Trump remarks prompt debate over cost of Japan-U.S. defense ties

Abstract: Donald Trump, who is now expected to be the Republican candidate for U.S. president, has made a number of disturbing remarks. Particularly troubling to Japanese officials is his threat to shake up the Japan-U.S. military alliance. Trump has argued Japan should pay all the costs of stationing U.S. forces in the country, saying he would otherwise consider withdrawing the U.S. military and allowing Japan to arm itself with nuclear weapons. But how much exactly is the U.S. spending on U.S. forces in Japan? And is Trump’s argument fair? Following are questions and answers on the issue: How much of the cost of U.S. forces in Japan is borne by the U.S., and how much is spent by Japan? According to the 2017 Operation and Maintenance Overview by the Office of the U.S. Under Secretary of Defense, the direct cost of stationing U.S. forces in Japan is estimated at $5.47 billion (¥595 billion) for fiscal 2016, which includes personnel, operations, maintenance, construction and family housing. In addition, according to the Defense Ministry, Japan is set to pay ¥192 billion to support U.S. forces in fiscal 2016, including most of the utility charges at U.S. bases and facilities in Japan, as well as the wages of Japanese employees. In addition, Japan pays various other costs related to the U.S. forces, which totaled ¥364.6 billion ($3.35 billion) for the same fiscal year. This includes ¥176.6 billion for realigning the U.S. military in Japan, including costs to transfer Okinawa-based U.S. Marines to Guam and relocate forces within Japan, ¥98.8 billion for facility rent and ¥57 billion to improve the living environment in areas surrounding U.S. bases. If all those costs are included, the share of Japan’s financial burden is calculated at 48.3 percent. Trump has argued the U.S. would be “better off” if Japan and South Korea protected themselves. Is it true? Eliminating U.S. defense budgets for Japan and South Korea alone would probably not greatly help, given the massive size of the Pentagon’s total defense budget. According to the Office of U.S. Under Secretary of Defense, the total overseas costs of U.S. military forces is $19.32 billion for fiscal 2016, 65.7 percent of which is spent on the U.S. military in Japan, Germany and South Korea. Meanwhile, the total U.S. defense budget is $580.3 billion for the same fiscal year. Is Japan shouldering much larger financial burdens than other U.S. allies? Probably yes, although no updated data for comparison are available. Until 2004, the U.S. Department of Defense published an annual report titled Allied Contributions to the Common Defense. According to the 2004 report, in 2002 Japan provided direct support of $3.2 billion and indirect support worth $1.18 billion for the U.S. military in Japan, offsetting as much as 74.5 percent of the total costs of U.S. forces in the country. This ratio was the highest among major allied nations of the U.S. cited by the report. The indirect costs included forgone rents and revenues, such as rents on government-owned land and facilities occupied or used by U.S. forces and tax concessions or customs duties waived by the host nation. Why are U.S. forces in Japan in the first place? The U.S. has stationed its forces in Japan for years, not just to defend the country but also for its own strategic interests in the Asia-Pacific region. After Japan’s surrender in World War II in 1945, the U.S. occupied Japan until April 1952. During the Occupation, the U.S. demilitarized Japan and drafted the postwar war-renouncing Constitution, which prohibited Japan from possessing a military. In 1951, the two countries concluded the Japan-U.S. security treaty, which allowed the U.S. to retain its bases and military in Japan beyond 1952, when Japan would regain full sovereignty to end the postwar Occupation. In 1960, the treaty was revised to oblige the U.S. to defend Japan if the country is attacked. In return, the accord obliged Japan to allow the U.S. to use land, air space and military bases in Japan “for the purpose of contributing to the security of Japan and the maintenance of international peace and security in the Far East.” During the Cold War years, the U.S. used its bases in Japan as key footholds to send out numerous military aircraft and ships during the Korean War and Vietnam War. Even after the end of the Cold War, the U.S. bases in Japan have dispatched troops and aircraft for operations in the Middle East. More recently, U.S. President Barack Obama has adopted a “rebalancing” policy to maintain a strong U.S. presence in the Asia-Pacific region to protect U.S. interests in the area. Japanese bases are considered a key piece of this policy. “The U.S.-Japan alliance is, and will continue to be, a cornerstone of our engagement in the Asia-Pacific region,” read a 2013 report of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee. Trump has argued the security treaty obliges the U.S. to defend Japan if the country is attacked, but Japan is not obliged to defend the U.S. Is this fair? Many experts say the treaty is not purely one-sided because Japan is obliged to allow the U.S. forces to use vast land, airspace and military facilities in Japan that serve as key strategic interests for the U.S. In addition, it is the U.S.-drafted postwar Constitution that legally prohibited Japan for years from using the right to collective self-defense, or the right to attack a third country assaulting an ally even if the country itself is not under attack. Meanwhile, some right-leaning Japanese politicians, most notably Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, may agree with Trump to an extent. They have long been concerned that Japan-U.S. ties would be critically damaged if the Self-Defense Forces did not try to defend the U.S. in the case of war. Last year Abe changed the long-standing government interpretation of the Constitution and thereby partially eased the long-held ban on collective self-defense. According to Abe’s constitutional interpretation, Japan is now allowed to attack a country attacking the U.S. military if Japan’s own “survival” is at stake. The Diet, controlled by Abe’s ruling coalition, has enacted a set of new laws to expand the SDF’s missions based on this interpretation. Abe’s constitutional interpretation and the laws remain contentious among the Japanese public.

defense
u.s. bases
u.s.-japan relations
donald trump


U.S. Okinawa chief states shock at woman's death, explains restrictions

Abstract: NAHA, OKINAWA PREF. - The U.S. military commander in Okinawa on Saturday expressed his shock and regret at the death of a local woman following the arrest of an American civilian worker suspected of dumping her body, and explained measures to tighten discipline among U.S. forces. “There are no words in the English language that can adequately convey our level of shock, pain and grief at the loss of life of this innocent victim,” said Lt. Gen. Lawrence Nicholson at a news conference at Camp Foster in Okinawa Prefecture. The conference, which came the day after the base imposed a midnight curfew and alcohol ban off-base for a monthlong “period of unity and mourning,” was held to explain the measures. Under the restrictions, which will last through June 24, those living off-base can drink alcohol only while they are on base or inside their homes, and all service members must be back in their residences by midnight. Nicholson said the measures were not intended as punishment, but to demonstrate deep sympathy for the victim and her family. “It is not just the Okinawan people who are grieving and hurt. Our American community of 50,000 men, women and children are also grieving and are deeply hurt by the alleged incomprehensible actions of this American citizen,” he said. Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, a former Marine and a worker at the U.S. Air Force’s Kadena Air Base, was arrested last week in connection with the killing of the 20-year-old victim, who has been named as Rina Shimabukuro, after sexually assaulting her. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday made a direct protest to U.S. President Barack Obama over the crime at a meeting on the sidelines of the Group of Seven leaders’ summit in Mie Prefecture. Obama said the U.S. will make every effort to review procedures to prevent such crimes happening again.

okinawa
military
u.s. bases
sofa
u.s.-japan relations
rina shimabukuro
kenneth franklin shinzato


Leaping sturgeon knocks boater unconscious on Florida river

Abstract: CHIEFLAND, FLORIDA - Wildlife officials say a Florida man was knocked unconscious by a sturgeon that leapt into his boat on the Suwannee River during a fishing tournament. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said in a news release that 62-year-old Ronald Dick and his son were traveling about 30 mph when the nearly 1½-meter (4- to 5-foot) fish jumped into the boat Saturday afternoon. The release says Dick’s injuries were not considered life-threatening and that he was taken to a hospital for treatment. Wildlife spokesman Andy Krause says boaters need to be aware that large fish are found in the Suwannee and Santa Fe rivers and they sometimes leap into boats. He says it’s the first sturgeon incident in 2016. Last year, sturgeon strikes killed one person and injured eight in Florida.


Japan moves to protect 'copyrights' of AI creations

Abstract: The Japanese government plans to develop a legal framework to protect copyright on novels, music and other works created by artificial intelligence. The government’s intellectual property task force led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made the decision during a meeting Monday as the group believes the existing copyright law does not cover creations produced by AI. The government envisions putting the new measures into practice in fiscal 2017 beginning April 2017 or later, officials said. “We will support companies and universities working on creating innovation, to enable them to use intellectual property,” Abe said at the meeting of the Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters. Legislative changes are thought necessary to protect AI-created works from unauthorized use, and to enable the developer of the AI system to be fairly compensated. The quality of AI works has been improving. Earlier this year, a novel written by a Japanese AI program passed the first round of screening for a literature award named after science fiction writer Shinichi Hoshi.

robots
copyright
japan
artificial intelligence


Cameroon girl, 16, grabbed by Boko Haram, married off, trained as suicide bomber, flees during raid

