. There, they will rub shoulders with local politicians, academics, and “business consultant” types who, like fortune tellers, cult leaders and foreign policy wonks, will provide soothing answers to the flock’s troubled — and troubling — questions. And they are in particular need of comfort this year. The corporate wizards must figure how, or even if, they can operate under Donald Trump as U.S. president. In a session likely to be standing-room only, the future of Kansai and Japan (meaning, of course, Kansai’s, and Japan’s, largest corporations) in the Trump era is to be discussed. Their Power Points will no doubt contain the latest media buzzwords (“alt-right,” “fake news,” “anti-elite”) used to describe Trump’s victory. However, there will also be pressure on those in the room to remain upbeat despite the gloomy headlines and dark predictions for life under Trump. Thus nobody should be surprised if the more cynical attendees feel inclined to sing not “We Shall Overcome” at the closing ceremony but Monty Python’s “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life!” The message of don’t worry, be happy may be partially due to a “ shikata ga nai ” attitude among business leaders who are unsentimental and pride themselves on their hard-headed ability to deal with unpleasant realities. Or it might because in Kansai as a whole, the traditional emphasis of the merchant class is on the Asian region. U.S. politics is not something that worries Kansai businesses as much as, say, possible border taxes against Toyota for building a plant in Mexico worries most of Nagoya. However, the main reason Kansai’s leaders could decide a Donald Trump presidency is something they can live with, and possibly benefit from, has to do with the make-up of Trump’s administration. So far, it’s, by and large, a collection of hard-core, fundamentalist corporate types from America’s leading financial and oil firms who are hostile to organized labor. Many also have right-wing views on government and society. That’s music to the ears of the elderly, hard-core fundamentalist types in the Kansai business community, many of whom are from financial or oil firms, have right-wing views on society and are hostile to organized labor. So their hopes for the future, expressed cautiously and with a long string of caveats as they will no doubt be, may rest on the assumption that Trump and his team are, in the end, a collection of fellow business wheeler-dealers whom they, and the Japanese government, can work with. After all, didn’t the president-elect himself write a book called “The Art of the Deal”? What if it turns out such hopes are misplaced and economic relations with the U.S. worsen? Several Kansai business leaders have already suggested the region should take the lead in pushing the central government to ignore the U.S. on issues such as multilateral trade deals, which are opposed by Trump. Not the kind of thing those outside the business world seeking to maintain good bilateral relations in other areas will see as helpful, and an attitude likely to strain Kansai’s relations with the U.S. government. The U.S.-Japan relationship is in uncharted territory, and intelligent people on both sides of the Pacific are concerned, if not downright frightened, and desperately searching for ways to handle the Trump era. But a pure business-is-business approach toward the new president of the kind Kansai might be hoping for forgets that countries are not corporations and politicians are not business executives. Worse, it too often ignores political and social issues business titans often have little patience for, things that cannot be resolved using negotiation tactics learned on the job, in business school or at a seminar taught by some consultant. And especially not in any books on artful deals Trump himself has written.


A railroad runs through it: Nara wants help keeping popular ancient ruins serene and intact

Abstract: NARA - Strolling around the ancient ruins of Nara’s Heijokyo Palace site, a 2,500-hectare area of footpaths and open green fields, it’s easy to imagine that one is back in the distant past, walking on ground first tread 1,300 years ago when it was Japan’s first true city. It’s a quiet, bucolic scene, until one’s thoughts are interrupted by the very modern sound of yet another train on the Kintetsu-Nara Line clacking along the rails that cut through the site heading either east to Shinomiya Station or west to Yamato-Saidaiji Station. The presence of a train running through the ruins, a World Heritage site, has long been a source of complaints. Tourists, archaeologists and local politicians, starting with Nara Gov. Shogo Arai, have all called for the tracks to be rerouted out of the area. And this year, talks involving the prefecture, city, central government and Kintetsu Railway Co. toward that goal are slated to kick off. Under a plan proposed by the prefecture, the tracks would be moved just south of the Heijokyo ruins, parallel to a main road. A new subway station along the new route, closer to the Heijokyo site than Yamaoto-Saidaiji Station currently is, might also be built. Talks will focus on cost issues, as well as whether the new line should be built underneath the road or above ground. A report is expected from the prefecture later this year. Since 2010, when it celebrated the 1,300th anniversary of the founding of Heijokyo, Nara has pushed to get more tourists to the site in the hope of drawing them to its other historical attractions. In 2015, the city of Nara alone drew nearly 15 million visitors, including day-trippers. That figure includes 975,000 foreign visitors. Local tourism surveys show visitors like Nara’s history and green open spaces, but many, especially from abroad, are surprised and disappointed Nara isn’t doing more to protect and preserve the environment of ancient sites. Nara, in turn, wants the central government to take the lead and offer more financial support for preserving sites of national importance.


Arizona holds ceremony to memorialize Gila River WWII internment camp

Abstract: CHANDLER, ARIZONA - A city in Arizona memorialized a WWII internment camp for Japanese immigrants and Japanese-Americans on Saturday by unveiling a series of panels with information about the area’s wartime history. “I felt desperate after I was taken to the camp at 15, but baseball was my hope,” Kenso Zenimura, 89, said at a ceremony in Nozomi Park near Chandler, Arizona, referring to his time at the nearby Gila River camp during World War II. The park takes its name from a Japanese word meaning hope. “I secretly took water from a tap at night and sprinkled it in the outfield to grow the grass,” said Zenimura, a former infielder who played for the Hiroshima Carp after the war. Internees were permitted to play baseball while detained at the facility. The ceremony came ahead of the 75th anniversary of the Feb. 19, 1942, signing by President Franklin Roosevelt of an executive order that resulted in the incarceration of Japanese immigrants and U.S. citizens of Japanese descent, mostly on the West Coast. Chandler Mayor Jay Tibshraeny said in his address that what happened 75 years ago was a “difficult” part of history and that it is “important” to remember that the state once hosted such a camp. Gila River was among the 10 main internment camps set up under Roosevelt’s order. The total number of people detained, many of whom were stripped of their assets and the right to work, reached 120,000 by the end of the war. In 1988 President Ronald Reagan apologized for the violation of human rights and had the U.S. government pay compensation to the victims.

