Einstein's theory of happiness, written by hand at a Tokyo hotel, fetches $1.56 million

Abstract: JERUSALEM - A note that Albert Einstein gave to a courier in Tokyo briefly describing his theory on happy living sold at auction in Jerusalem on Tuesday for $1.56 million, the auction house said. The winning bid for the note far exceeded the pre-auction estimate of between $5,000 and $8,000, according to the website of Winner’s auction house. “It was an all-time record for an auction of a document in Israel,” said Winner’s spokesman Meni Chadad. The buyer was a European who wished to remain anonymous, he said. The note, on Imperial Hotel Tokyo stationery, says in German that “a quiet and modest life brings more joy than a pursuit of success bound with constant unrest.” Bidding, in person, online and by phone, started at $2,000. A flurry of offers pushed the price rapidly up for about 20 minutes until the final two potential buyers bid against each other by phone. Applause broke out in the room when the sale was announced. “I am really happy that there are people out there who are still interested in science and history and timeless deliveries in a world which is developing so fast,” the seller said on condition of anonymity after the sale. A second Einstein note written at the same time that simply reads “where there’s a will, there’s a way” sold for $240,000, Winner’s said. The German-born physicist, most famous for his theory of relativity, was on a lecture tour in Japan when he hand-wrote the autographed notes, previously unknown to researchers, in 1922. He had recently been informed that he was to receive the Nobel Prize for physics, and his fame outside of scientific circles was growing. A Japanese courier arrived at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo to deliver Einstein a message. The courier either refused to accept a tip, in line with local practice, or Einstein had no small change available. Either way, Einstein didn’t want the messenger to leave empty-handed, so he wrote him two notes by hand in German, according to the seller, a relative of the messenger. “Maybe if you’re lucky those notes will become much more valuable than just a regular tip,” Einstein told the messenger, according to the seller, a resident of the German city of Hamburg. Two other letters Einstein wrote in later years were also auctioned on Tuesday, fetching prices of $33,600 and $9,600. In June, letters written by Einstein about God, Israel and physics sold for nearly $210,000 at a Jerusalem auction. Roni Grosz, the archivist in charge of the world’s largest Einstein collection at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, said the notes shed light on the private thoughts of the great physicist, whose name has become synonymous with genius. “What we’re doing here is painting the portrait of Einstein — the man, the scientist, his effect on the world — through his writings,” Grosz said. “This is a stone in the mosaic.” Einstein served as a nonresident governor of Jerusalem’s Hebrew University. When he died in 1955, he left the institution his archives, making it the owner of the world’s most extensive collection of his documents.

tokyo
jerusalem
auctions
imperial hotel
japan
albert einstein


Government mulls 'Kids Week' holiday to prompt overworked Japan to take paid leave