Abstract: TOUROU, CAMEROON - A 16-year-old girl was kidnapped with her 1-month-old baby by Boko Haram from her home in northern Cameroon 18 months ago, taken to Nigeria, married off to an extremist fighter and then trained to be a suicide bomber. Last week she succeeded in escaping when the Nigerian military launched a raid on a Boko Haram camp. She wandered through Sambisa Forest in northeastern Nigeria for several days until, tired, weak and hungry, she was found by members of a local defense group fighting the extremists, who handed her over to Cameroon’s military, said Midjiyawa Bakary, governor of the Far North region of Cameroon. “When the Nigerian army attacked the Boko Haram camp where we were, there was confusion everywhere and I escaped to the forest, where I walked for a week and handed myself to the first people I saw,” she said. The teenager is among thousands of people who have been kidnapped by the Nigeria-based Islamic extremists since they launched their insurgency nearly seven years ago. Recently the abductions have reached across Nigeria’s borders to Cameroon, Chad and Niger. The Cameroonian girl is among hundreds freed since January. On Sunday, she was reunited with her parents but her daughter, she said tearfully, had been left with the man she was forced to marry after her kidnapping. “I was taken to a prison in a cave where we were locked up for three weeks and then distributed to men. We were given food every morning to prepare for our husbands,” she said in the local Hausa and Fulfulde languages through an interpreter. “Every afternoon we were asked to pray and vow that we would remain obedient.” She said she and many other girls were trained to be suicide bombers. “They took us two times every week and gave us lessons on how to detonate bombs. We were told if we died while defending Allah’s cause against evil men, we shall be received in paradise.” Crowds of people, including government officials and traditional rulers, welcomed the teen home to Tourou village, near Mokolo in northern Cameroon. Her 52-year-old father said he was delighted to see her. “I am grateful to all those who fought hard for the release of my daughter. As you can see, all of Tourou is very happy that she is back, even though her 2-year old daughter is not here with us,” he said. “Our immediate plight now is how to have her treated because she looks tired and very sick.” The girl needs more medical attention, according to Jacob Kodji, one of Cameroon’s military commanders of troops fighting the Boko Haram insurgency. “She was very, very sick when she was brought to us,” Kodji said. “We did our best to save her life and will continue to take care of her. We are also thanking the Nigerian military for the attacks that freed her. We have deployed troops to the forest to see if other freed captives can be found.” The Cameroonian girl is among dozens who have escaped or been freed since January as troops from Nigeria and the multinational joint task force continue to launch raids against Boko Haram, including in its stronghold in the Sambisa Forest, near Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria. A Nigerian girl who escaped last week was one of the 219 schoolgirls kidnapped from Chibok school in a mass abduction in 2014 that sparked international outrage. A May 19 raid on a Boko Haram camp liberated some 97 women and children and killed 35 extremists, said the Nigerian army. These rescues are renewing hopes that the fight against Boko Haram is yielding results and the group will not be able to kidnap so many young women and girls to launch suicide attacks or act as sex slaves and young men and boys who are forced to join their fight to create an Islamic caliphate.

terrorism
boko haram
nigeria
cameroon
chibok girls


Thai man bloodied but unbowed after snake attacks him in toilet

Abstract: BANGKOK - A Thai man is recovering from a bloody encounter with a 3-meter (10-foot) python that slithered through the plumbing of his home and latched its jaws onto his penis as he was using a squat toilet. Attaporn Boonmakchuay was smiling as television stations interviewed him in his hospital bed about the intimate intrusion, and doctors said he would recover. But photos of his blood-splattered bathroom in Chachoengsao province, east of Bangkok, were testimony to his ordeal. The 38-year-old told Thai TV Channel 7 that he struggled to remove the snake for 30 minutes Wednesday before he managed to free himself with help from his wife and a neighbor. After his wife tied a rope around the snake, Attaporn pried open its jaws before passing out. Emergency workers dismantled the squat toilet, with the python still twined through it. The snake was taken away to be released back into the wild, according to an emergency responder cited by the newspaper Thai Rath. Doctors said Attaporn, bloodied but unbowed, will recover. “He has a really good attitude . . . even though his own wife and children were in shock. He’s been smiling and giving interviews all day from his bed,” hospital director Dr. Chutima Pincharoen said.


Okinawa governor irked that Abe-Obama talks didn't touch on revising SOFA

Abstract: NAHA, OKINAWA PREF. - Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga expressed disappointment Wednesday that the U.S. and Japanese leaders failed to show a willingness to respond to calls to revise a bilateral accord defining the handling of U.S. base personnel in Japan in the wake of the arrest of a civilian U.S. base worker over the death of a local woman. “It is extremely regrettable that there was no mention of amending the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement,” Onaga told reporters in Naha, referring to the press conference after the meeting Wednesday evening between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Barack Obama. Onaga said people in Okinawa “have been forced to bear the heavy burden of hosting the bases.” “Unless the accord is revised, the concerns the people of Okinawa have over the bases will not be allayed,” he added. Abe and Obama met soon after the U.S. president arrived in central Japan Wednesday evening to attend a two-day Group of Seven summit beginning the following day. In the latest case, the 1960 accord has not posed any obstacles to investigations. But people in Okinawa have complained that the accord is overly protective of Americans, partly because it allows a suspect to cooperate with Japanese investigations only on a voluntary basis in some cases. At the joint press conference, Abe said he called on the United States to take effective and thorough measures to prevent similar incidents, while emphasizing the need to improve the operation of the SOFA if problems arise. Obama asserted the SOFA “does not in any way prevent the full prosecution and the need for justice under the Japanese legal system” and said the United States will be “fully cooperating with the Japanese legal system in prosecuting this individual.” The incident was a key topic in the Abe-Obama meeting after a contractor at the U.S. Air Force’s Kadena Air Base in Okinawa was arrested last week over the death of a 20-year-old woman. Investigative sources have said the former U.S. Marine has admitted killing the woman after sexually assaulting her. The incident has reignited anti-U.S. base sentiment in Okinawa. On Wednesday, about 4,000 people gathered near the Kadena base to protest and complain about the U.S. military presence, according to the event organizer. “These kind of incidents should never be allowed to happen again,” the gathering was told by Nago Mayor Susumu Inamine, who is against the planned relocation of a key U.S. air base from Ginowan to the Henoko district of Nago, both in Okinawa. Inamine also argued that the number of crimes committed by U.S. military and civilian base personnel will not decline as long as so many are stationed in Okinawa. Miyoko Ashimine, a 69-year-old Ginowan citizen, said: “U.S. military-linked incidents show no signs of ending. We can’t take it anymore.” A massive protest rally is scheduled on June 19, which is likely to attract tens of thousands of people.

shinzo abe
okinawa
barack obama
u.s. bases
sofa
u.s.-japan relations
takeshi onaga
ise-shima summit


Whither the taxi in a withering Japan?

Abstract: At the moment, Tokyo is the only city in Japan where people can use the Internet car hire service Uber, which relies on nominally freelance drivers to pick up fares through messages sent via a smartphone app. Though this could change at any time, Uber’s special qualities have already been appropriated to a limited extent by regular taxi companies in Tokyo thanks to the central government, thus diluting some of Uber’s appeal. The transportation ministry has always closely regulated the taxi industry, and in recent years has been trying to come up with ways that will not only improve service for consumers, but help taxi companies profit in a changing business environment. The ministry’s latest idea is to shorten the hatsunori , meaning the initial ride segment. Presently, taxis in Tokyo charge ¥730 for the first 2 kilometers and then ¥90 for each additional 280 meters. In order to gain more business from riders who might need a taxi for shorter distances, due to advanced age or because they are carrying something heavy or are with children, the hatsunori will be changed to a little more than 1 km, and the fare for that distance or less will be set at ¥410. The last time the hatsunori was changed was 1936, when ¥0.3 would get you 2 km. The last time the hatsunori fare was increased was April 2014. The new fare could commence next April. Right now the ministry is soliciting taxi companies who agree to the fare change. If at least 70 percent of the taxi companies that serve a given area agree to the new fare system, then every taxi that serves that area will have permission to use the new fares. In detail, it will be ¥410 for the first 1.059 km, and then an additional ¥80 for every 235.25 meters. This summer, however, the ministry will test the new fares in Tokyo, though, according to the Asahi Shimbun, some companies have already started. Not everyone is excited about the change, especially drivers, since they think it might backfire. Though very short journeys will be cheaper, longer journeys will be more expensive, meaning more people will think twice before calling a taxi: “Do I really need one?” Moreover, the next consumption tax hike is scheduled to go into effect next April, meaning that the hatsunori will automatically be increased by another ¥20. Drivers, who earn commissions in addition to salaries, aren’t convinced that the new service will increase the number of fares, and, in any case, at those prices they would have to get a lot of short fares to equal one decent long fare. But while taxis are regulated by the transportation ministry, individual companies have managed to adapt to dwindling ridership by coming up with their own means of indirectly increasing fares. For instance, in crowded urban areas where traffic congestion is common, meters in some taxis charge for time as well as distance. When the speed of the vehicle drops below 10 km/hour, the meter changes to a system that charges for time regardless of the distance traveled, usually ¥90 for every 110 seconds. Also, when a rider calls for a taxi, a surcharge is added, so there is already a fare on the meter when the taxi arrives to pick up the passenger. Many taxi companies in rural areas have expanded on this idea by allowing drivers to charge the passenger for the distance between the place where he or she received the call and the passenger’s location. Some simply tack an additional hatsunori fare onto the total fare when they get the call from the dispatcher. Ideally, a dispatcher should locate the cab closest to the passenger’s location, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the fare will be cheaper. In that regard Uber is better for the rider since he can choose the driver based on location he sees on his app. Taxi revenues have been dropping steadily in recent years mainly due to demographic changes, and while the hatsunori change might boost fares a bit, the main problem is moment-to-moment supply and demand. Vehicle numbers in Japan are not limited the way they often are in other countries. Tokyo has more than 50,000 cabs, or more than three times as many as New York City (but only half as many as Mexico City). That means at any given time there are either too many or too few, since demand can change drastically depending on time of day, weather and other changeable factors. And while other forms of public transportation are subsidized by the central and local governments, taxis are not. They are just regulated by the government. This means that private companies that serve rural areas tend to keep costs down by maintaining fewer vehicles. Rural populations are aging more rapidly than those in the cities, which means there could be more demand for taxis from people who cannot or should not drive any longer. Some local governments are considering subsidizing car services in order to guarantee vehicles at any time of the day or night. As mentioned above, many companies, taking a hint from Uber, have developed their own apps so as to make the transaction efficient and thus more appealing to riders. Just System, a market research company, conducted a survey in the Tokyo metropolitan area of 530 men and women between the ages of 20 and 50. About 20 percent said they use apps to call taxis. In addition, more cabs are accepting transportation cards like Suica and Pasmo, or e-money systems like Line Pay. Many years ago, the taxi business was completely open. Companies could put as many cabs as they wanted on the roads and charge whatever they wanted. They competed for fares. Some people feel that such a system is the best way. At the very least, fares should be adjusted depending on the region, which is usually the case. What makes money in Tokyo is not necessarily going to make money in Hokkaido.

transportation phones apps depopulation taxis uber


Texas woman and her Chewbacca mask go viral

Abstract: LONDON - A Texas woman found fame this week after filming a Facebook Live video of herself in an electronic Chewbacca mask that racked up over 50 million views in less than 24 hours. Candace Payne recorded the video in a department store parking lot on Thursday. Chewbacca is a furry fictional character from the “Star Wars” movie series who is adventurer Han Solo’s sidekick. The mask emits a guttural sort of whine, characteristic of Wookiees, that Payne triggered when she opened her mouth. “I’m such a happy Chewbacca!” Payne exclaims, while laughing. “This is worth every penny!” “Chewbacca” began trending on Twitter in the United States on Friday, with users of the social media platform cheering the video. “If you haven’t seen the Chewbacca mask lady video yet, you are missing out on a few minutes of pure joy,” tweeted ¡Gabe! Ortiz (@TUSK81). “Can we all agree that this reaction to a Chewbacca mask is everything?” tweeted Kohl’s (@Kohls), where Payne said she bought the mask. “Laugh. It. Up,” tweeted Star Wars’ official Twitter account (@starwars). A Kohl’s spokeswoman said the Chewbacca mask has sold out online. As for Payne, a subsequent Facebook post indicated that she is enjoying the reaction. “Thanks for all the feels, Internet webs,” Payne wrote. “I mean it.”