wwii
internment
japanese-americans
chandler
kenso zenimura


Kyoto making great climate strides but little progress seen beyond its borders

Abstract: KYOTO - Two decades after the advent of the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, its namesake city is planning to commemorate the agreement this year with a number of events while moving forward with its own plan to achieve targeted greenhouse gas reductions by 2020. But with climate experts warning that faster action is needed at the national and international levels to mitigate the worst effects of rising global temperatures, municipal efforts like Kyoto’s will need to be complemented by similar policies in neighboring urban areas to be more effective. In December 1997, the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was hammered out during an all-night U.N. negotiator marathon. Under the agreement, the developed countries were obliged to reduce their collective greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 5.2 percent below 1990 levels with the purpose of reaching “a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system,” the protocol said. But there were no numerical targets provided for developing countries. The Kyoto Protocol turned out to be one of the most controversial environmental agreements ever negotiated. The United States would opt out of the protocol after George W. Bush became president in 2000, and, politically as well as scientifically, it was internationally condemned for failing to do little, if anything, toward curbing the world’s greenhouse gases. But the Kyoto Protocol did inspire local governments around the world, which were directly feeling the social and economic impacts of climate change in their communities in the form of severe storms, droughts, flooding and extreme cold and hot periods that damaged their economies. The protocol challenged such local governments to formulate their own policies that were as, if not more, ambitious than whatever their national leaders were supporting, or opposing. In Japan, Kyoto’s leaders also set their own course to combat climate change. In 2011, a year before the first commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol ended, the city announced the goal of a 25 percent reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, and a 40 percent reduction by 2030, both based on 1990 levels. This would be accomplished through a number of measures, including the introduction of energy-saving technologies, better garbage disposal, recycling, and encouraging people to use public transportation. In an update released last October, Kyoto said it was on track to meet its 2020 reduction goal. But the volume of greenhouse gas emissions in fiscal 2014, the last year for which statistics were available, was estimated at nearly 7.82 million tons, only a 0.2 percent reduction compared with the 7.83 million tons recorded in 1990. To meet the 2020 goal, therefore, the city calculated total greenhouse gas reductions of about 1.94 million tons over a six-year period were needed. Technology improvements in electricity generation by Kansai Electric Power Co. were predicted to reduce emissions by 600,000 tons, so Kyoto drew up a policy for the remaining 1.34 million tons. These included targets for reductions among homeowners, small businesses, heavy industries, and the transportation sectors, and policies designed to promote more energy efficient homes. They also included measures to turn Kyoto’s main streets, notorious for being dangerously jammed with smoke-belching autos and buses, increasingly over to pedestrians, and to add more environmentally friendly forms of public transportation. The goal is to have 1 in 4 autos on Kyoto’s streets become eco-friendly cars by 2020. Other 2020 targets include increasing the number of homes with solar power from about 8,500 in 2014 to about 25,000. For Kyoto’s garbage, which reached 820,000 tons in 2000 and was reduced to 461,000 tons in 2014, the goal is a reduction to 390,000 tons by 2020, despite the huge influx of tourists over the past few years that has added, sometimes visibly, to the pile. While Kyoto trumpets its efforts, experts say the push needs to be supported by similar policies in other, larger municipalities to promote a more ambitious national climate policy. “Kyoto’s target may not be that impactful on its own, but it should be viewed as a stepping stone to getting Osaka and the rest of the Kansai region pursuing a common emissions target,” says Ken Sofer, a senior policy adviser at the Washington-based Center for American Progress who has written about climate politics in Japan. He added that a regional government like Tokyo, because of its size and political and economic power, can embark on certain climate policies that other cities in Japan and elsewhere cannot without significantly risking leakage, whereby polluters move just beyond the reach of regulators. “Unlike Tokyo, which benefits from neighboring Yokohama’s and Kanagawa (Prefecture)’s similar emissions targets, a smaller city like Kyoto will only be able to make so much progress without neighbors like Osaka putting in place their own emissions targets,” Sofer said. Kenro Taura, executive director of Kiko Network, a Kyoto-based environmental nonprofit group working to tackle climate change locally and worldwide, gives the city’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction plan good marks overall. But there remain challenges ahead for further reductions, he said. “Kyoto has announced it wants to pursue a policy of not relying on nuclear power and of emphasizing a sustainable energy policy. Whether it will be able to do that is uncertain, but decisions on energy supply will impact greenhouse gas levels,” Taura said.

kyoto
solar power
climate change
greenhouse gases


Hosting U.S. automakers, Trump pushes for new American plants

Abstract: WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump urged the chief executives of the Big Three U.S. automakers on Tuesday to build more cars in the country, pressing his pledge to bring jobs to America and discourage the car industry from investing in Mexico. Trump, who has threatened to impose 35 percent tariffs on imported vehicles, opened a White House meeting with General Motors Co. CEO Mary Barra, Ford Motor’s Mark Fields and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV’s Sergio Marchionne by saying he wanted to see more auto plants in the United States. In return, Trump has vowed to cut regulations and taxes to make it more attractive for businesses to operate in the country. He promised during his campaign to be a job-creating president and stressed that message in his inaugural address last Friday. “We have a very big push on to have auto plants and other plants — many other plants,” he told reporters at the start of the meeting. “It’s happening. It’s happening big league.” Matt Blunt, who heads a U.S. automaker trade association and attended the meeting, said Trump asked what his administration could do “on domestic and trade policy that would help make the United States more competitive and strengthen the ability of automakers to add production here.” The hour-long meeting was the latest sign of Trump’s uncommon degree of intervention for a U.S. president into corporate affairs as he has repeatedly pressured automakers and other manufacturers to “buy American and hire American.” It was the first time the heads of the big three automakers met jointly with a U.S. president since a 2011 session with Barack Obama to tout a deal to nearly double fuel efficiency standards by 2025. Automakers have urged the Trump administration to rethink those aggressive mandates. The auto executives on Tuesday raised the issue of the fuel efficiency rules, trade policy and other regulatory matters, another person briefed on the meeting said. Marchionne told reporters afterward that Trump did not give them specifics on what regulations he would cut. The companies also discussed autonomous and electric vehicles and Trump asked about advanced vehicles, the person said. With flattening U.S. auto sales and excess capacity in the United States, U.S. automakers have been reluctant to open new U.S. auto plants in recent years. GM and Ford last built new U.S. assembly plants in 2004, while Fiat Chrysler opened a new transmission plant in Indiana in 2014. Kristin Dziczek, an analyst at the Michigan-based Center for Automotive Research, said automakers still had excess capacity in North America after suffering in the 1990s and 2000s from overcapacity and shifts in market share. Building a new plant would take three or more years and cost at least $1 billion, industry experts said. Automakers have expanded operations at existing U.S. plants to meet rising demand for trucks and SUVs. GM, Ford, Fiat Chrysler and foreign automakers have announced new U.S. jobs and investments in recent weeks. Ford’s Fields said automakers wanted to work with Trump to create a “renaissance in American manufacturing” and that Trump’s economic priorities were encouraging, including his move on Monday to formally bow out of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact championed by Obama. “The mother of all trade barriers is currency manipulation. And TPP failed in meaningfully dealing with that, and we appreciate the president’s courage to walk away from a bad trade deal,” Fields told reporters after the meeting. Barra said there was a “huge opportunity” to work together with the government to “improve the environment, improve safety and improve the jobs creation.” U.S. automakers have collectively added more than 78,000 jobs since 2009, the year when GM and Chrysler, now a unit of Italian-American Fiat Chrysler, filed for bankruptcy as part of government bailouts during the U.S. recession. They have invested more than $40 billion in U.S. facilities during that period. Despite the vocal pressure from Trump, the companies are unlikely to truly change their existing business plans for now, said Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting with AutoForecast Solutions. “We need to have more concrete policies from the president,” he said. “Automakers will make decisions on whether there is a solid business case. Does it make more sense to build outside the U.S. or to build in the U.S.?” GM said in 2014 it would invest $5 billion in Mexico through 2018, a move that would allow it to double its production capacity, and Barra has said the automaker is not reconsidering the plan. While automakers are adding U.S. jobs, they are also cutting U.S. production of small cars. On Monday, GM ended two shifts of production of small cars in Ohio and Michigan, cutting about 2,000 jobs. Barclays auto analyst Brian Johnson said in a note on Tuesday that “automakers will be willing to make a deal that would bring back jobs to the U.S. in return for a slower ramp of (fuel efficiency) targets and related state-level mandates.” Auto stocks rose on Tuesday. U.S.-listed shares of Fiat Chrysler gained 5.84 percent to $10.88, while Ford was up 2.44 percent to $12.61 and GM rose 0.96 percent to $37.