Abstract: The government is considering plans to create a holiday called “Kids Week,” in an ongoing effort to change the country’s workaholic culture and allow more time for families. The hope is that the proposed holiday will boost private consumption and encourage workers to use their paid leave more. So far, the public has been pessimistic, with many unconvinced that the initiative would do much to change the notorious corporate culture of excessive long hours, where many don’t take their paid holiday allowances The following is a brief rundown of the government’s proposed initiative. What is Kids Week? It’s a weeklong holiday for schoolchildren slated to launch in fiscal 2018. In the envisioned plan, public school holidays in July and August will be truncated by five days. To make up for the shorter summer break, a week of time off will be given at another time during the school year. The timing of the Kids Week holiday will vary according to region. This would reduce the traffic jams or crowds often seen during the school summer break season, which would also be a benefit for people without school-aged children. The initiative could be a boon to the tourism industry by bringing a more steady flow of customers throughout the year. The government also hopes the initiative will prompt workers to take more paid holidays, enjoy more time with their families and spend more money on traveling. Mizuho Research Institute estimates that the new plan could boost private domestic travel consumption by about ¥400 billion if parents go on vacation during Kids Week. Similar policies are already the norm in some European countries, including France and Germany, to alleviate overcrowded resorts and traffic jams. Together with Kids Week, the government is set to urge companies to make their workers use three more paid holidays in fiscal 2018 compared with the current fiscal year. Will Kids Week be effective? The biggest hurdle will be whether parents can actually take days off from work during Kids Week. In the current corporate culture, many find it difficult to take paid vacations when they want, so experts are pessimistic that the initiative could effect significant change on people’s working styles. A poll conducted by Yahoo News Japan in May after the idea was reported showed that about 66 percent of 172,030 responses were against the initiative. Some said there is just no way they can take a weeklong holiday together with their children. Although employers, mainly large companies, are increasingly urging workers to take vacations, Japan still lags behind other developed nations when it comes to taking time off. According to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare on 4,520 companies nationwide, the percentage of annual paid leave taken by workers in 2015 stood at 48.7 percent, far below the government’s target of increasing the figure to 70 percent by 2020. Small companies with 30 to 99 employees have the lowest proportion at 43.7 percent, compared with 54.7 percent at major companies with more than 1,000 workers. A different annual study released by online travel company Expedia Inc. said Japanese are the most vacation-deprived workers among 28 surveyed countries. While workers in France, Brazil, Spain, Austria and Hong Kong used all their given paid holidays, those in Japan only used half, according to the study conducted on 9,424 employees in 28 countries. Why don’t Japanese workers take paid holidays? Akio Doteuchi, a senior researcher at NLI Research Institute, pointed out that some refrain from taking paid holidays out of fear it could affect their evaluation and out of guilt for taking time off when their managers and colleagues are working. “It’s both an issue of workers’ mentality as well as ways of management,” Doteuchi said. In a 2016 labor ministry survey, more than 60 percent of respondents said they felt hesitant to take paid holidays. More than 70 percent felt that it would put a burden on co-workers, while 32 percent cited office environment as a reason for their reluctance. Workers at small and medium-size firms also have difficulty using all of their paid leave due to a chronic shortage of manpower. When do workers in Japan take vacations? Public holidays effectively serve as substitutes for unused paid holidays, Doteuchi said. With the latest addition of Mountain Day on Aug. 11 last year, Japan now has 16 public holidays a year, more than any of the other Group of Seven nations, including Britain with eight days and France with 11 days. Workers taking long holidays together during the same period could be productive in manufacturing sectors, experts say. But as more people today work in different industries, there’s also an advantage in offering more flexibility in taking paid holidays rather than increasing public holidays, they say. How have the government’s recent initiatives fared in changing work culture? Not well. The government introduced in 2015 the Yukatsu (evening activity) campaign, calling for an earlier start to the workday during the summer, so people can knock off work earlier and enjoy the evening with family and friends. But the practice has not taken root, especially in the private sector. The same can be said about the Premium Friday campaign launched in February. The program — designed to let people leave the office early, at 3 p.m., on the last Friday of each month — drew public attention at first, especially among restaurant and bar operators. But four months on, the promise of the initiative has faded as many continue to spend their Friday evenings at the office. The government on Friday set July and August as the months to boost work-life balance among national civil servants, encouraging them to implement Yukatsu and Premium Friday during the period. Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda gathered the ministries’ vice ministers at the Prime Minister’s Office on Friday and asked them to facilitate Yukatsu to reduce long working hours. Yasuko Matoba, a senior researcher at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute, says such initiatives are important because they give opportunities for workers and companies to think about the status quo. “It’s important for the government to take initiative to change (the working environment),” Matoba said, pointing out that some companies are actually letting workers quit work early on Fridays.