British polar research vessel named, but it is not 'Boaty McBoatface'

Abstract: LONDON - The name Boaty McBoatface captured the public’s fancy but British officials said Friday the country’s newest polar research vessel will be christened Sir David Attenborough, in honor of the prominent naturalist and broadcaster. But all is not lost for Boaty McBoatface fans who had voted in favor of the unusual — and perhaps undignified — name by an overwhelming margin. Science Minister Jo Johnson said a submarine vessel that will support the crew and various research programs will be called Boaty McBoatface. “The public provided some truly inspirational and creative names, and while it was a difficult decision I’m delighted that our state-of-the-art polar research ship will be named after one of the nation’s most cherished broadcasters and natural scientists,” he said. Attenborough, who has produced a string of nature documentaries for the BBC and who will celebrate his 90th birthday Sunday, said he is “truly honored” by the choice of name. The Natural Environment Research Council had asked for help finding a name reflecting the £200 million ($284 million) ship’s mission and celebrating British naval history. The jokey suggestion Boaty McBoatface got 124,109 votes, more than three times its nearest rival. The vote was advisory and officials had hinted that a more serious name would be chosen for the vessel, which is scheduled to be launched in three years.


Cat cafes facing more scrutiny as owners' top priority not always felines, experts say

Abstract: The prospect of an afternoon of relaxation in the company of fluffy, purring friends has earned cat cafes a top spot on the itineraries of visitors to Japan, but not all operators have the interests of their feline employees in mind, animal experts warn. The decision by Tokyo authorities on April 21 to order a cat cafe in the capital to close for 30 days due to animal neglect has focused global scrutiny on the establishments, which let customers sit and play with multiple cats in shared rooms for an hourly fee. “(The shuttered Tokyo cafe) illustrates the potential for cafes to simply become places of abuse and neglect with no benefit to society or cats,” said Maho Cavalier at Animal Walk Tokyo, an animal rescue nonprofit organization. The Environment Ministry is moving to revise animal welfare regulations governing cat cafes based on the results of a study it conducted last October on a sample of 314 cafes nationwide. From June, cafes will permanently be able to open until 10 p.m., and cats’ “shifts” will be allowed to run up to 12 hours a day, as long as they can escape to a customer-free rest space at any time. A 12-hour shift seems excessive given what is known about cats, solitary hunters by nature, said Nai Machiya, 42, a veterinary inspector with the Japan Animal Welfare Society. As for the government study of stress levels in cafe cats, “We have no way of knowing if the sample is representative of all cafes in Japan, or if it leans toward the better cafes,” Machiya said. In the study, 55 percent of respondent cafes housed 11 or more cats on the premises, and 82 percent were open for eight hours or longer each day. “Living with multiple cats and having people pet them for over eight hours, you can imagine the level of stress on these cats,” said Animal Walk Tokyo’s Cavalier. The Tokyo cafe shut down by authorities had let cats breed uncontrollably, resulting in 62 cats living in a space that had permission for just 10. Hygiene suffered accordingly, with most of the cats displaying common cold symptoms when inspectors visited. Such a situation would be unthinkable at the Asakusa Nekoen cat cafe elsewhere in Sumida Ward, where the rescued cats are all spayed or neutered, according to owner and operator Takako Saito, 46. “When they arrive, we don’t force them to interact with people straight away but keep them in cages for an absolute minimum of two weeks,” Saito said. “Some cats can take as long as a month and a half to recover from their previous circumstances.” The first cat cafes are thought to have opened in Taiwan in the late 1990s. The trend soon spread to Japan’s dense cities, where many landlords bar renters from keeping pets and stressful working lives lead people to seek the relief the furry creatures provide. Cat cafes have spread beyond East Asia to other regions including Europe and North America in recent years. Saito said a popular culture boom in cats has seen the number of cafes in Japan grow rapidly, with around 100 now operating in Tokyo alone. But those in the business for mainly financial reasons are prone to taking shortcuts with the animals’ care, he added. “When you care about the cats, you don’t see them as a money-making product first and foremost. You give the cats plenty of hiding spots and you don’t disturb a sleeping cat to make it play with customers,” she said. Saito said the neglect at some cafes is indicative of attitudes toward pets in Japan — something that must change in order to see the animals as family members for life rather than as dispensable products. According to a 2015 survey by the Japan Pet Food Association, the average life span of a cat kept indoors in the country is 16.4 years, but like humans they require increased medical attention as they age and tend to become less active. Industry sources have suggested less scrupulous cat cafes sell the animals once they pass 6 or 7 years years old to replace them with kittens, without thoroughly vetting the new owners. Some argue the concept of cat cafes is intrinsically bad for the animals and reinforces societal attitudes that view pets as entertainment rather than companions. But with the trend unlikely to go away any time soon, there are measures visitors to Japan can take to select cafes that are kinder toward felines. “If a cafe is looking for lifelong adoptive homes for cats, that’s an indication that they’re concerned more about animal welfare than about just making money,” cafe operator Saito said. “A large proportion of mixed-breed cats, as opposed to just pure breeds that are sold at pet shops, is another good sign,” she said. Veterinary inspector Machiya said customers should judge cafes by the cats’ physical condition and the presence of adequate space, and report any concerns to animal charities or authorities. “We’d like people who decide to visit cat cafes to pay attention to the smell of the place and the condition of the cats’ fur, as well as whether there is mucus coming from their noses or eyes,” she said. While a stable home is the ideal environment for a cat, well-run cafes can serve an important function in a country where animals that are not adopted quickly are often euthanized by local authorities. “If cat cafes can reach people who had little previous interest in looking after cats and match cats with adoptive homes, they can be of significant merit to society,” Machiya said.

animals
animal welfare
animal rights
cats
cat cafes


Meiji Jingu a Tokyo shrine that's popular for nuptials

Abstract: One bright Saturday afternoon in the fresh green of spring, priests led a bride and groom toward a wedding hall at Meiji Jingu, a renowned shrine in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward. The Shinto shrine is dedicated to the souls of Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shoken. It was established in 1920 and stands in a 700,000-sq.-meter enclosure planted with 100,000 trees donated by people in Japan and others overseas. Today, the shrine is a popular site for marriage ceremonies. On busy weekends, it carries out around 15 weddings a day. Last Saturday, Nao Sasaki, 30, and Jonathan Madrid, 24, walked nervously and silently toward the hall to pray, make their wedding vows and become a family. Madrid works at U.S. Army Camp Zama in Kanagawa Prefecture. Photographs were not allowed during the ceremony, but the rituals included a norito (prayer recitation) by a priest, drinking nuptial cherry blossom tea together, exchanging rings and pledging wedding vows before kami. This word refers to the Shinto notion of myriad divine spirits, as compared with the monotheist tradition of Christianity and Islam. “In Shinto, some divinity is found as Kami, or it may be said that there is an unlimited number of Kami,” the shrine’s website says. “You can see Kami in mythology, in nature, and in human beings.” Smiling newlywed Madrid said: “I felt very happy about the wedding. It was pretty different, but a happy experience.” “It was actually where my wife and I came on our first date. . . . We didn’t know at the time we would decide to get married and decide to have our ceremony here,” said Madrid. The couple now live at Camp Zama. Tomohiro Isogai, priest at the shrine, said of his job: “I feel the gravity of leading a once in a lifetime event for the couple. They have made their vows before kami and went though a ceremony to live their lives according to their vows.” He wished the couple eternal happiness. Staff writer Daisuke Kikuchi contributed to this report Jonathan Madrid and Nao Sasaki rehearse drinking nuptial cherry blossom tea together before their wedding ceremony at Meiji Jingu Shrine in Tokyo on Saturday. | YOSHIAKI MIURA Staff of Tokyo’s Meiji Jingu shrine adjust Jonathan Madrid’s kimono as his bride, Nao Sasaki, looks on. | YOSHIAKI MIURA Onlookers observe the wedding procession of Jonathan Madrid and Nao Sasaki at Meiji Jingu in Tokyo on Saturday. | YOSHIAKI MIURA Jonathan Madrid and Nao Sasaki have their picture taken after their wedding ceremony at Meiji Jingu in Tokyo on Saturday. | YOSHIAKI MIURA A staffer at Tokyo’s Meiji Jingu shrine gives a touch of powder to Nao Sasaki’s makeup during a group photo session after their wedding Saturday. | YOSHIAKI MIURA


Ex-baseball star Kazuhiro Kiyohara gets suspended term for drug use

Abstract: Former baseball star Kazuhiro Kiyohara was sentenced Tuesday to 2½ years in prison, suspended for four years, for possessing, using and purchasing illegal drugs. The ruling by the Tokyo District Court means that the 48-year-old former Seibu Lions and Yomiuri Giants slugger walked free. His lawyers had requested a suspended term with probation, which would have required him to take part in a government-sponsored rehabilitation program to prevent recidivism. The prosecution had demanded 30 months in prison without suspension for violating the stimulants control law concerning psychoactive agents such as amphetamine and methamphetamine. Presiding Judge Junichi Yoshikai called Kiyohara’s crimes “malicious” but said he had already been socially sanctioned after his arrest was widely reported in the media. “The defendant had been making social contributions through his performance as a leading professional baseball slugger,” Yoshikai said. “I am sorry,” Kiyohara said as he turned to the gallery after the ruling was handed down. Kiyohara, who retired in 2008, ranks fifth in Nippon Pro Baseball history with 525 career home runs and sixth in RBIs with 1,530. He was arrested Feb. 2 for possession of stimulant drugs at his apartment in Tokyo. He was additionally charged with using drugs at a Tokyo hotel around Feb. 1 and purchasing the drugs from an acquaintance at a hotel in Gunma Prefecture around Sept. 1. Kiyohara admitted to the charges as his trial opened two weeks ago, saying he began using drugs because he could not deal with stress and anxiety after retirement, and apologized to young people who are aspiring to become professional baseball players. Hoping to witness the high-profile trial, more than 1,700 people lined up for the 21 public gallery seats available. Hideaki Sasano, 50, who said he played baseball in high school and is a fan of Kiyohara, was one of the people who lined up outside the court. “I want (society) to give him a chance to recover,” he said. “He definitely needs other people’s help in avoiding drugs.” Another person in line, a 47-year-old Osaka woman, said she bumped into Kiyohara on a street in Osaka, where he is also from. “He patted my son on his head,” she said. “He is good to children, and I want him to come back to Osaka and teach the kids baseball in his hometown.”