automakers
gm
ford
donald trump
fiat chrysler


Japan urged to tap young workforce ahead of 2030: report

Abstract: Japan should tap the potential of young workers and encourage more people in their 30s and 40s to become chief executive officers, as part of a reform to revitalize the economy toward 2030, a government task force said Wednesday. Amid the graying of its society, Japan also needs to step up support for people with dementia and work to eradicate car accidents involving the elderly by making use of an automatic braking and self-driving system. The task force outlined a series of steps that Japan needs to take in the years ahead, as the average age of the country’s baby boomers will reach 80 around 2030. The report was presented to a meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy headed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The task force involves academics and members of the council, including Sadayuki Sakakibara, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, the country’s largest business lobby known as Keidanren. The report calls for improving the child-rearing and nursing care environment, enabling more people to work regardless of age, and increasing the number of skilled foreign workers. The use of artificial intelligence is also encouraged. The task force also said the country should aim to eliminate long work hours and karoshi , or death by overwork. Japan’s working-age population is projected to decline in the run-up to 2030 with an estimated 17.8 percent drop in the number of people in their 20s and 30s from 2015. The report said the percentage of young people who are satisfied with their life is higher than those in other age brackets, but that young people in Japan are less ambitious and hopeful about their future than in other countries. “We need to turn the situation around in 2030 so younger generations can use their vitality and take the lead in society,” it said.

shinzo abe
japanese economy
workforce
corporate executives


Panasonic targets 50% sales jump for TVs in Indonesia

Abstract: JAKARTA - Electronics giant Panasonic Corp. is seeking to sell up to 50 percent more TVs in Indonesia this year by offering online shopping and a greater variety of models. The company’s TV sales have been stagnant for three years. “We hope this year we can sell around 250,000 to 300,000 units,” said Erwin Lim, a Panasonic Gobel Indonesia product manager. The figures represent increases of 25 to 50 percent from 200,000 TVs sold last year. As part of its goal, Panasonic launched a website designed to help consumers select TV models according to their needs and budgets. “We want to strengthen our relationship with our customers and make it easy for consumers to choose products effectively and efficiently according to their needs and budgets,” Panasonic Gobel President Hiroyoshi Suga said. Lim said one challenge is that TVs are not a primary need for consumers in Indonesia. “Therefore, we will also innovate (our marketing) in order to increase sales,” Lim said. “We will begin to focus marketing on digital means, seeing a trend in today’s society.” Referring to Panasonic’s medium-term target over the next three years, Lim said the company wants to move to the No. 2 or No. 3 position by boosting its market share to 14 percent or 15 percent from the current 11 percent. Panasonic, currently No. 4 in the market, is seeking to catch up with third-ranked Sharp Corp., a Japanese firm owned by Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.


Trump, Kim lookalikes take Hong Kong by surprise

Abstract: HONG KONG - It is a scene unlikely ever to become reality — U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hugging and leaning in for a kiss on the bustling streets of Hong Kong. The lookalikes of the controversial leaders turned heads and prompted many giggles as they paraded down a busy shopping district to promote a Lunar New Year song on Wednesday. “Die, America, die,” shouted the Kim lookalike, a Hong Kong-based Australian musician who gave only his first name, Howard, as he swaggered in the young leader’s trademark black uniform. His counterpart playing Trump, a 66-year-old American musician who goes by the name of Dennis Alan, pouted and took the insults in stride. Alan needed three times as much time as Howard to prepare for his appearance, taking 1½ hours to spread layer after layer of orange foundation on his face and getting a hair stylist to delicately affix his tailor-made wig. Tongue-in-cheek, the Kim impersonator praised the newly inaugurated leader of the free world, saying the two nations could finally be friends as both are now led by “dictators.” “I think he’s a great leader and he’s much like me, a dictator,” said Howard. “And I think with that in mind he’s going to turn the United States into North Korea 2.0. So we’re going to be great friends.” On New Year’s Day, the North Korean leader said his country was close to test-launching an intercontinental ballistic missile, which suggested the United States could be in range. “It won’t happen,” Trump replied on social network Twitter at the time. But on Wednesday, the two leaders’ lookalikes had only one decree for the people of Hong Kong — no selfies allowed.

u.s .
north korea
kim jong un
offbeat
donald trump


Australia must do more to protect Great Barrier Reef, UNESCO says

Abstract: SYDNEY - The United Nations cultural heritage body, UNESCO, urged Australia on Saturday to accelerate efforts to save the Great Barrier Reef, saying long-term targets to improve its health are unlikely to be met. Progress toward achieving water quality targets has been slow, and Australia is at risk of falling short of its 2050 goals, UNESCO warned in a draft assessment of World Heritage sites prepared ahead of a meeting in Krakow, Poland, in July. “The World Heritage Centre and IUCN consider that the implementation of the Plan will need to accelerate to ensure that the intermediate and long-term targets of 2050 LTSP (Long-Term Sustainability Plan) are being met, in particular regarding water quality,” the report said. Australia’s Reef 2050 Plan was released in 2015 and is a key part of the government’s bid to prevent the World Heritage site from being placed on the United Nations’ “in danger” list. A negative rating for the Great Barrier Reef — located off the country’s northeast coast — would be embarrassing for the Australian government and damage its lucrative tourism industry. The reef is facing a number of threats, including poor water quality due to agricultural runoff, climate change, illegal fishing and coastal development. Back-to-back coral bleaching events driven by climate change and El Nino over the past two years have devastated large parts of the reef. UNESCO praised the inception and initial implementation of the government’s plan, as well as the $1.28 billion investment strategy for the next five years. But it noted important legislation regulating land clearing had not yet been passed, and climate change remained the most significant threat. Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg welcomed the draft decision in a joint statement. “The government acknowledges in its draft decision the Committee’s desire for accelerating actions towards water quality targets and will work with the Queensland government and the Independent Expert Panel on this matter,” the statement said. Environmental groups have said the report showed Australia needs to lift its game “Two years ago UNESCO put Australia on probation until the health of the reef improves. Clearly that probation is not going well. Since then there has been an unprecedented loss of coral,” said Richard Leck, WWF-Australia Head of Oceans.