Nagoya assembly creates day care room for nursing mom among ranks

Abstract: The Nagoya Municipal Assembly has created a private day care room for one of its members with a 1-year-old son, the first such facility among governments in the Tokai region and a rarity in other parts of Japan as well. “It has become easier for me to do my job and also breast-feed my child even when I have to bring him to the office,” said Misaki Hibi, 32, a member of the Democratic Party. Hibi was elected to her first term in a by-election to take the seat of her husband, Kentaro, who died in November at age 35. Usually she leaves her son, Takeru, with her parents-in-law who live nearby, but if they are not free she brings him to City Hall. Hibi said the day care center in her neighborhood does not have any vacancies. Until recently, she would bring her son to a large waiting room where all 17 Democratic Party assembly members have their desks, but she was always worried that he would disturb the others if he grows noisy. The party decided to convert a small document-storage room into a day care facility and brought in a crib and toys. “To create an environment which is friendly to women working and raising children, we decided to start small,” said Masaya Hattori, who heads the group of DP assembly members. “It’s very helpful when I suddenly have to come to the office to deal with a petition or other matters. I can concentrate on my work without worrying (about my son),” Hibi said. Mari Miura, a professor of political science at Tokyo’s Sophia University knowledgeable about the working environments of female assembly members, said she has never heard of a case in Japan where a room has been designated for mothers with young children. “I hope others will view this as a successful example and follow suit,” Miura said. The number of women in Japan’s political world is on the rise, but they still occupy only about 10 percent of the seats in local and prefectural assemblies. This is partly due to the harsh working environment faced by female politicians raising children, and experts have urged that the situation be improved and public awareness toward the issue raised. According to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry, women comprised 12.9 percent of municipal assemblies and 9.9 percent of prefectural assemblies as of the end of last year. Even on the national level, Japan ranks 164th out of 193 countries surveyed by the international organization Inter-Parliamentary Union in terms of the percentage of women in the Lower House, at 9.3 percent. “It is difficult both physically and mentally to fulfill the role of a mother while working as an assembly member,” acknowledged Reika Kurata, 35, the mother of a 2-year-old girl who is serving her third term in the Nerima Ward Assembly in Tokyo. Kurata currently leaves her daughter at a day care center, but in the past her mother would take a long-haul bus from Nagano Prefecture when the assembly is in session to look after the child in the ward office. She is expecting her second child in October. Following a revision of the rules by the National Association of Chairpersons of City Councils two years ago, childbirth is now accepted as a valid reason for being absent from the Nerima Ward Assembly, and Kurata plans to take maternity leave from September. However, she is still worried what voters might think if she takes a few months off. “While it is important for female assembly members to be active and recognized by society, it is also necessary to improve the environment to encourage women to work and to change the voters’ way of thinking,” Miura said. She also said Japan should adopt a quota system introduced by more than 100 assemblies worldwide that a certain percentage of legislatures or candidates must be women.


Mothers voice support for vice minister using official car to transport son to nursery

Abstract: A vice minister has given up using a chauffeured official car to take her child to day care after drawing political flak, but some working mothers have expressed sympathy for the 39-year-old lawmaker. The Shukan Shincho weekly magazine accused Megumi Kaneko of “mixing up official and private matters” when it reported in late June that she had used an official vehicle to transport her 1-year-old son to his nursery. Picking up on the report, Renho, leader of the main opposition force, the Democratic Party, criticized Kaneko, a Lower House member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, saying the conduct constitutes “private use of an official vehicle.” Kaneko, the parliamentary vice minister of internal affairs and communications, argued it was a nonissue because the nursery, Kids Square Nagatacho, is in the same building as her Diet office. Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Sanae Takaichi also said it “does not constitute an operational problem.” Kaneko said she usually uses a stroller to take her son to the day care center, a 20-minute walk from her residence in a Diet dormitory, and walks back home if she needs the car for official duties in other parts of Tokyo. She said she only used the car to take her son to the nursery when she was short of time. But she pledged to take him there by stroller from now on. “I take all the criticisms seriously and offer a sincere apology to all who are struggling to find the right work-life balance if I made them feel uncomfortable,” she wrote in a post on her blog. Following the magazine report, former Miyazaki Gov. Hideo Higashikokubaru, 59, who is also a TV celebrity, tweeted that Kaneko should show the public the sight of her pushing a stroller in the morning, which he said would encourage other working mothers and help gain public trust. But in response to Higashikokubaru’s comment, one of his Twitter followers tweeted: “What’s the problem? I’d rather she be allowed to spend her time more wisely.” During street interviews, many working mothers voiced support for the vice minister. “I envy her,” said an office worker in her 30s in Ota Ward, Tokyo, who was taking her 1-year-old daughter to a nursery by bicycle. “Women will never be successful without public understanding of their child-rearing role.” Banning the vice minister from using the vehicle would be “narrow-minded,” she said. Another office worker in her 30s from Yokohama said, “Because the vehicle is funded by taxpayers, she cannot help being criticized.” But the woman, who takes her 1-year-old son by stroller to a nursery every day, added, “Since the day care center is on her way to work, it should be acceptable.” Meanwhile, a 40-year-old self-employed woman from Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, who has a 1-year-old son questioned whether it is necessary to allot a vehicle to each parliamentary vice minister in the first place. But concerning this particular case, she said that Kaneko “uses day care for work, so I don’t think it is a case of mixing up public and private matters.” An academic expressed even stronger support for Kaneko. Lully Miura, a lecturer at the Policy Alternatives Research Institute at the University of Tokyo, said many Japanese believe family issues should not be brought to work. “She did not violate any rules and she should be allowed to use an official vehicle to juggle her responsibilities as a parliamentary vice minister (and mother),” said Miura, 36, the mother of a child herself. “It sets a bad example that lawmakers, regardless of whether they are men or women, are not allowed to use an official car to take their children to a nursery,” she said. “Other lawmakers raising children should have taken her side and supported her.”