Japan shedding 1940s morality by relaxing rules on nightclubs

Abstract: Late-night dancing is just a step away after the revision of a law that forced nightclubs to close by midnight. New regulations that take effect on June 23 will allow the music to play on until the early hours under some conditions. The law was in force for almost 70 years and was revised in 2015 amid recognition that it was a hammer-and-nut approach to prostitution, which the restrictions were aimed at. Until now, clubs have been lumped into the same category as sex parlors. Experts see it as the first big step for the adult entertainment business law — often dubbed the anti-dancing law — to shed its bad reputation. However, others worry that new ambiguities and overly specific rules leave room for authorities to impose a new clampdown on the entertainment industry. How has the law changed? The law revision, passed last June, will allow dance clubs to operate until 5 a.m. on condition that they do not serve alcohol. And in a measure to protect minors, it bans people under 18 from participating in club events that run later than 10 p.m. Dance schools, which were included in the adult entertainment business category because their clients engage in dancing, are no longer covered by the law. The rules establish a new category, tokutei yukyo inshokuten eigyo (nighttime entertainment restaurant operations), for restaurants and clubs that offer both entertainment and alcohol overnight. Under the new rules, such businesses will need to keep the lights turned up. They must have internal illumination of more than 10 lux, roughly equivalent to that inside a movie theater before the show begins. They should be located outside of residential areas, and the noise in the street must be below a certain level. The floor for customers should be larger than 33 sq. meters, and there must be no locks on the entrance. The law will also ban establishments from posting “pictures, ads and decorations that interfere with the healthy development of youths.” In other words, images with too much skin. It took about a year for the new rules to take effect because municipalities needed time to create their own guidelines on operating times and where such restaurants and clubs can be located. Why was the law revised? The adult entertainment business law, or fueiho , was introduced in 1948 with the aim of regulating the sex industry. It covered adult entertainment businesses and other nighttime commercial pursuits, lumping dance halls and dance schools into the same category. The law defined the adult entertainment venues that can serve food and alcohol while allowing patrons to dance, and required them to obtain a license and to close between midnight and sunrise — when demand is high. The law was criticized for reflecting an early postwar assumption that dance halls and prostitution went hand-in-hand and that alcohol led to immoral behavior. Many premises ignored the rule and police looked the other way. But around 2010, officers began a crackdown following neighborhood complaints about rowdy customers. What triggered the revision? In April 2012, Masatoshi Kanemitsu, owner of the Osaka nightclub Noon, was arrested and prosecuted for allegedly allowing customers to dance and for serving food and drinks at his establishment. Alarmed by the sudden police crackdown, a petition dubbed Let’s Dance kicked off the following month to press for legal reform. Organizers gathered some 160,000 signatures and helped to push the government into considering legal revision. Well-known musicians, including Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yoshihide Otomo, joined the campaign. They argued that so-called live houses — small, privately-run concert halls for hire by amateur musicians and bands — are venues that promote culture and thus should be encouraged. In April 2014, the Osaka District Court found Kanemitsu not guilty. The Osaka High Court upheld the decision in January 2015. Chief Judge Masaaki Yoneyama ruled there was no evidence that Noon was offering services that could lead to indecent conduct. Lawyer Takahiro Saito, who was also involved in Let’s Dance, said another reason why the government began supporting all-night entertainment venues was to boost tourism and economic growth. “Many anticipated that clubs and a nighttime economy would boost tourism by bringing in more foreign tourists and help develop ‘cool Japan’ cultural trends,” he said. Where will the clubs operate? Restrictions are mainly aimed at reducing the disturbance for neighbors. Regional governments have demarcated zones outside residential areas where all-nighter clubs can be located. In Tokyo, for example, there will be 638 districts where the clubs can operate. Late-night operations will not be permitted in parts of Roppongi, Daikanyama, Aoyama and Nakameguro because the districts include residential areas. Saito noted many clubs are currently located outside the permitted areas, adding that they may be able to dodge the rules by separating their dance floor and dining or drinking spaces. Saito also said patrons must not be so rowdy that the neighbors are disturbed. “Many people have a negative impression of nightclubs because they were operating under the early law,” he said. Organizations led by musicians, including Club and Club Culture Conference and Playcool, are waging campaigns to get patrons to behave decently on leaving. How will other establishments be affected? The police excluded cinemas, traditional stage theaters and classical music performances from the new restrictions, but other entertainment businesses will be subject to the new rules if they remain open after midnight and also serve alcohol. Saito said the concept of yukyo (entertainment) under the law is ambiguous and says it may include previously unrestricted activities. “Live music performances are on the list, but how to define strolling guitarists who perform inside restaurants is unclear.” Examples listed by the National Police Agency as entertainment include various forms of live performances, dance and music among them, as well as activities in which patrons participate. “Sports bars are problematic too. It would not be considered entertainment to air soccer or baseball games on TV, but it would be if such screenings are held as an event, or if the operator cheers on the customers,” he said. Other types of entertainment, including billiards and karaoke, are not covered by the new rules.

nightclubs
fueiho
adult entertainment control law


Forbidden fruit: China bans 'erotic' banana-eating live streams

Abstract: Bananas may be China’s new forbidden fruit — at least online. As part of the government’s crackdown on “inappropriate” content online, Chinese live-streaming video services have banned people from filming themselves while eating bananas “erotically,” state media has reported. New regulations mean hosts of live-streaming services are now being required to monitor their output 24 hours a day, seven days a week, China’s state-run CCTV news reported last week. While standards have yet to be fixed, hosts of Web TV shows are prohibited from eating “bananas seductively” in front of the camera. The move comes after China’s Culture Ministry on April 14 announced an investigation of popular live-broadcast websites for “allegedly providing content that contains pornography or violence and encourages viewers to break laws and harms social morality.” CCTV reported Thursday that the sites being probed had tightened control of their most popular hosts, which it said were “predominately attractive women showing their cleavage.” According to ministry statistics, live-broadcast sites in China have a total of 200 million registered users. A survey cited by CCTV said 30-40 percent of the subjects in live-streams were students, while 77 percent of the viewers were male users. The government in Beijing, with its “Great Firewall of China,” is among the world’s strictest when it comes to censorship and stamping out Internet freedoms. China ranked dead last in Freedom House’s annual Freedom on the Net report in 2015. President Xi Jinping has made “cybersovereignty” a top priority, forcing Internet users to endure crackdowns on “rumors,” greater enforcement of rules against anonymity and disruptions to the circumvention tools that are commonly used to bypass censorship, the report said.