The not-so-shady world of Japan's singles bars

Abstract: On May 22, the Yomiuri Shimbun published a curious article about Kihei Maekawa, a former administrative vice education minister who has said that he is willing to testify under oath about the Kake Gakuen scandal dogging Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The Yomiuri Shimbun published its “expose” of Maekawa five days after the former bureaucrat told the Asahi Shimbun about the existence of eight documents that suggest Abe pressured the government to approve the opening of a veterinary medicine department at a university run by Kake Educational Institute, a school operator chaired by Abe’s friend Kotaro Kake. The story in the Yomiuri Shimbun alleged that Maekawa frequented a shady dating bar in the Kabukicho district in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward for a few years until around the end of last year. The article implied that many of the women who come to the bar often invite the men out and offer sex for money. Now, here’s the billion-yen question: Are such places illegal? Putting aside for a second the Yomiuri Shimbun’s motivation in publishing the article, let’s focus on the nature of such “seedy dating bars,” or deaikei ( deai means “to encounter another person” in Japanese). In recent years, deaikei has been used to describe clubs, websites, bars, cafes or any place where people can go to meet other people. In the United States, such establishments would be called “singles bars.” Kabukicho is famous for being Tokyo’s red-light district, but since the metropolitan government launched a cleanup campaign back in 2003, the area has become progressively less seedy. A new multiplex movie theater has even opened in the district, offering such titles as “Beauty and the Beast” — not exactly racy entertainment. So it’s a bit of a stretch to say that a bar is shady simply because it’s located in Kabukicho. At a news conference on May 25, Maekawa admitted he used to go to a dating bar but said he went there to talk to the women and learn about poverty in the country. Maekawa said that he became interested in the topic after watching a TV documentary that said many women going to such bars are barely getting by. “Sometimes I had meals with women and gave them some pocket money,” Maekawa said. “Talking to them, I have learned that child poverty is connected to the poverty of women.” In this regard, he’s absolutely correct. In Japan, 50 percent of single mothers live in poverty. However, this doesn’t mean that the women who frequent such bars do so solely for the purposes of prostitution. That’s a massive assumption to make. Furthermore, let’s step back for a second and ask ourselves: What if someone’s real motive for visiting such a cafe was, in fact, to “hook up”? That is certainly not a crime. Even if a man went to a bar, met a woman and paid her for sex, in most cases neither could be arrested. Japan’s prostitution laws make the act itself a crime but the police don’t seek to prosecute the individuals, only the pimps or brothels involved. So unless the owner of a dating bar knows that prostitution is being conducted on the premises and takes a cut of the proceeds, they’re not doing anything illegal either. In short, Maekawa doesn’t appear to have done anything illegal and the people frequenting dating cafes certainly aren’t criminals either. Being lonely is hardly a crime.


Japan Times 1967: 'New "James Bond" film drawing huge crowds'

Abstract: 100 YEARS AGO Thursday, June 21 1917 Whole family of five go mad in Yamaguchi A whole family at Kamiyomura, Kugagori, Yamaguchi Prefecture, suddenly went frantic last Friday night, reports the “Jiji.” A 70-year-old man and four other people of the family cried, ejaculated, sobbed, etc. in a frantic manner the whole night, and the mysterious illness of the family surprised the neighbors. The doctor who was called in to investigate the cause stated that they were suffering from the effects of some kind of poisoning, and the next morning they were all restored to their former health. It proved that they treated themselves the previous night to vermicelli and leaves of a sort of eggplant, the latter of which had a poisoning effect on them. 75 YEARS AGO Friday, June 26, 1942 Imperial Naval Forces conquer Aleutians June 8, 1942, will go down in Japanese history as a day when Japan — fighting for the construction of a world order envisioned by its founder — placed itself in a position where it can make a thrust against America from behind, which will be in the light of a coup de grace to a country already beaten at its front. On that day the Imperial Naval Forces operating in the north landed on one of the Aleutian Islands and captured an enemy base that will be used by the Imperial Forces in the conduct of their operations against the American mainland. Shin Saito, a member of the Navy press corps, was with the Imperial Naval Forces which landed on the Aleutians. His vivid description of the remarkable landing operations of the unit which he accompanied appears in the Nichi Nichi. Mr Saito’s story, in diary form, follows: June 7 — It is the day for an attempt by us to make a landing in the face of resistance from the enemy. We have a sack containing rice balls and a flask. Our legs were gaitered. At 5:35 p.m., we sat for supper. Against the wall at the head of the table were put up, crossed, the Rising Sun flag and the naval ensign. We were served with rice boiled together with red beans. We rose from our seats and drank toasts. An atmosphere of penetrating silence reigned over the place. The ship’s captain called for cheers for the special landing party. Our shouts reverberated in the ship. The commander of the unit addressed himself to us. In a deliberate tone of voice, he told us: “Depend upon it that we will do our job to your complete satisfaction.” Thus he ended his memorable address. 50 YEARS AGO Sunday, June 18, 1967 New ‘James Bond’ film drawing huge crowds Despite the unfavorable publicity it received during its filming in Japan last year, Eon Films’ “You Only Live Twice,” the latest of the “James Bond” series, is drawing the biggest crowds since “Thunderball,” another Bond released in December 1965. The much-heralded film about the British secret agent opened at Hibiya Theater in downtown Tokyo on Saturday in a simultaneous world premiere with London and New York. A long queue surrounded the 1,483-seat theater, and the management said about 11,100 saw the film in six showings Saturday. Many who could not get seats stood to see the film. The shooting of the picture in Kyushu had raised eyebrows on a number of occasions. For one thing, the director wanted to change the appearance of a rural landscape to make it look — in the Japanese eyes — to be Meiji Era. Tampering with the reality of the landscape to make it look more “exotic” is a temptation few foreign filmmakers in Japan are immune from. Another “incident” occurred when the director allegedly asked a local high school girl extra to expose her body more than she had agreed to. One factor for the generally critical press, it is believed, was what appeared to be a lack of cooperation on the part of the production staff. The star Sean Connery, for instance, was seldom available for between-shooting interviews. Part of this seeming uncooperativeness has been explained by it having been necessary for production staff to keep secret the plot of the film story, which substantially departs from the original by Ian Fleming. 25 YEARS AGO Tuesday, June 16, 1992 Government approves U.N. peacekeeping bill The Diet gave final approval Monday evening to the government-proposed bill to enable overseas dispatch of Self-Defense Forces — a longtime taboo under the Constitution — to take part in United Nations peacekeeping missions. The bill passed 329-17 shortly before 8:30 p.m. with the joint support of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the two centrist parties — Komeito and the Democratic Socialist Party. The Japanese Communist Party voted against it. The largest opposition party, the Social Democratic Party of Japan, boycotted the voting after all Lower House SDPJ members submitted their resignations, which produced a tense, last-minute Diet confrontation over the controversial bill. The resignations, which have yet to be accepted, could disrupt Diet affairs and possibly revive speculation about the Lower House’s dissolution in the near future. At the end of a marathon plenary session of the Lower House that had dragged on for four days because of delaying tactics by the SDPJ and JCP, the LDP-centrist alliance voted in the bill. The government has recently been trying to give the SDF a bigger role in international peace-building efforts based on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s controversial security laws that loosened the constraints of the pacifist Constitution.