children
women
day care
parents
megumi kaneko


One-armed, machete-wielding clown arrested in Maine

Abstract: HOLLIS, Maine - A man is accused of drunkenly strolling down a Maine road wearing a black-hooded sweatshirt and a clown mask and brandishing a machete taped to where his arm had been amputated. Maine State Police told WCSH-TV that 31-year-old Corey Berry, of Hollis, was arrested Tuesday and charged with criminal threatening. He was released after posting $200 bail. Police say Berry was first spotted in Hollis but then fled into the woods. He was taken into custody after re-emerging in Waterboro. Police say Berry was intoxicated but cooperative. He told officers that he was copying previous clown sightings as a prank. A phone number for Berry couldn’t be found Wednesday. It wasn’t known if he has a lawyer who could comment on his behalf.


Rural Gunma city to start English-immersion program targeting urban students

Abstract: MAEBASHI, GUNMA PREF. - A rural city in Gunma Prefecture will launch a program next year offering a year-long English-immersion dormitory experience for junior high and high school students. A three-month trial course set to run from this August has attracted more than 1,900 applications from across the country, according to the city of Takasaki. In the full program starting next April, about 20 students will be enrolled, attending schools within 6 kilometers of the dorm. At the dorm, they are expected to communicate only in English. On weekends, various outdoor activities will be offered, such as planting rice and hiking with English-speaking staff. Students can “relax and learn practical English in a natural setting,” said Naoki Ota, city official in charge of the program. The dorm is under construction at the site of a closed elementary school about 30 km from JR Takasaki Station. The city is also offering short-stay courses during summer and winter vacations as well as on weekends. Rural areas have long offered similar programs, referred to as sanson ryugaku (mountain village education). In conventional sanson ryugaku, depopulated rural areas offer programs targeting students mainly from urban areas to stay and study without their parents. Such programs began in the 1970s as a way to help promote depopulated areas. The concept then grew popular across the country. The number of students in such programs has decreased since peaking in 2004 due chiefly to the country’s decreasing birthrate, according to an association of areas offering the programs. The association welcomes Takasaki’s approach, saying it brings a “new change” to the concept. Takasaki has more generally put emphasis on English education. It offers English lessons at public schools from the first grade and hires native English teachers to work as assistants at all 80 of its city-run elementary and junior high schools. “We are aiming to offer leading-edge education and nurture global human resources,” said Mayor Kenji Tomioka, a former education ministry official.