china internet censorship rights sex offbeat


Accused LA 'Grim Sleeper' serial killer guilty of 10 counts, faces death penalty

Abstract: LOS ANGELES - A former Los Angeles trash collector was convicted Thursday of 10 counts of murder in the “Grim Sleeper” serial killings that targeted poor, young black women over two decades. Lonnie Franklin Jr. showed no emotion as the verdicts were read and family members who had wondered if they would ever see justice quietly wept and dabbed their eyes with tissues in the gallery. “We got him,” exclaimed Porter Alexander Jr., whose daughter, Alicia, 18, was shot and choked. Her body was found under a mattress in an alley in September 1988. “It took a long time. By the grace of God it happened. It’s such a relief.” Prosecutors will seek the death penalty during the second phase of trial scheduled to start May 12. Franklin, 63, was also was found guilty of one count of attempted murder for shooting a woman in the chest and dumping her body from his orange Ford Pinto two months after Alexander’s killing. The survivor, Enietra Washington, provided a link to seven previous slayings and was a key witness at trial. The killings from 1985 to 2007 were dubbed the work of the “Grim Sleeper” because of an apparent 14-year gap after Washington’s shooting, though prosecutors now think he never rested and there were other victims during that span. The crimes went unsolved for decades and community members complained that police ignored the victims because of their race and the fact some were prostitutes and drug users. Much of the violence unfolded during the nation’s crack cocaine epidemic when at least two other serial killers prowled the area then known as South Central. The 10 victims, including a 15-year-old girl, were fatally shot or strangled and dumped in alleys and garbage bins. Most had traces of cocaine in their systems. The cases were reopened after the last killing when a task force was assigned to revisit cases dozens of officers failed to solve in the 1980s. The team compiled ballistics evidence and DNA testing that hadn’t been available at the time of the first killings. Franklin, a onetime trash collector in the area and a garage attendant for the Los Angeles Police Department, had been hiding in plain sight, said Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman. He was connected to the crimes after DNA from a son, collected after a felony arrest, showed similarities to genetic material left on the bodies of many of the victims. An officer posing as a busboy retrieved pizza crusts and napkins with Franklin’s DNA while he was celebrating at a birthday party. It proved a match with material found on the breasts and clothing of many of the women and on the zip tie of a trash bag that held the curled-up body of the final victim, Janecia Peters. She was found Jan. 1, 2007, by someone rifling through a dumpster who noticed her red fingernails through a hole in the bag. Silverman described the victims as sisters, daughters and mothers who suffered frailties but had hopes and dreams. She projected photos of the 10 women from happier days, many smiling from headshots that captured their youth and hairstyles of the times. The images were in stark contrast to gory crime scene and autopsy photos also displayed of half-naked bodies sprawled among garbage — images that made family members wince, weep and recoil. Samara Herard, the sister of the youngest victim, Princess Berthomieux, said there were things she didn’t want to see during the trial and had to hold her head down at times, but was elated with the verdict. “I wanted to remember the sweet little girl who had her whole life in front of her,” Herard said. “She had a heart of gold and she deserved to live a full life.” Defense lawyer Seymour Amster challenged what he called “inferior science” of DNA and ballistics evidence. During his closing argument, he introduced a new theory: a “mystery man with a mystery gun and mystery DNA” was responsible for all the killings. He said the man was a “nephew” of Franklin’s who was jealous because his uncle had better luck with women, though he offered no supporting evidence or any name. Amster based the theory on the testimony of the sole known survivor, Washington, who crawled to safety after being shot in Franklin’s flashy Pinto. She testified that her assailant said he had to stop at his “uncle’s house” for money before the attack. Silverman scoffed at the “mystery nephew” notion, saying it was as rational an explanation as a space ship dropping from the sky and killing the women. She said Franklin had lied to Washington and was probably stopping at his house to get his gun. Washington later led police to Franklin’s street, but not his house. The attack fit the pattern of other killings and showed how the killer carried out the crimes, Silverman said. The bullet removed from Washington’s chest came from the same gun used to shoot the seven previous victims and she provided a detail that would later prove telling. Washington described how her attacker took a Polaroid photo of her as she was losing consciousness. Police searching Franklin’s house more than two decades later found a snapshot of the wounded Washington slouched over in a car with a breast exposed. The Polaroid was hidden behind a wall in his garage.

crime
death penalty
serial killer
los angeles
mass murder
grim sleeper


Okinawa slaying prompts local assemblies to pass protest resolutions over U.S. military presence

Abstract: NAHA, OKINAWA PREF. - Several municipal assemblies in Okinawa Prefecture unanimously passed resolutions Tuesday to protest the slaying of a local woman to which a civilian U.S. base worker has reportedly confessed. The assemblies in Naha, the prefectural capital, and Uruma, where the victim, Rina Shimabukuro, 20, lived, also passed a resolution calling for reducing U.S. bases in Okinawa and a drastic review of the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). The Nago Municipal Assembly passed a similar resolution. SOFA, which governs the management and operation of the U.S. military in Japan, is intended to serve U.S. interests, including protecting U.S. servicemen from being subject to what the United States sees as unfair criminal or civil justice systems. The development came after police last Thursday arrested Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, a 32-year-old former U.S. Marine, for allegedly dumping Shimabukuro’s body. Investigative sources say Shinzato has admitted killing Shimabukuro after sexually assaulting her. The incident has stoked anger among residents who already feel burdened with the heavy U.S. military presence in the prefecture. “Citizens in the city and the prefecture are deeply shocked and worried. Deep sorrow and strong anger are growing,” the Uruma Municipal Assembly said in a statement. “It is absolutely wrong that we have to live here while at the same time be frightened by crimes committed by U.S. military personnel and base workers,” the Naha Municipal Assembly said, adding that it will send the resolution to the U.S. government and opinions to the chairs of both chambers of the Diet. The Defense Ministry and the U.S. Department of Defense, however, expressed reluctance to review SOFA. Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said at a news conference Tuesday, “Investigation of this case has been carried out rigorously based on Japan’s right to investigate and jurisdiction under the Status of Forces Agreement.” Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said Monday that the United States and Japan have been improving the way the agreement is applied and will continue with the effort. Adm. Harry Harris, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, offered an apology over the incident in Okinawa when he talked Monday with Adm. Katsutoshi Kawano, chief of the Joint Staff of the Self-Defense Forces, over the phone. Harris and Kawano reaffirmed the view that the Japan-U.S. alliance plays a vital role in maintaining regional peace and security, and that the two countries will continue to work to realize a deeper alliance. According to investigative sources, Shinzato said he drove around for several hours looking for a woman to rape. He was also quoted as saying he strangled and stabbed Shimabukuro before stuffing her body into a suitcase and transporting it in his car. The Okinawa Prefectural Police suspect Shinzato may have planned the incident beforehand, as he had placed the suitcase in his car earlier. He reportedly told the police that he threw the suitcase away, but he later became silent. Shimabukuro went missing after she texted her boyfriend at around 8 p.m. April 28 to say she was going for a walk. Her remains were found Thursday in a wooded area in the village of Onna, about a 40-minute drive from her home. The remains showed marks consistent with being stabbed with a knife, according to investigators.

okinawa
sofa
rina shimabukuro
kenneth franklin shinzato


Much to lose, little or nil to gain in 'Brexit,' says Japan Inc.

Abstract: Should the United Kingdom leave or remain in the European Union? With the world’s fifth-largest economy set to make a historic decision about its future next month, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed support for the U.K. to stay in the political and economic club of 28 countries during his Europe tour earlier this month. But how would a “Brexit,” or British exit from the EU, affect Japan? What is Brexit? Brexit was coined after “Grexit” gained currency amid Greece’s sovereign debt crisis, when Athens was also mulling leaving the EU. The U.K. will hold a national referendum on the country’s EU membership on June 23. The country also conducted a similar referendum in 1975 to ask if the country should stay in or leave the European Economic Community, the predecessor to the EU. The British people at that time chose to remain in the group. What are the pros and cons of a Brexit? According to an opinion poll published by The Times newspaper last Wednesday, 44 percent of respondents said they want Britain to stay in the EU, while 40 percent wanted the country to withdraw. Brexit proponents say the economic union has changed over time and proved to be a failure, while undercutting British sovereignty. They also argue EU membership has too many rules for businesses and costs too much for a small return. Opponents, led by British Prime Minister David Cameron, say leaving the EU would be costly because membership makes it easier for the U.K. to move money and people and sell products. They also say the country can exercise more influence globally by being part of the 28-nation bloc. Abe also supports the idea of continued U.K. membership. “A vote to leave would make the U.K. less attractive as a destination for Japanese investment,” Abe said earlier this month at a news conference with Cameron. His view is shared by global leaders including U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Over the weekend, finance chiefs from the Group of Seven advanced economies meeting in Sendai also said that it would be the wrong decision and hurt the U.K.’s economic growth. How would a Brexit affect Japanese companies operating in the U.K.? There are some 1,300 Japanese companies operating in Britain, providing more than 140,000 jobs. Since 2012, Japanese firms have invested £15 billion in their British operations, Cameron said. Last year, Japan became the second-largest investor in the U.K. after the United States, replacing China, according to British Ambassador to Japan Tim Hitchens. Japanese businesses are attracted to the country because it provides access to the European market, which accounts for a quarter of global GDP. Toyota Motor Corp. exports about 80 percent of its vehicles made in Britain to other European countries, and Nissan Motor Co. ships 80 percent of U.K.-made cars to eurozone nations. “If the U.K. leaves the EU, the access will be lost,” Hitchens said. Companies like Hitachi Ltd. might be disadvantaged if the U.K. breaks away from the EU, considering the European Investment Bank has agreed to invest £235 million into a project that will use Hitachi’s Super Express Trains on the East Coast Main Line linking London and Scotland. Analysts also say a Brexit would trigger a sell-off of British pounds, which would weaken the euro. A weaker euro, which means a stronger yen, would erode the profits of Japanese businesses that have a strong presence in the eurozone. For example, a weak euro would hurt the earnings of companies including Canon Inc., whose consolidated net sales in Europe accounted for 28 percent of total sales in 2015. The company estimates a fluctuation of ¥1 against the euro could affect its operating profit for the rest of the year by ¥2.3 billion. As for Toyota, although the ratio of its European sales is much smaller than in the U.S., a change of ¥1 against the euro could have an effect of roughly ¥4 billion on profits, according to the firm. How do Japanese businesses view the referendum? According to a survey conducted between February and April by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the U.K., 94 percent of the 127 firms that responded said they want Britain to stay in the EU. While 54 percent said they are not sure how their businesses would be affected if the U.K. leaves, 28 percent said it would lead to an increase in costs, 24 percent said it would lead to a decline in investment and 20 percent said it would bring about less employment. Some responded that they might consider relocating U.K. operations to other European countries. Tony Walker, deputy managing director of Toyota Motor Manufacturing U.K., said in March that Britain maintaining EU membership is best for Toyota’s business and its competitiveness in the longer term. Carlos Ghosn, Nissan chairman and chief executive officer, in February said the U.K. staying in the EU makes the most sense for jobs and trade costs, adding that for Nissan “a position of stability is more positive than a collection of unknowns.” Toshiaki Higashihara, chief executive officer of Hitachi Ltd., told the BBC last month that he opposes a Brexit as the company has been investing heavily in the U.K., including in nuclear power plants and railways. What would happen to Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement negotiations? Japan and the EU have been negotiating on an economic partnership agreement since 2013. Still, the talks have been slow. At the last meeting, which took place last month in Tokyo, the two parties reportedly had a hard time compromising on tariffs for agricultural products and cars. Abe said during his Europe tour that he hoped to seal an agreement by the end of this year. Foreign Ministry officials, however, have expressed concern that a British departure from the EU would undermine negotiations as the U.K. has been a big supporter of the EPA. The deal could be worth £5 billion a year to the U.K. economy, or £200 per British household.