wwii
u.n .
yamaguchi
poisoning
you only live twice
james bond
sean connery
aleutian islands
peacekeeping bill


'Macho' photo contest hopes to boost demolition industry's image, draw more workers

Abstract: An unprecedented online photo contest highlighting demolition workers was held recently to raise public awareness of their profession in a chronically understaffed industry. The wrecking ball industry is struggling to find workers because many people have the impression that it is a tough job, so demolition workers rolled up their sleeves to show their mettle and provided the Macho Photo Contest for Demolition Workers with 68 photos. Many of the men took their shirts off and demonstrated bulging arms, big chests and six pack abs in various poses. Others wore a suit and tie while conducting paperwork, and another posed with his child near the driver’s seat of a heavy-duty machine, to give viewers a glimpse of their daily life. Nagoya-based Crassone Co., which manages websites related to housing and construction, held the contest from February to April. Overseeing the competition was a panel of six judges that included a manga artist and a magazine editor. The results were announced in early May and the overall winner was Yusuke Nagasaka, 27, from Hekinan, Aichi Prefecture, who works for a demolition company based in nearby Anjo. Until five years ago, Nagasaka was a member of the Ground Self-Defense Force’s elite paratrooper squad, where he had to undergo strict training. The judges praised Nagasaka for having a “striking body with his wide chest and thick neck.” When he joined his current company, he carried six to seven kawara (roof tiles) — a total of around 20 kg — up and down the scaffolding all day long. Nagasaka maintains his physique through his job alone, and does not work out at a gym. Both his father and grandfather were demolition workers and he had always admired his father’s vocation. When Nagasaka was young, he often watched his father work tirelessly as sweat poured down his back. “Regardless of the temperature, come rain or shine, we are there working. It’s a tough job, but it has a lot of pull, such as the sense of unity that I share with my colleagues and the sense of achievement we feel when we have finished a job,” Nagasaka explained. He took part in the contest at the recommendation of his supervisor. “Now I can proudly show my 1-year-old son that I am doing a cool job,” he said happily. “It is a physically demanding job, but they do not get a lot of money for it, so many young people quit not long after joining the company,” an industry insider said. “The current workers are aging and we’re having difficulty getting enough manpower.” One of the judges, manga artist Sadayoshi Ishii, drew pictures for a story about a demolition worker that ran in a manga magazine. “This industry has an image of being rough, but (the contest had) many cheerful and funny photos, so I think that will change people’s perception,” Ishii, 58, said. The photos can be viewed at http:// crassone.jp/photocon_photo/ . While Nagasaka was the overall winner, the best smile award was given to Kenji Takahashi, 38, of Gifu; the “dandy” award went to Kadir Akdeniz, a 40-year-old Turkish resident of Nagoya; the most “likes” award went to Masato Nakashima, 36, of Nagoya; and the best muscles prize was won by Yukihito Hida, 32, of Ome, western Tokyo.


Japan copyright body courts anger by casting a wider net

Abstract: The Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC) sparked a public uproar in February when it announced it will start demanding that private music schools pay copyright fees. The nation’s largest copyright management agency says that when teachers play a song on the piano in front of their students without permission, they are committing a copyright violation. JASRAC drew fire again in May when media reports surfaced alleging the organization had demanded that Kyoto University pay a copyright fee for posting online a congratulatory address written by professor Juichi Yamagiwa that included a line from Bob Dylan’s classic song “Blowin’ in the Wind.” JASRAC has long earned notoriety for what critics see as strong-armed collection tactics. A JASRAC spokesman, however, told The Japan Times that its objective is to “contribute to the healthy development of music culture.” The agency distributed ¥112 billion to music labels and artists in 2016. “The copyright law requires people to obtain the permission of copyright holders when they benefit from the rights holders’ music,” he said. Here are some questions and answers about the copyright group: What are JASRAC’s main duties? It was founded in 1939 as Japan’s first organization managing music copyrights. As of March 31, the organization managed about 3.7 million pieces of music. JASRAC handles copyrights of songs and their lyrics on behalf of copyright owners, who include music publishers and artists. The organization was managing copyrights on behalf of 17,610 clients as of April 1. Operators of all businesses, including broadcasters, publishers, bars, cafes and hair salons, must sign an agreement with JASRAC and pay copyright fees to use music for commercial purposes. The organization also charges fees from operators of funerals and wedding ceremonies. If someone wants to play Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” at a funeral, the operator must get permission from JASRAC and pay the copyright fee. The JASRAC spokesman said not many funeral operators have signed agreements, but the group will continue to send out notices. What are some of the ways that copyright-protected music is used? Uses include performing a song at a live gig or a karaoke tournament, playing a song as background music in a store or other business, such as a restaurant, and leasing out CDs. Meanwhile, publishers must pay copyright fees to print lyrics in a book, magazine or newspaper. For stores smaller than 500 sq. meters, the fee is ¥6,000 a year for unlimited use of JASRAC songs as background music. It costs more to hold a concert using JASRAC songs. To use 10 songs managed by the organization in a 100-minute concert with up to 100 people in the audience who pay ¥1,000 to get in, it would cost ¥4,320 per show for the operator, according to a price simulator available on the JASRAC website. How does the group operate? JASRAC has about 20 offices and 500 employees nationwide to inform new businesses that they’re required to pay for copyrighted music and to keep tabs on existing businesses to make sure they maintain the proper level of fee payments. On top of its own employees, the spokesman said JASRAC works with other organizations to collect fees, such as companies that lease karaoke machines to bars. When a bar rents a karaoke machine from a leasing company, its contract with the leasing company includes a section mandating that it pay JASRAC for the music played, the spokesman said. Why does JASRAC have a bad reputation? The organization has been criticized for being overly harsh with small businesses that use music without permission. JASRAC said that in June 2016, it filed petitions for arbitration against 212 hair salons, restaurants and clothing stores for allegedly failing to pay fees for background music. The move shocked many who were unaware they were supposed to pay JASRAC copyright fees simply for playing CDs or music from iPods or smartphones. JASRAC began managing the copyright fees for music played as background music in 2002 and in recent years has expanded its collection targets. The organization started gathering fees from fitness clubs in 2011, cultural centers in 2012, dance schools in 2015 and karaoke schools in 2016. The organization will begin collecting copyright fees from private music schools starting next year. What is the latest controversy over JASRAC? The organization caused a stir in February after announcing it will begin collecting copyright fees from private music schools operated by instrument manufacturers starting in January 2018. In response, about 350 music school operators and other music businesses, including Yamaha Music Foundation and Kawai Musical Instruments Manufacturing Co., formed a group to file a lawsuit against JASRAC as early as July. They argue that JASRAC should not demand copyright fees for using music for educational purposes. However, according to a press release issued by JASRAC in February, private music schools must pay fees because they operate for “commercial purposes.” It also said that regular schools teaching music classes as part of the standard curriculum are excluded. Copyrights expire 50 years after the death of an artist, meaning that most classical music is exempt from copyright protection. However, the agency spokesman said music schools tend to use contemporary music, including pop songs. Article 22 of the Copyright Law gives composers the right to perform their music. A copyright is violated if others play it without permission, JASRAC claims, adding that it therefore must demand that schools pay fees. “Our task is not about monitoring or banning music. We encourage legal use of music by signing a contract with us,” the spokesman said. To help “develop music culture in Japan,” the organization will continue to expand areas where rights holders are protected, he said.