Spare a thought for the secretaries

Abstract: Few recent scandals have been as entertaining as Lower House lawmaker Mayuko Toyota ‘s verbal and physical attack on her secretary as revealed in a recording leaked to the weekly magazine Shukan Shincho. With the recording coming to light in the week before the Tokyo assembly elections, Toyota decided to resign from the Liberal Democratic Party (though not her seat) to save the party some grief, but the scandal has subsequently lingered on the fringes of the tabloid media, providing insight into everyday office shenanigans in Nagatacho. Toyota’s tantrum was extreme by any standard. Making fun of her male secretary’s baldness (“ Kono hage! “) as he was driving and she sat in the back seat and beating him hard enough to cause injury was bad enough, but what was really disturbing was Toyota’s comment about a hypothetical car accident in which his grown daughter’s “head is crushed.” Shukan Shincho, understanding that transcribing Toyota’s outburst could not do justice to its dramatic quality, released the recording publicly and it was picked up by every TV station in the country. The performance was unjustifiable, but to some it was forgivable. Former LDP secretary-general Takeo Kawamura, Toyota’s mentor in the party, commented on his Facebook page that he “heard” it is “normal” for male lawmakers to treat their secretaries in such a way. His defense of Toyota was couched in the logic of anti-sexism — that because Toyota is a woman she was being punished for behavior that is not considered unusual among men. Most secretaries absorb the abuse and get on with their jobs, he implied. Certainly none would ever secretly record such a tirade and then take it to a weekly magazine. Kawamura eventually removed the Facbook post. As it turns out, the secretary in question did not send the recording to Shukan Shincho. According to an article in the July 14 issue of the tabloid Nikkan Gendai , a source “who understands the whole incident” said that while the secretary was willing to talk to the media about it, it was probably other former secretaries of Toyota who secured the recording and sent it to the magazine. As to how many participated in this act of image sabotage, it’s difficult to determine, since, according to Business Journal , Toyota has had more than 100 secretaries in her 4½ years as a Diet member. In other words, people don’t last long in the employ of Toyota, who was notorious for her irrational behavior even before the recording showed up. Political journalist Yumiko Yokota, writing in Asahi Shimbun’s June 26 edition of Webronza , mentioned a woman who worked on Toyota’s first successful election campaign in 2012. Such people are usually offered jobs in the office afterward, but this woman declined because during the campaign she noticed how often Toyota flew off the handle. What’s interesting about the woman’s story is that she previously worked for a member of the now defunct Democratic Party of Japan and quit because of “power harassment” related to money. Lawmakers are allowed three government-paid ( kōsetsu ) secretaries, whose salaries can be as high as ¥14 million a year, and if the politician needs any more, they have to pay for them themselves. The woman told Yokota that in her office private secretaries, whose pay was lower, and public secretaries changed status every six months or so, with the public secretaries being forced to “donate” a good portion of their pay to their boss’ political organization. Apparently, this is a common practice, which is why some lawmakers hire family members as secretaries (though spouses have been forbidden since the early 2000s). Secretaries put up with the practice, as well as with the haughty attitude that comes with it. Almost anyone who rises to that level in politics learns that such an attitude is natural, and in that regard Kawamura’s opinion that Toyota’s fall from grace was accelerated by her gender has some truth to it. Employed by the health ministry, which paid for her to attend Harvard, Toyota was nonetheless not on the ministry’s “elite track,” according to Yokota, so she was persuaded to run for office. The ease of her LDP-sponsored victory in 2012, when the DPJ was falling apart, sharpened her sense of herself as being superior to almost anyone. She was famous for snubbing office workers and kowtowing to her betters. The woman interviewed by Yokota said Toyota was called the “pink monster” in the halls of government because of her gaudy fashion sense. Secretaries do many things. Those designated as policy ( seisaku ) aides, the people who are supposed to draft legislation and do research, should be certified as such, and only 6.5 percent of examinees passed the relevant test in 2016, according to Yomiuri Shimbun . Otherwise, they have to be employed as a secretary for a certain length of time and then take a training course. The certification is good regardless of which politician the secretary works for, but in the end most end up being high-paid personal servants. The secretary in question was Toyota’s policy aide, so obviously such a position doesn’t shield one from the boss’ wrath. In fact, many are called upon to take a bullet. Whenever a lawmaker is caught in a money scandal, it’s often a secretary who is blamed . Several have even committed suicide, which seems to be taking loyalty to extremes. Obviously, loyalty was not what Toyota’s secretary felt toward her, but it remains to be seen if his recording of her tirade is a one-off case of revenge or will encourage others to speak up about their lot. Don’t count on it changing much. There aren’t many jobs for political secretaries. When they leave one politician they usually look for a new one, and rarely leave Nagatacho for the “real world.” The only alternative is to become politicians themselves , but in any case they’re trapped in that peculiar realm. Proof of this is the fact that in none of the reports about the Toyota scandal is the secretary named. If he was, it might be impossible for him to find another position. Once a punching bag, always a punching bag.

ldp
asahi shimbun
takeo kawamura
shukan shincho
webronza
mayuko toyota
yumiko yokota