shinzo abe
david cameron
britain
european union
brexit


Mie's revenue hopes dampened by G-7 security barrage, Obama detour

Abstract: ISE, MIE PREF. - Hopes in Mie Prefecture for tourism growth after the Group of Seven Ise-Shima summit from May 26 to 27 remain high. But with tourists worried about heavy security and U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Hiroshima stealing the spotlight, residents aren’t so sure what the situation will be during the summit itself. With just weeks to go until the leaders of Japan, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Canada assemble with the presidents of the European Council and the European Commission in Mie, the first question on many residents’ lips is how the tightened security will affect vehicle traffic and train schedules. In March, the Mie Prefectural Police released bilingual brochures in English and Japanese on what the traffic restrictions would be throughout the prefecture. Between May 25 and 28, anyone driving on the expressways between Nagoya and Ise faces the prospect of being stopped and searched — or having to wait until a motorcade passes. “The plan is that the expressway would be closed in portions, and reopened after the VIPs pass through. But we don’t know the time period each section of the roads along the route to Ise-Shima might be closed to allow motorcades to pass through,” said Susumu Kobayashi, an Ise city official involved in planning for the summit. In addition, while Kintetsu and Japan Railway trains in many parts of Mie will run, there will be security at the stations and on the trains. More than 20,000 police officers are expected to be in Mie for the summit itself, but security preparations are now necessary for Obama’s side visit to Hiroshima, raising concerns among officials. At a meeting of police officials in Tokyo last month, Masahito Kanetaka, chief of the National Policy Agency, said it was the job of the police to expect the unexpected. For his part, Mie Gov. Eikei Suzuki is extremely concerned that all will go off without incident. “First, of course, is (to aim for) a safe summit. Thorough security is the utmost concern,” Suzuki said late last month at a regular news conference. But the constant drumbeat of police, government and media messages about potential terror attacks, and the presence of so much security in Mie from early April plus the earthquake fears from Kyushu, convinced many tourists that either no hotel rooms would be available during the  just-ended Golden Week holidays or that it would be too much of a hassle to bother making the trip. In some places, hotel reservations were down by as much as 20 percent compared with last year’s Golden Week, prompting local last-minute campaigns to lure tourists. Toba, near Ise, even put up posters that read: “Relax. You can find a room,” just before Golden Week. On April 28, the Nagoya-based Chubu Region Institute for Social and Economic Research warned that the decrease in tourism prompted by the heavy security in Mie meant the prefecture would lose about ¥3.2 billion in tourist revenue. That’s small change compared with the institute’s prediction for post-summit tourism revenue, which is ¥119 billion by 2020, up ¥40 billion from 2015. But many of the predictions for economic growth are based on the assumption that hosting the summit will bring extensive media coverage, both domestic and international, that will boost Mie’s name recognition. There are two problems with that. The first is the official name of the meeting: the Ise-Shima summit. While the Ise area, especially Ise Shrine, may benefit, other towns in Mie have their doubts. “Most people in Mie do want the summit. And yet, there’s also a feeling that it’s the ‘Ise-Shima’ summit, so enthusiasm may not be as high here as it is in Ise,” said Mariko Matsui, an NPO leader based in Mie’s Yokkaichi and involved with the G-7 NGO summit that will take place there just before the Ise-Shima meeting. And since Obama will visit Hiroshima on the last day of the summit, there may be fewer Japanese and foreign media in Mie either right before or during the summit than initially planned. In public, officials are taking a long-term perspective. They hope tourists traveling back and forth between Tokyo and Kyoto will decide to take a detour after Nagoya to visit Mie, particularly Ise Shrine, where the number of Japanese tourists is decreasing as foreign visitors swell. Last year, about 8.4 million people visited the shrine, one of the most important in Shinto. Overall, that represents a drop of about 2.5 million from 2014. But the number of foreigners nearly hit 98,000, up 31,000 from 2014.

security
tourism
mie
g7 ise-shima summit


Collector Maezawa drops $98 million on art in two days

Abstract: Yusaku Maezawa, the 40-year-old founder of online clothing retailer Zozotown, continued his art shopping spree on Wednesday, helping Sotheby’s reach $242.2 million in sales at its contemporary art auction even as the art market continues to contract. Maezawa said he is building a private museum outside Tokyo. Sotheby’s evening sale in New York was within the target range of $201.4 million to $257.5 million. The result represented a 36 percent decline from a similar event a year ago. But it was an improvement over the auction house’s Impressionist and modern art sale on May 9, when a third of the lots went unsold. Of the 44 lots offered on Wednesday, only two failed to sell. The auction showed that, while many sellers have decided to wait out the economic volatility, plenty of buyers jumped in. In addition to Maezawa, Los Angeles billionaire Eli Broad snapped up Sam Francis’ colorful abstract “Summer #1” for $11.8 million, a record for the artist at auction. The price was slightly below its high estimate of $12 million. “The uncertainty of the world and the economy is reflected in the art market,” said Pilar Ordovas, a London-based art dealer. “But when you have the right material, which is fresh to the market, and the right estimates, things are performing incredibly well.” Broad, who built some of his $2 billion art collection during the art market’s down cycles, pursued Francis’ 8-foot-tall by 6-foot-wide painting against other bidders. “We love Sam Francis,” Broad said as he left the salesroom. “We’ve got five or six works by him. We wanted one from that series for many years.” The auction began with a flurry of bids for fashionable artist Adrian Ghenie’s “Self-Portrait as Vincent Van Gogh.” Estimated at $200,000 to $300,000, the somber painting soared to $2.6 million. Maezawa, bidding through Sotheby’s contemporary art specialist Yuki Terase, outlasted at least five other hopefuls. A few minutes later he chased Christopher Wool’s white canvas spelling out “Chameleon” in chunky black letters. The work fetched $13.9 million, falling just short of the low estimate of $14 million. These two purchases brought Maezawa’s two-day tally to $98 million. At Christie’s on Tuesday, he dropped $81.4 million on five artworks, including $57.3 million for a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting. His purchases at Christie’s accounted for a quarter of the auction’s tally. “Chameleon” was one of four lots at Sotheby’s consigned by Daniel Sundheim, the chief investment officer at Viking Global Investors. They were part of a swap to pay for a $70.5 million Cy Twombly painting that he bought in November. Sotheby’s offered Sundheim a guarantee for seven swapped works, three of which went up for sale in London in February. Sotheby’s outsourced some of the risk on Wednesday by locking in bidders for the four works. Andy Warhol’s 1986 self-portrait in a fright wig fetched $7.7 million, just surpassing the low estimate. Twombly’s “Untitled [Bachus 1st Version V],” depicting messy red loops, fetched $15.4 million, falling short of its $20 million low estimate. Basquiat’s painting “Onion Gum” fetched $6.6 million. Sundheim paid $7.4 million for the work in 2012 at Sotheby’s, when it was sold by newsprint magnate Peter Brant. The evening’s top lot, Cy Twombly’s “Untitled 1968 (New York City),” showing blue chalk-like loops on a gray surface evoking a blackboard, sold for $36.6 million against an estimate of more than $40 million. Works that were new to the market or had been in significant collections did well. Alexander Calder’s standing mobile, which was given as a gift by the artist to Alfred H. Barr Jr., the founding director of the Museum of Modern Art, fetched $8.3 million, more than doubling the high estimate of $4 million. Chased by five bidders, Francis Bacon’s 1970 “Two Studies for a Self-Portrait” fetched $34.9 million, surpassing the high estimate of $30 million. The work remained in the same private collection for 46 years. Despite strong individual results this week, each evening sale totaled a fraction of its value from a year ago, when Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips tallied $2.7 billion in sales. The last evening sale in this event is Thursday at Christie’s. “This week’s auctions certainly suggest that a weaker art market is continuing,” said David Schick, a luxury analyst at Consumer Edge Research. “This happens after long periods of price appreciation and can be set off by a drop in confidence of wealth cycles.”


New York man wins $1 million lottery second time

Abstract: WEST BABYLON, NEW YORK - A New York construction worker who won $1 million in a lottery scratch-off game four years ago has defied enormous odds by hitting a $1 million jackpot again on a different game. But don’t call him lucky. After Bruce Magistro hit the jackpot the first time, his wife, Yvonne, lost a three-year battle with cancer. Much of the prize money went to pay for her medical bills. “She passed away two years ago today,” Magistro’s son, Nick Mayers, said Wednesday. He said he was sure the second jackpot was her way of sending help back to the family. “This is definitely a gift, from her to him,” Mayers said. State lottery officials introduced Magistro at a news conference at the Long Island gas station where he bought the second winning ticket on April 11. Magistro said he plays the lottery every day, and usually buys $5 or $10 lottery tickets. But he said he had a spare $20 when he asked a clerk at Mike’s Super Citgo in West Babylon for a set of 10 Win for Life scratch-offs. “This is impossible,” Magistro said he thought as he scratched off a lottery ticket and realized he won $1 million. “I just couldn’t believe I hit it two times.” He now plans to share his winnings with his three children and his fiance. Magistro is a regular customer at the gas station and usually spends about $50 every time he buys lottery tickets, owner Mike Abizeid said. When Magistro won $1 million on a different lottery scratch-off game in 2012, he bought the ticket from Abizeid’s brother, John, who owns a gas station nearby. It was the first time Magistro had played the Win for Life game, which will pay him and his family $1,000 each week — with a minimum of $1 million — for the rest of his life. Lottery representative Yolanda Vega, who had presented Magistro with a ceremonial check for his first win, said that even then she felt he could win a second time. “He was so positive and outgoing that I knew he’d win again,” she said. “There was something about Bruce that I felt. There was this energy coming from his core.” Magistro said he plans to use the money to pay his bills and go on a vacation, though he hasn’t decided where just yet. “Hopefully I’ll win again,” he joked. “Third time’s a charm.” The probability of winning twice is “astronomical,” and likely more than one in a billion chance, said Eugene Feinberg, a distinguished professor of applied mathematics and statistics at Stony Brook University. But, he said, calculating a precise number is difficult because the probability of winning increases every time you buy more tickets. “The chances are very small,” he said of striking it big twice in just a few years. “If you play more, you win more.” State gaming officials said the odds of someone winning the Win for Life grand prize — or $1,000 per week for life — are 1 in 7,745,600. The odds of Magistro winning Extreme Cash in 2012 were 1 in 2,520,000. While it isn’t common, Magistro is not alone when it comes to winning the lottery twice. A North Carolina woman who is battling breast cancer won $1 million in a lottery game in February and then scored a $250,000 prize last month. Gina Short was diagnosed with breast cancer six years ago and has been undergoing chemotherapy. She said earlier this month that winning a second time felt like a “second chance.” In 2012, a man in suburban Chicago won $1 million from the Illinois Lottery’s “Merry Millionaire” instant scratch off game after winning the same amount nine years earlier. Two years earlier, an Illinois woman won $1 million in an instant cash jackpot game and then won the same prize six months later.