Cubans rock to once-censored Beatles at Havana tribute concert feting 'Sgt. Pepper's' 50th anniversary

Abstract: HAVANA - Communist-run Cuba, which once frowned upon the Beatles as a decadent Western influence, on Thursday held an open-air covers concert in a Havana park to celebrating 50 years since the release of the band’s landmark album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” Beatlemania has flourished belatedly on the Caribbean island, where authorities in the 1960s and 1970s considered Beatles songs “ideological diversionism.” That censorship faded after the Cold War ended and late President Fidel Castro in 2000 pulled a cultural about-face, calling John Lennon a “revolutionary” hero and unveiling a bronze statue of him sitting on a bench in a park. Today, Beatles music is played on the Cuban airwaves and Lennon Park is one of Havana’s minor landmarks. Hundreds of Beatles fans turned up there on Thursday evening to rock to Cuban covers of emblematic songs from the band’s eighth album, considered by many to be their best, sometimes with a local twist like a salsa beat. “The Beatles are beloved in Cuba. They are the greatest there is in the history of music,” said Ivan Rico, a dock worker who like many at the concert sported a T-shirt emblazoned with the image of Liverpool’s Fab Four. Rico said he felt his school punished him for enjoying the Beatles so he was delighted now to be able to indulge his passion. Other music lovers recalled smuggling in tapes or records and listening to them at clandestine parties. “I couldn’t live this at the appropriate time of my life, so I’m fulfilling that dream I still have now,” said Ruben Urias Raurell, 62, who traded his fishing equipment for his first Beatles record as a youngster. Lennon Park has become a pilgrimage destination for local fans as well as foreign tourists. Guards ensure they do not make off with the iconic round-rimmed spectacles placed on the Lennon statue. “We look after them 11, 12 hours per day, and then we take the glasses home with us,” said Aleyda Rodriguez, 72. She said it hard to find the right type of glasses in Cuba so people traveling abroad would sometimes bring her some back. “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one” from the song “Imagine” is engraved in Spanish at the feet of the statue. Around the corner from the park is The Yellow Submarine, one of several tributes bars across the island. The Rolling Stones, another band that was once censored in Cuba, played to a crowd of nearly half a million people in March 2016.


Health ministry caves to LDP, shelves restaurant smoking ban vow

Abstract: The health ministry on Friday decided not to include a pledge to ban smoking in restaurants in its long-term policy on cancer control, yielding to pressure from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to leave the lax regulations intact. The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry will still aim to eliminate smoking in government offices and medical institutions, officials said, as it seeks to implement tighter measures to counter passive smoking before Tokyo hosts the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. In line with the goals of the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the ministry will reduce the proportion of the population exposed to the risk of passive smoking to 15 percent or lower by fiscal 2022. The ministry presented its final plan on smoking measures to a panel on Friday, with the six-year plan scheduled to start this fiscal year expected to be formally approved by the Cabinet next month. The ministry had earlier sought to ban smoking in restaurants by 2020, exempting only small bars under the new six-year plan. But the LDP, backed by the tobacco and restaurant industries, has proposed that smoking be allowed as long as smoking and nonsmoking areas are clearly separated. The six-year plan also aims to boost the cancer screening ratio to 50 percent and raise the ratio of suspected cancer patients who take detailed follow-up exams to 90 percent. The ministry is also seeking revisions to the 2003 Health Promotion Law to ban smoking in public places in time for the Olympics. Currently, the law says operators must “make efforts” to curb passive smoking. But it has not been able to introduce the revision bill to the Diet due to fierce opposition from the LDP’s pro-tobacco members. With less than a month left until the Diet closes, it is becoming increasingly difficult for Japan to ban indoor smoking before 2020. The ministry estimates that about 15,000 people die annually in Japan from passive smoking, which is known to cause heart disease, stroke and lung cancer. With no law to ban public smoking, Japan was among the countries in the lowest-graded group out of four in the World Health Organization’s 2015 report on the global tobacco epidemic. After the WHO and the International Olympic Committee agreed in 2010 to promote tobacco-free Olympic Games, all countries hosting the Olympics have implemented anti-tobacco regulations that include punishment, according to the ministry.

shinzo abe
restaurants
cancer
health ministry
2020 tokyo olympics
japan
smoking ban


Japan eyes U.S. nuclear pact that renews automatically amid Trump administration vacancies

Abstract: Japan will seek a nuclear energy pact with the United States that renews automatically while it continues reprocessing spent fuel and enriching uranium, government sources said Tuesday. The government plans to forgo a long-term pact similar to the 30-year bilateral agreement that expires in July next year, according to the source. Officials want the new type of agreement because they have little time for talks amid vacancies in U.S. departments tasked with negotiations under President Donald Trump’s administration, the sources said. Furthermore, the government apparently wants to avoid facing potentially harsh demands from Washington over such matters as the large stockpiles of plutonium that have built up over years of reprocessing under the current pact. The plutonium can be used to produce nuclear weapons, posing a potential proliferation risk, which worries Washington. The bilateral agreement that entered into force in July 1988 authorizes Japan for 30 years until July 2018 to establish a nuclear fuel recycling system in which spent fuel from nuclear reactors is reprocessed to extract uranium and plutonium. The two can then be recycled into fuel called mixed oxide, or MOX, for use in fast-breeder reactors or conventional nuclear reactors. But the reprocessing project has faced growing uncertainty as most nuclear plants have suspended operations amid safety concerns following the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 plant caused by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The trouble-prone Monju prototype fast-breeder nuclear reactor in Fukui Prefecture will also be decommissioned despite its envisioned key role in the fuel recycling plan. Despite the setbacks, the government wants to extend the agreement in its current form — with the ability to reprocess spent fuel and enrich uranium for nuclear fuel. But the prospect of a further buildup of plutonium could prompt calls for caution from some in the United States. If the pact is renewed with the automatic extension clause, it could be terminated at a later date if either party gives notice six months in advance. But the government has judged that the U.S. is unlikely to greatly change its policy given that officials in charge of such negotiations at the State and Energy departments have yet to be named, the sources said.