Singapore scientists create probiotic beer

Abstract: SINGAPORE - Researchers in Singapore have brewed up a beer containing probiotic bacteria that can improve gut health and boost the immune system. Food researcher Alcine Chan, 23, experimented for almost a year with a recipe of malt, alcohol, hops and a strain of probiotic bacteria until she got the formula just right. “The hops are the main ingredient that kills probiotics, so we had to find a way for the probiotics to overcome the hops,” Chan said, demonstrating the pre-fermentation process in a laboratory at the National University of Singapore (NUS). The popularity of beer promises huge market potential for the process, she said, adding that she hoped it would reach as many consumers as possible. Chan, who perfected the beer recipe as a project for the senior year of her degree, said she drew inspiration from the probiotic yogurt and dairy drinks she consumes every day. The pale, bubbly drink tastes slightly sweet and has 3.5 percent alcohol content, just under the 4 percent to 6 percent of regular beers. Every 100 milliliters (3.4 ounces) of the drink — just over a mouthful — contains 1 billion probiotic organisms. While probiotics have been shown to improve digestive function and boost the immune system, among other health benefits, project researchers stop short of making nutrition claims. “The beer is simply a new vehicle for delivering probiotics and the associated health benefits,” said Chan’s project supervisor, Liu Shao Quan, adding that it had not yet been given a name. Melissa Mak, founder of Fermentation Friends, a group that holds workshops on making fermented probiotic food and beverages, said she would give the beer a try. “It’s highly incongruous to think of beer as being a good thing in terms of nutrition,” Mak said. “No one knows for sure, but I think it’s a very exciting new product.” Liu’s team has also experimented with flavored coffees and wines made from Southeast Asia’s popular lychee and durian fruits. But it will be some time before bars can offer the new beer, as the researchers wait for their drink to be patented. The pair are also in talks with beer companies on marketing plans, Liu said, without giving details. The beer contains the Lactobacilus paracasei L26 probiotic strain, the researchers said.

singapore health biotechnology alcohol beer drinking


Smart speakers powered by voice agents seen ushering in era of AI

Abstract: Major tech firms have been keen to sell speakers equipped with voice-based artificial intelligence agents recently. The debuts of smart speakers are seen as the prelude to an AI era, ushering in a new technological age in which virtual assistants are expected to become as ubiquitous as smartphones, allowing people to connect to the internet by voice with greater ease. Whether these speakers will really take off and whether the technology will be popular in Japan remain to be seen. The following questions and answers explore these issues as well as why AI speakers are creating a buzz and what will be the role of Japanese firms in this field. What makes AI speakers special? They look like normal portable home speakers, but one big difference is that they communicate with users verbally. Users can tell the speakers to play music, search the internet, pull up weather forecasts, send text messages, make phone calls and perform other daily tasks. Currently, Amazon is leading the field with its 2014 U.S. debut of the Echo speaker series, which comes with a voice agent called Alexa. Google Inc. and Apple Inc. are following Amazon’s lead with their own speakers, Google Home and Apple HomePod. However, these AI speakers are not available in Japan yet. Virtual assistants, such as Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri, are already available as features in many popular smartphones. Other internet giants, including Microsoft and Alibaba, have also announced they will launch smart speakers, while Line Corp., Japan’s messaging app giant, will be promoting its AI engine, Clova. If voice assistants already exist in smartphones, why do we need AI speakers? Smart speakers enable users to speak to the devices more easily than smartphones, experts say. With smartphones, people usually need to hold their handsets and speak to them. AI speakers are equipped with high-quality microphones, so they can recognize users’ voice commands from relatively far away, enabling a “hands-free, location-free and focus-free” environment, said Kanae Maita, principal analyst at Gartner Japan, a technology research and consulting firm. People don’t even have to look at the devices to use them as long as they are within a reasonable distance, which is a new user experience, she said. Asked if other electronics devices, such as TVs, could be AI-powered, Maita said tech firms probably think the speakers are good devices as a starting point to introduce their AI voice agents. “TVs have speakers, too, but you can’t really carry them around. Moreover, you need to buy TVs that come with AI voice agents, but TVs are not something that people purchase very often,” said Maita. Why are tech giants now releasing these smart speakers? They are aiming to create new markets for voice-based AI systems, just like Google and Apple crafted huge app markets for smartphones. To create such markets, companies that already run content platforms have a competitive edge, Maita said. Amazon, for instance, has a gigantic e-commerce service with music and audiobook content that it can provide to users through the speakers. “Those that have content platforms are looking into providing them in different ways with a new user interface,” which is the voice-based interface, said Maita. Are speakers really the next big thing? Experts say that while some media describe AI speakers as a new tech trend following the smartphone revolution, the speakers themselves are not the core value. “The essence is not the speakers but those voice-based virtual assistants behind them. It’s Alexa for Amazon. It’s Clova for Line,” Kazuo Hiyane, general manager of advanced technology at Mitsubishi Research Institute, said. Those voice agents seem to be a package deal with the speakers, but the agents are actually on the internet, which means people will be able to access them anywhere an internet connection is available. Hiyane added that the speakers are the first step of the tech firms’ goal to integrate voice agents seamlessly by making things around people AI-powered. Gartner’s Maita agrees. With the emergence of voice-based AI assistants, people are likely to control computers more with their voice, “which is a paradigm shift for the computing platform,” she said. About 3.3 percent of households worldwide will be using AI speakers by 2020, according to Gartner estimates. It also predicts that more than 50 percent of the internet experience for those homes will be voice-based by 2020. Where do Japanese players fit in? Japanese firms don’t have a visible presence, with the exception of Line Corp. Line said it will launch its Clova-powered speaker this summer in Japan. Overseas rivals have yet to start selling their speakers in the country, positioning Line ahead of competitors in the domestic market. “When it comes to a service platform Japanese companies can create for voice-based applications, I think Line has good potential,” said Hiyane. Line already has tens of millions of users and provides many services, so it won’t be hard to craft another platform for the new voice market by using existing content, according to Hiyane. “Other than Line, it seems pretty tough. I think other Japanese makers can make speakers, but I don’t think they can create content ecosystems,” he said. Still, electronics giants such as Sony Corp., Panasonic Corp. and Sharp Corp. must be thinking about using virtual assistants, Hiyane said. Since Sony has music content, it may have a chance to compete with the rivals, but other electronics firms, such as Panasonic and Sharp, don’t really have soft content, so they will have a hard time providing attractive content platforms, he said. Will AI speakers be popular in Japan? Experts said they will eventually spread in Japan, but the initial stage may be challenging. Hiyane said this is partly because many Japanese probably find it awkward to speak to machines and give orders to do something for them. Thus, it might be key for the makers to come up with settings for users to be able to feel more emotional attachment to the AI agents and speak to them like they do with friends, he said.