Rwanda aiding Burundi rebels, North Korea arming Congo forces, report to UNSC says

Abstract: UNITED NATIONS - A confidential report to the United Nations Security Council accuses Rwanda of providing training, financing and logistical support through early 2016 for Burundian rebels seeking to oust Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza. A panel of six independent experts, appointed by the United Nations to monitor Security Council sanctions on Democratic Republic of Congo, had confidentially reported in February that 18 Burundian combatants in eastern Congo said they had been recruited in a refugee camp in Rwanda in mid-2015 and trained by instructors, who included Rwandan military personnel. Rwanda has repeatedly denied the claims. In the experts latest report, seen by Reuters on Thursday and due to be discussed by the Security Council sanctions committee on Friday, they said “similar outside support continued through early 2016.” “This took the form of training, financing and logistical support for Burundian combatants crossing from Rwanda to DRC,” the group of experts wrote in the report. “The group met with Rwandan nationals, as well, who said they had been involved in the training of Burundian combatants or had been sent to the DRC to help support the Burundian opposition,” they said. The findings contradict suggestions from Western officials in recent months who said any Rwandan support for Burundian rebels appeared to have ceased last year. The United States said it had raised concerns with Rwanda over reports it was meddling in Burundi. Political violence has simmered in Burundi for a year after Nkurunziza pursued and won a third term. The crisis has sparked concerns it could spiral into an ethnic conflict in a region where memories of neighboring Rwanda’s 1994 genocide are fresh. Burundi has an ethnic Hutu majority and Tutsi minority, the same split as in neighboring Rwanda. The U.N. experts said they had presented their findings to the Rwandan government “which denied any involvement, noting it was ‘unaware of recruitment of Burundian refugees in Mahama (refugee) camp.'” Rwanda’s U.N. mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Some Security Council members want to deploy U.N. police to Burundi to help quell the violence and monitor the border between Burundi and Rwanda. The U.N. experts also reported that several Congolese officers told them North Korea has supplied Congolese troops and police with pistols and sent 30 instructors to provide training for the presidential guard and special forces. There is a U.N. arms embargo on North Korea that prevents Pyongyang from importing or exporting weapons and training. An arms embargo on Congo requires states to notify the Security Council sanctions committee of any arms sales or training. The experts said they found that several Congolese army officers, as well as several police deployed abroad in a U.N. mission, appeared to have North Korean pistols. The Congolese officers said the pistols were delivered by North Korea to the Congolese port of Matadi in early 2014. “The group also found that the same type of pistols was available for sale on the black market in Kinshasa,” the report said. The experts said they had asked Pyongyang and Congo for information but had not yet received a response. Congolese and North Korean officials had no immediate comment. Political tension is high in Congo, where opponents of President Joseph Kabila say he is trying to cling to power beyond the end of his mandate in 2016. Kabila has not commented on his future.

north korea
sanctions
congo
unsc
rwanda
burundi
u.n. arms embargo


Change in the brain: Central nervous system cells finally get the recognition they deserve

Abstract: As you read this, some 100 billion neurons are transmitting information through electrical and chemical signals via synapses in your brain. Given the central role these cells play in neurological functioning, it’s perhaps not surprising they typically hog the limelight — after all, the signals they transmit lie at the heart of human behavior, from the simplest of movements to the most complex of thoughts. It’s worth noting, however, that complementary cells called astrocytes actually outnumber neurons in the brain. Unfortunately, these star-shaped cells have largely been ignored in neurological research because they don’t fire electrical impulses in the same way that neurons do. Yukiko Goda of the Riken Brain Science Institute in Saitama is helping to correct this. Goda, who was born in Osaka, went to high school in Toronto after her father was transferred to Canada for work. She stayed on to attend the University of Toronto, and then studied at Stanford University in California. She ran a neuroscience lab at University College London for 10 years before taking up her current position at the Brain Science Institute. Goda’s most recent work suggests that astrocytes help to regulate synaptic strength. “We have found an active mechanism that helps to increase variation in synaptic strength,” Goda says. “Surprisingly, it comes from astrocytes, which have previously been thought to play mostly passive roles in the brain.” We often fall into the trap of thinking that the brain is like a computer and we imagine neurons as millions of tiny wires connecting the various parts. However, the brain is more dynamic than that. Every time we perform a certain action, such as ride a bicycle, or remember something, such as the date of someone’s birthday, the connections between our neurons change. This seemingly simple statement has profound implications. For one thing, it suggests that memories change slightly each time we recall them. Experiments have shown that if we have vivid memories that we rate as highly reliable and highly likely to be true, it does not mean they are necessarily real. In one famous study, a cognitive psychologist named Ulric Neisser had students fill out a questionnaire the morning after the space shuttle Challenger broke apart in 1986 on their recollections. In 1988, he had the students complete the same questionnaire. When Neisser compared the answers, he found them to be completely different. Similar comparisons have been done following the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, finding complete mismatches between what we are sure we remember and what really happened. Our mind, quite literally, plays tricks on us. It will take a while for the implications of this to change the way our courtrooms work. It may take longer for it to change the way we think about ourselves. Let that sink in for a moment. Who do you think you are? Since the act of remembering, in and of itself, changes our memories, our perception of ourselves, in some sense, changes throughout our lives. This is not like lying to yourself, when you know, deep down, that you are shying away from the truth. It means that, in many cases, our memories may at best be inaccurate and, at worst, completely false. But back, for a moment, to Goda’s latest work (which incidentally has just been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences). When neurons fire, the strength of the connections between them change. Sometimes the impulse is enough to create a whole new connection and, other times, the strength of the connection between neurons is weakened or reinforced. Goda’s team looked at brain cells growing in culture and in slices of the hippocampus, the seahorse-shaped structure in the brain that is heavily involved in memory-formation. The team found that astrocytes in the hippocampus regulate changes in the brain brought on by neural activity. “A deeper understanding of how synaptic communication is regulated will aid in discovering disease mechanisms and developing treatments,” Goda says. “Our work shows that astrocytes could be a potential target of novel therapeutics.” Astrocytes, we are now appreciating, are important in providing maintenance and nutritional support for neurons. However, they are also vital for our experience of consciousness because of the role they play in strengthening the connections between neurons. A couple of years ago, scientists performed a fascinating experiment that vividly demonstrates the power of astrocytes. Immature human brain cells were injected into the brains of baby mice. The cells developed into astrocytes and ousted the native mouse cells. By the time a mouse was 1 year old, its brain was a hybrid of human-derived astrocytes and regular mouse neurons. Now, here’s the crazy thing. Human astrocytes are much larger than mouse astrocytes, which means when they were fitted into the brains of mice, they had the effect of turbo-charging the mice. When the scientists tested mice with standard tests for memory and understanding, the rodents with human astrocytes turned out to be much smarter. In one test designed to measure memory associated with fear, for example, mice with human astrocytes performed far better than mice with regular astrocytes, suggesting their memory was much better. We’ve learned that astrocytes are far more important in the brain than has been appreciated. However, if you remember one thing from reading this column today, remember this — your memory of it is, in all probability, completely unreliable.


Obama's Hiroshima visit sparks 'what if' questions

Abstract: U.S. President Barack Obama’s historic visit to Hiroshima later this month, the first ever by a sitting president, has rekindled the debate on both sides of the Pacific on what happened during the weeks leading up to the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing of the city in the closing days of World War II. Aside from calls for the president to apologize — or not apologize — for the decision made by his predecessor, Harry Truman, 71 years ago, and endless speculation about what the visit means for current politics (read: the fortunes of Shinzo Abe in July’s Upper House election and the fortunes of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in November’s U.S. presidential election), Obama’s visit has amateur and professional historians everywhere reviewing the fateful decisions in Tokyo and Washington that led to the bombing. And, for Kyoto and Osaka, it was indeed fate, and the deliberations of a few men at the highest levels of the American government, that spared both cities from a similar bombing. During a top secret meeting on April 27, 1945, just a few days before Nazi Germany surrendered and ended the war in Europe, a group of senior American military drew up what was one of the first lists of possible targets for America’s atomic bomb, then in the final stages of development. Seventeen different targets were suggested and, while Tokyo Bay was at the top of the list, Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe, as well as Hiroshima, were also on it. Just a few weeks later, however, on May 12, 1945, another report from a top secret meeting about atomic bomb targets showed that Kyoto was now No. 1 on the target list, followed by Hiroshima. “From a psychological point of view there is the advantage that Kyoto is an intellectual center for Japan the people are more apt to appreciate the significance of such a weapon,” the report said. Osaka was not mentioned in this particular report as a possible target. From here, so the story goes, the fates intervened. Secretary of War Henry Stimson, who had honeymooned in Kyoto many years before, ordered that Kyoto be removed from the list. Whether he did it out of fond, personal memories of Kyoto’s cultural treasures or for more geopolitical reasons — such as fears that bombing Kyoto would be used by the Russians, then officially U.S. allies but emerging as postwar rivals, as propaganda and make Japan’s surrender even more difficult to achieve — is something historians continue to debate. Whatever the reasons, Kyoto was dropped from the list. It would only be learned after the war that Kyoto University was involved with a top secret atomic weapons research program, and one wonders that if Washington had known about the research whether the ancient capital would have still been removed from the list. Osaka, by contrast, appears to never have been officially off the potential target list. It has long been believed by some older Osakans that their city was, in fact, the most likely target if Japan had not surrendered and the U.S. had dropped a third atomic bomb. Today, peace groups in Kyoto and Osaka are known nationwide for their citizens’ efforts in calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. While some no doubt wish Obama and the U.S. would apologize for Hiroshima and Nagasaki, others, probably the majority, are more interested in seeing whether his trip will lead to an acceleration in disarmament efforts worldwide. Not only to ensure there are no more Hiroshimas and Nagasakis, but also to ensure no other cities, like Kyoto and Osaka, ever have to read about decisions made elsewhere that, but for fate alone, spared them a similar horror.

wwii
barack obama
osaka
hiroshima
nuclear weapons
world war ii


Has pacifism always been doomed to fail in Japan?