nuclear energy
monju
spent nuclear fuel
mox
u.s.-japan relations


Another confirmed Kake document adds to pile suggesting Abe favoritism

Abstract: The education ministry confirmed Tuesday the existence of a newly reported ministry document suggesting the involvement of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the Kake Gakuen scandal, further deepening suspicion of alleged government favoritism for the Okayama-based school operator. On Monday, public broadcaster NHK reported that it obtained a document that was produced by a ministry official last year which allegedly provides a summary of what Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda told Yutaka Tokiwa, head of the higher education bureau, during a meeting on Oct. 21. “We’ve found a file identical to the document in an (online) shared folder of the Technical Education Division,” education minister Hirokazu Matsuno told a news conference on Tuesday. If the allegation in the document is true, it would mean Hagiuda, a close aide to the prime minister, indicated that Abe had already chosen Kake Gakuen for a special deregulation project as of October, months before a ministry panel officially reviewed the application. The school operator applied for a new veterinary department at one of its universities and received the first such approval from the government in 52 years. The document quoted Hagiuda as saying “the prime minister set the deadline” for the department’s opening at April 2018. “For that purpose, (Kake Gakuen) needs to file an application for a construction permit by March 2017,” Hagiuda was quoted as saying. Hagiuda reportedly made those remarks three months before a government panel formally approved Kake Gakuen’s application. According to the document, Hagiuda said the education ministry “got cold feet” in promoting the Kake Gakuen project while the “Prime Minister’s Office has said it is determined to carry it out at any cost.” On Tuesday, Hagiuda denied that he made the remarks. “I have never been given any instruction by the prime minister concerning Kake Gakuen,” Hagiuda said in a statement. According to Hagiuda, the education ministry has apologized to him by saying the content of the document in question “was remarkably erroneous.” This is not the first time Hagiuda has denied that he put any pressure on the education ministry to favor Kake Gakuen. On Thursday the education ministry released an email sent by a Cabinet Office official in November. The official claimed that the Cabinet Office revised government regulations for allowing a university to open a new veterinary department based on “an instruction” from Hagiuda. The revisions reportedly favored Kake Gakuen as they disqualified rival Kyoto Sangyo University because nearby Osaka Prefecture University already has such a department. Hagiuda denied making such a direction. Given the discrepancies between education ministry records and Hagiuda’s denials, experts and journalists have called for a third-party investigation into the alleged government favoritism. But on Tuesday Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga rejected the proposal, saying that both education minister Matsuno and Cabinet Office minister Kozo Yamamoto “have already conducted investigations assuming their own responsibilities.” Kake Gakuen, whose formal English name is Kake Educational Institution, is chaired by Kotaro Kake, a close friend of the prime minister. Opposition lawmakers have maintained that Abe’s government picked Kake Gakuen for the special deregulation project because of its ties to Abe.


Adherence to 2015 'comfort women' deal with Seoul urged in Japan-U.S. talks

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Japan and the United States have affirmed the importance of Tokyo and Seoul implementing a 2015 bilateral agreement to resolve issues surrounding Korean “comfort women,” who were forced to work in Japanese military brothels before and during World War II. On Monday, Vice Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan discussed the 2015 deal in talks at the State Department, ahead of a meeting later this week between U.S. President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the White House. Sugiyama said Sullivan agreed that the deal should be implemented. Moon, who took office last month, has criticized the agreement, which was reached under the administration of his conservative predecessor Park Geun-hye, saying it is not accepted by the people of South Korea. Sugiyama told Sullivan that Japan “intends to steadily implement the agreement that has been valued highly by the international community including the United States,” according to Sugiyama, who briefed reporters about the talks at the State Department. In accordance with the December 2015 agreement to “finally and irreversibly” resolve the issue, Japan disbursed ¥1 billion last year to a South Korean fund providing support for the affected women. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed his “most sincere apologies and remorse” to the comfort women for the suffering they experienced. But the deal was criticized by some in South Korea for failing to reflect the voices of the affected women, and Moon pledged during his election campaign to renegotiate the agreement. In Monday’s talks, Sugiyama told Sullivan that Japan and the Moon administration had “made a good start” in advancing bilateral relations, and that Tokyo seeks to strengthen the partnership, as well as trilateral coordination with Washington in the face of North Korea’s nuclear and missile development. Sugiyama said he and Sullivan agreed that Japan and the United States must apply pressure with sanctions on North Korea to curb its nuclear and missile programs. They also affirmed the need to press China, the North’s main economic and diplomatic benefactor, to play a larger role in reining in its neighbor.

u.s .
south korea
comfort women
shinsuke sugiyama


The era of young shogi pro Fujii is here, but so is the era of AI in changing the game