Yomiuri pitcher Yamaguchi benched after violent birthday scuffle

Abstract: Yomiuri Giants’ Shun Yamaguchi was abruptly withdrawn from a game against the Chunichi Dragons on Tuesday over of a violent incident last week in which the pitcher is suspected to have been involved, according to the Central League ball club. In the early hours of July 11, Yamaguchi visited a Tokyo hospital after sustaining a wound on his right hand from broken glass at a restaurant where he was celebrating his 30th birthday. He was apparently drunk at the time. At the hospital, Yamaguchi is suspected of damaging a door and injuring a security guard, a team spokesperson said. Yomiuri said it is investigating the matter further and will bench Yamaguchi for the time being. The pitcher left the DeNA BayStars last offseason to join the Giants as a free agent. “I don’t know any more than what the team has announced,” Giants Manager Yoshinobu Takahashi said before Tuesday’s game at Nagoya Dome. “I have nothing to say as I don’t have the details.” After the incident came to light earlier Tuesday, the club hastily replaced Yamaguchi, who had been announced the previous day as the starter for Yomiuri, with pitcher Hayato Takagi. The Giants lost 6-1 to the Dragons. Yamaguchi first pitched for his new team in June, making a late debut due to problems with his shoulder. He has so far pitched in four games with a 1-1 record and a 6.43 ERA this season. This is the latest of several scandals to hit the Giants. In 2015, some players on the team were involved in illegal gambling on baseball games and were subsequently suspended indefinitely. The Tokyo police, confirmed such an incident occurred on July 11 in Meguro Ward that matches details reported by the Yomiuri Giants. They are investigating to confirm the connection to Yamaguchi. The police received damage reports from the hospital in Meguro with claims of property damage as well as a filed report from a security guard claiming bodily injuries, including bruises to the chest and lower back. While team officials have criticized Yamaguchi for his “low level of awareness” from having hurt his throwing hand, some Giants fans in Nagoya said they felt betrayed. “Personal troubles are also seen as the problem of the ball club itself,” said Ayana Matsuo, a 27-year-old who came to Nagoya Dome with her colleagues to cheer on the Yomiuri Giants. “With this coming after the gambling scandal, I think many fans are fed up.” Another female fan said, “It is disappointing if he was really involved in violence. Were the player and ball club hiding it until now? I hope they won’t do something that would tarnish the team’s image.”