Abstract: Japan had a pacifist “constitution” long before 1947, when the current one went into effect. It was issued in the year 604, its author so esteemed, in his own time and since, as to merit the posthumous name Shotoku Taishi (Crown Prince Sage-Virtue). His lifetime (574-622) spanned an early phase of Japan’s astonishing leap from prehistory to history, barbarism to civilization, inchoate nature worship to the Buddhism and Confucianism it was just starting to absorb under the generously proffered, gratefully accepted tutelage of its vast and mighty neighbor, civilization itself to dazzled Japanese eyes — China. Shotoku himself was a great student and sponsor of Chinese learning. Article 1 of his 17-article constitution is Confucian to the core: “Harmony should be valued and quarrels avoided. … When superiors are in harmony with each other and inferiors are friendly, then affairs are discussed quietly and the right view of matters prevails.” Two decades after Shotoku’s death there occurred the famous Taika Reform. Beginning in 645, it transformed Japan — in theory — from a hodgepodge of independent clans into a unified nation, China being the model. “Under the heavens there is no land that is not the emperor’s,” reads a recurring phrase in contemporary annals. Clan leaders, no longer rulers, became bureaucrats, showered with titles and court ranks but stripped of independent power. From now on what authority they wielded was — again, theoretically — exercised in the Emperor’s name, not their own. Article 3 of Shotoku’s constitution provides the framework: “Do not fail to obey the commands of your Sovereign. He is like Heaven, which is above the Earth, and the vassal is like the Earth, which bears up Heaven. When Heaven and Earth are properly in place, the four seasons follow their course and all is well in Nature.” When all is well in Nature, all is well in government, and peace prevails — so Confucius had taught, and so Japan was now learning. And peace did prevail — for 500 years. All this is worth contemplating as Japan today moves toward writing the pacifism out of its current Constitution. The government leading the drive is not against peace; on the contrary, it assures us, it wants to defend peace, which disarmed pacifism, it says, is impotent to do. It’s an ironic paradox — not, however, a nonsensical one. History and politics are full of ironies. Shotoku’s constitution is prelude to Japan’s longest peace. It lasted, almost (not quite) unbroken, through the great cultural flowerings of the Nara Period (710-794) and the Heian Period (794-1185). Then the soldiers took over, and for four centuries Japan was convulsed in war — with itself, for there were no external enemies. Sad, tragic. Was it avoidable? Could Japan, an archipelago defended by stormy seas and geographic remoteness, having once gone pacifist, have remained pacifist? Or was it doomed to fall sooner or later, like almost every other nation, into the cauldron of war? The short answer is: yes, it was doomed. From day one the Taika system was unworkable. It was too Chinese for Japan. China was big, Japan small; China flat, Japan mountainous; China advanced, Japan still backward; China (more or less) egalitarian, Japan jealously aristocratic and sharply hierarchical. “There is no land which is not the emperor’s” — well and good; so it was in China; how could it fail in Japan? It could because of the differences listed above. Japan’s mountains blocked communication and entrenched fiefdoms. Roads were few and poor. Taxation, to a people not used to it, is odious. No central government can function without it, no untamed population will pay it willingly. Behind a veil of high culture and peace, an elaborate system of government slowly crumbled, finally breaking down altogether, the restless warriors — samurai — waiting in the wings to fill the power vacuum. Heian Period literature furnishes some marvelous slapstick parodies of samurai buffoons. To the elegant, effeminate aristocrats who for all those peaceful centuries had everything their own way, warriors, when noticed at all, were strutting clowns, objects of mockery. In the 11th-century classic “The Tale of Genji,” a Kyushu warrior blunders out of his mountain fastness in quest of an exiled court lady of high rank. To prove his worth he tries inditing a poem. What a fiasco! He retreats in disgrace, muttering, “You may look down on us country people, but what’s so great about city people?” The Taika Reform made all land taxable, but what good are decrees that cannot be enforced? What tax revenue accrues from tax-evading taxpayers? None. The Panama Papers leak has thrust the term “tax haven” into the Japanese vocabulary. Heian Japan was one vast tax haven. The first beneficiaries were the great temples and shrines, whose extensive landholdings the newly centralized government exempted from tax lest the monks slacken their prayers against evil spirits threatening the nation. Then as now, riches begot riches. Nobles began “commending” their own estates to temples. Ownership officially transferred, the nobles continued to enjoy their former cultivation rights — tax free. Commendation, sub-commendation, sub-sub-commendation — within a generation the system grew so cumbersome that no one understood it, let alone succeeded in governing it. The great warrior families claimed Imperial descent, their founders’ Imperial younger sons too numerous to fit into the tight little court coterie. For centuries the great warrior clans bided their time, taking sides with this court faction against that, this temple against that — for though Japan knew nothing like the religious bigotry and strife that shaped so much Western history, its priests were militant enough in defense of their lands and tax freedom. Pre-eminent among the samurai clans were the Taira and the Minamoto, offspring of different Imperial branches and, during a 12th-century Imperial succession dispute, supporters of rival pretenders to the throne. Civilian government, rotten to its hollow core, toppled at last. A preliminary defeat of Minamoto by Taira was reversed in renewed fighting 30 years later; 1185 marks the turning point. Japan’s long peace was over. The “way of the warrior” began.

tax
peace
samurai
pacifism
heian period
the tale of genji
nara period
shotoku taishi


Osaka Ishin in existential crisis as election looms

Abstract: OSAKA - A year after Osaka city voters rejected Osaka Ishin no Kai’s most fundamental policy proposal in a referendum, the party finds itself heading south. Ever since the referendum, the party has failed to gain traction outside the prefecture, unable to fill the void left by the retirement of its charismatic founder, and heads into the July Upper House election, and a possible simultaneous Lower House election, low in the opinion polls. With the announcement earlier this month that former Osaka Ishin ally-turned-adversary Yoshimi Watanabe, once head of now defunct Your Party, will run with Osaka Ishin backing in the Upper House race, the party hopes to once again create an alternative to the Liberal Democratic Party-Komeito ruling coalition and traditional opposition parties. But other Osaka Ishin members are concerned that endorsing Watanabe, who in 2014 was accused of breaking the Political Funds Control Law, bringing down Your Party, will alienate voters fed up with money scandals. Aware of the potential backlash, Watanabe insisted last week he was clean. “I was acquitted after a thorough investigation by the (Tokyo) prosecutor’s office,” Watanabe said at a news conference May 16. Osaka Ishin no Kai is the Japanese name of both the national party and local political group, except that the party spells Osaka with hiragana rather than kanji. The other problem, especially for members loyal to Osaka Ishin movement cofounder Toru Hashimoto, who exited local politics in December after finishing his term as mayor, is the fear that Watanabe, a former Lower House veteran with a reputation for being a control freak, will try to take over. Though close at first, Hashimoto accused Watanabe of being “Machiavellian,” and their relations soured. When he announced he would run with Osaka Ishin support, however, Watanabe said he was not seeking a leadership position and said his shared political philosophy with Osaka Ishin was what convinced him to seek its support. “I recognized that Osaka Ishin returned to its political origins to work on local reform and I agree that over-concentration in Tokyo is a problem that needs corrected. I’m just one person, so it doesn’t mean I will be a new power within the party. Such concerns are imaginary,” Watanabe said. Since their push to merge the city of Osaka’s wards was defeated in the May 17, 2015, referendum Osaka Ishin has had few successes. Following Hashimoto’s retirement, Osaka Ishin hasn’t done well at the polls, with a virtually unknown candidate in neighboring Kyoto losing a Lower House by-election last month. During a closed-door party meeting in Osaka on May 14, Hashimoto reportedly warned that the only way Osaka Ishin can survive is to expand its brand, and that unless this happens, it will be in danger of folding. Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui, formerly of the Liberal Democratic Party, is seen in Osaka as less controversial than the independent-minded Hashimoto. But he faces deep public skepticism, and worries within his own party, about whether he can, or even should, attempt to lead a national Ishin movement. The problem of going national starts with the party’s regional name, which includes “Osaka.” Matsui and others want to keep it, but Watanabe dislikes it. Nevertheless, it is unlikely to change before the July poll. In the meantime, Hashimoto, as spiritual head of Osaka Ishin and in his official role as the party’s legal adviser, is attempting to spread its message — a combination of policies to cut costs, privatize public services, curb the power of public-sector unions and achieve more local autonomy from Tokyo. Last week, he traveled to Fukuoka, where he’s always had support, to address the inauguration of Fukuoka Ishin no Kai. Recent media polls meanwhile show the party is continuing to struggle. An Asahi Shimbun survey at the beginning of this month found that only 8 percent of respondents plan to vote for Osaka Ishin in the Upper House election’s proportional representation races. A Yomiuri Shimbun poll a couple weeks ago said only 5 percent would do so. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga are close to the party and still counting on its support to help them achieve their dream of amending the Constitution. But that has not convinced voters nationwide that Osaka Ishin is anything other than a collection of local Osaka politicians loyal to Abe who don’t understand the rest of the country. In recent weeks, Matsui has attempted to reach out to a broader section of the public by criticizing the opposition parties for focusing too much on the divisive new security laws that expand the capabilities of the Self-Defense Forces, saying Osaka Ishin was thinking about other issues. “Just focusing on one issue in the Upper House election isn’t likely to win voter support. What happens to issues like medical care, social welfare services, emergency response measures, public works projects?” Matsui asked local reporters last week. The party is expected to announce its final platform for the pivotal Upper House election by the end of the month, he added.

your party
yoshimi watanabe
osaka ishin no kai
2016 upper house election