Abstract: The record-setting winning streak of a 14-year-old shogi sensation has turned the spotlight on another new phenomenon shaking up the centuries-old Japanese board game — the use of artificial intelligence to improve players’ skills. Sota Fujii, a junior high school student from Seto, Aichi Prefecture, set the all-time record for 29 consecutive victories on Monday, beating Yasuhiro Masuda, a 19-year-old pro. Fujii’s victory “symbolizes the beginning of a new era,” said Yoshiharu Habu, a shogi legend and ninth dan who became the first player to sweep all seven major titles of the game in 1996, describing it as “a historic feat.” And similar to the games chess and go, advanced shogi players, including Fujii, have turned to high-tech machines and computers, utilizing software to brush up their skills. The Japan Shogi Association began organizing matches between top pros and AI-equipped robots in 2012. Many pros, including those holding the highest rank of ninth dan, have been beaten by the robots. Fujii, a soft-spoken teenager who sometimes cracks a bashful smile before cameras after a win, started using computers as part of his training regimen last year. It remains unknown exactly what kind of digital training he has been doing, but top pros say he has made fewer mistakes recently. “Fujii has been doing far better than we expected,” said Taku Morishita, a spokesman and executive director for the Tokyo-based Japan Shogi Association. “He makes moves that we never think of,” said Morishita, a ninth dan. Morishita, 50, lost to a computer in an official match in 2014. “I felt as if I was hitting a fastball traveling at 200 kph,” he said. “But young competitors such as Fujii are more capable of maintaining that type of pace.” It has been just half a year since Fujii’s debut in December as the youngest ever shogi pro. He qualified as a fourth dan, the lowest professional rank, after surviving a competition involving about 160 dues-paying participants seeking to become pros at Shorei-kai , a training institute that operates under the Japan Shogi Association. In September last year, Fujii won one of the two slots opened to new professional players every six months. Fujii has yet to win any of the eight major titles of the game, but his 29th win made the front pages of all major Japanese newspapers Tuesday as he has remained unbeaten since turning pro. The association announced last month the creation of an eighth major title. His earnings from the 29 wins have not been disclosed, but the top prize for one of the major titles is ¥43.2 million. According to the association, an estimated 10 million people, including young children, play shogi across the nation. Ninth dan Habu earned ¥91.5 million from matches in 2016. “In Mr. Habu’s era, shogi players used computers mainly as databases,” said Takuya Hiraoka, the developer of the software behind the Apery shogi engine that won the 2014 international computer shogi championship. “But now, computers can evolve by themselves” to levels that can defeat professional players. “Some junior shogi pros in the past have had difficulty advancing their game play rapidly if they failed to find a good teacher. But today computers can help pros improve their skills,” said Hiraoka, 32. Hiraoka said he has been thrilled to see new developments in shogi, such as changes to even time-honored winning strategies based on suggestions from computers. “They could change every year,” he said. “Shogi is in a transitional stage in many aspects” and the association has yet to release a guideline for the use of computers in training players, including children, Morishita said. Morishita, who coached Masuda, the 19-year-old who lost to Fujii in the high-profile match Monday, said personally he stops short of telling his young apprentices to use computers as too many things remain unknown about how their use affects the brain. “I told Masuda to try to learn shogi in analog form at least before he turns 25,” he said. Morishita said, however, he can “understand” why professional wannabes struggling amid the fierce competition in the Shorei-kai academy would turn to computers. Members of the academy, in principle, have to leave if they fail to turn professional by the age of 26. When asked if he believes the day will come when junior professionals who are using computers to train will easily beat high-ranking veterans, Morishita said, “The possibility is not very high, but I would not say it’s impossible.” Moving up the ranks: A list of shogi trivia The following is a list of trivia related to the centuries-old board game shogi. The information was provided by the Japan Shogi Association. 14-year-old Sota Fujii now holds the all-time winning-streak record but remains at the fourth dan, the lowest among the six-stage ranking system, with ninth being the highest. All pros go through the qualification process at the association’s competitive Shorei-kai training institute, where selected amateurs with ranks from third dan down to sixth kyu compete. The bigger the number, the higher players are ranked according to the dan rankings. The order is reversed for the kyu rankings. Shogi has eight major title competitions, none of which Fujii has won. The highest prize among the eight is the ¥43.2 million awarded to the winner of the Ryuo Sen competition, while the Meijin Sen is another coveted title dating back to the 17th century. The Meijin Sen competition is widely regarded as a chance to gauge the latest strengths of each player regardless of rank. The amount of Meijin Sen prize money is not made public. The other six major titles are Eio Sen, Oi Sen, Oza Sen, Kio Sen, Osho Sen and Kisei Sen competitions.


Shareholders urge utilities to end nuclear power generation, are snubbed by management

Abstract: Anti-nuclear shareholders in major Japanese utilities called for an end to nuclear power generation at general shareholders’ meetings on Wednesday, citing safety concerns and a lack of support in local communities. Among the proposals at the meetings of eight power producers were withdrawal from the nuclear power business and decommissioning of plants, but the utilities rejected the calls, citing nuclear power’s contribution to stable supply of electricity and lower energy prices. At the meeting of Kansai Electric Power Co. attended by around 680 shareholders, Kyoto Mayor Daisaku Kadokawa said the utility should move away from nuclear dependency amid continuing repercussions from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. But Kansai Electric President Shigeki Iwane said the utility in western Japan will cut electricity rates from August along with the restart of reactors 3 and 4 at its Takahama plant in Fukui Prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast. One shareholder pointed out that “massive damage will be caused if a ballistic missile launched by North Korea falls onto the nuclear plant.” Hayato Saeki, president of Shikoku Electric Power Co., told the shareholders’ meeting that the company has seen “the stabilization of power supply and demand and the improvement of profitability” due to the stable operation of reactor 3 at the Ikata nuclear plant in Ehime Prefecture, western Japan. Some shareholders of Kyushu Electric Power Co. questioned whether the utility has gained the support of local residents for the planned restart of reactors 3 and 4 at the Genkai nuclear power plant in Saga Prefecture, which Saga Gov. Yoshinori Yamaguchi consented to in late April. Meanhwile, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc., which held its general shareholders’ meeting last Friday, dismissed all 11 antinuclear proposals, including the decommissioning of its idled Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata Prefecture. As of Wednesday, five of Japan’s 42 commercial reactors nationwide are operating, according to the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy. They are reactors 3 and 4 at the Takahama plant, reactors 1 and 2 at Kyushu Electric’s Sendai plant in Kagoshima Prefecture, and reactor 3 at the Ikata plant. Kyushu Electric Power has also sought to resume reactors 3 and 4 at the Genkai nuclear power plant this summer or thereafter.


Niagara Falls daredevil riding inside inflatable ball with a boa constrictor dies; snake missing

Abstract: Niagara Falls, NEW YORK - A daredevil who died after plunging over Niagara Falls in an apparent stunt with an inflatable ball might have brought a boa constrictor along for the ride. After Kirk Jones’ death, New York State Park Police found a website with a photo of him and the 7-foot (210-cm) snake named Misty previewing his plans and selling T-shirts and photos, the Niagara Gazette reported Wednesday. “Believe in the Impossible Kirk Jones + Misty Conquer Niagara Falls NY 2017,” read the site, which has since been taken down. Jones’ body was recovered from the water below the falls on June 2. Investigators believe he died April 19, the same day tourists spotted an 8-foot (240-cm) plastic ball, its zippered hatch clearly open, spinning in the Niagara River rapids before it went over the brink. The snake hasn’t been found, though an empty snake cage was found in Jones’ parked van. Exotic-pet experts told police it wouldn’t have survived the cold water. Footage from a crashed drone belonging to Jones, found by a parks employee April 20, shows only rushing water. Police began looking for Jones after the discovery of the ball and drone and after a call from Jones’ wife telling them she feared her husband had gone over the falls. That led to the discovery of the website: www.kirkjonesniagarafallsdaredevil.com . “We were looking for him and a 7-foot boa constrictor,” Park Police Detective Sgt. Brian Nisbet said. Police don’t know whether Jones fell or climbed out of the ball before reaching the brink. Jones, 53, became the first person known to survive the plunge over Niagara Falls without a safety device in October 2003, when he climbed over a rail and into the water in an apparent suicide attempt. The feat brought fleeting fame for the then-unemployed salesman from Canton, Michigan, and a brief stint in the circus, but he had been out of the public eye in recent years. Police listed his most recent address as Spring Hill, Florida. Although such stunts are illegal, several daredevils have survived trips over Niagara Falls in various contraptions, beginning with Annie Edison Taylor, who rode over in an oak barrel in 1901. At least two other men have survived unprotected plunges since Jones did it.