Osaka restaurant chain fined for forcing foreign student employees to work excessive hours

Abstract: OSAKA - An Osaka-based restaurant chain operator and its top manager were fined Wednesday for making foreign student employees work longer hours than legally permitted. The Osaka Summary Court fined Ichimonkai, the operator of the Kushikatsu Daruma restaurant chain, ¥500,000 and 38-year-old Shohei Yabuguchi, who is the chief manager for all the stores, ¥300,000 as demanded by prosecutors for violating the immigration law. At the restaurant chain, which serves kushikatsu deep-fried meat and vegetables skewers, 11 foreign students work beyond the 28 hours a week allowed under their visas at several outlets in the city of Osaka between last September and November, according to the ruling. The defendants admitted to the charges during the court’s first hearing last month. “Defendant Yabuguchi bears a grave responsibility, as he prioritized profits despite being fully aware of the illegality involving foreign part-timers at some outlets at the end of 2015,” said Judge Setsu Inokuchi. The judge added that the company, however, did take steps later to prevent such illegal employment. Of the roughly 700 part-time workers at its outlets, 200 are foreign nationals, according to the company. After the ruling, Ichimonkai President Katsuya Ueyama, 56, said, “By learning from this lesson, we will abide by law regarding working hours not only for foreign employees but also for Japanese workers.”

ruling
foreign students
overwork
osaka summary court
kushikatsu daruma


Did DNA influence Japan's collectivist society?

Abstract: If you’ve spent any time in Japan you will have heard the expression, “ Deru kugi wa utareru ” (“The nail that sticks out gets hammered down”). The phrase is used to explain how Japanese society traditionally prefers conformity and social harmony to independence and individual expression. There is a similar saying in China — “The shot hits the bird that pokes its head out” — and no doubt something equivalent in South Korea, too. East Asian countries tend to have collectivist societies, while individualism typically prevails in the West. Over the years, if I wondered at all why East and West were different in this way I think I’ve put it down to something to do with the fact that the societies were steeped in values from Confucianism and Christianity, respectively. I didn’t think about any underlying evolutionary reason, probably because I thought culture and politics were more powerful, and quicker, at shaping high-level things such as societal structure. But Joan Chiao, a psychologist at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, has thought a lot about it, and she has put together a fascinating idea: It comes down to a short chunk of DNA that we all have in varying amounts. The chunk is found in the serotonin-transporter gene on chromosome 17. You’ll have heard of serotonin, a chemical commonly associated with feelings of happiness. We tend to feel happier when there is more serotonin in the bloodstream, which is why stopping it from being mopped up by using drugs such as Prozac can benefit people suffering from depression. The serotonin-transporter gene’s job is to make a protein that carries serotonin away to be recycled. As in most genes, there’s a region of the serotonin-transporter that controls how much of the gene product is made. It controls the expression of the gene, which is like saying it’s the tap regulating water flow into a bath. In 1994, geneticists discovered that this region, 5-HTTLPR, occurs in two forms: a long and short form. People who posses the long form make more of the product than the short form, and more of the transporter product means less serotonin is left in the system compared with people with the short form. This discovery immediately had the neuroscientists and psychiatrists wondering: What would the behavioral effect of this difference be in people? In 2003, a bombshell paper in the journal Science suggested an answer. A small study of young men and women in Dunedin, New Zealand, found that people with the short form of the gene were more prone to depression, and even suicide, than people with the long form. People with the long form, in contrast, tend to be naturally happier people. Hundreds of research papers have since attempted to delve into the apparent effect of the 5-HTTLPR gene, but the results have not led to a clear answer. To study the genetics of such complex traits as happiness and depression requires huge sample sizes, and researchers simply haven’t had enough people to examine. Chiao knew that the short form of 5-HTTLPR occurs at a higher frequency in East Asia than it does in, say, Europe. The short form, remember, is the one linked to depression, while the long form is associated with greater reported well-being. Could these genetic differences between East and West form the basis of cultural differences in individualism and collectivism? She teamed up with colleague Katherine Blizinsky, who is also from Northwestern, to examine the idea. The pair gathered data on 5-HTTLPR from 50,135 people in 29 countries, including Germany, the U.K. and U.S., Japan, China and South Korea. They compared this with other data from those countries, such as cultural values, economics and disease prevalence. They found that collectivist cultures were much more likely to contain people with the short form of 5-HTTLPR. The relationship held even when they controlled for economic and health factors. The results were published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B. In a typical sample of people from East Asia, 70-80 percent of people have the short form of 5-HTTLPR while the percentage for a typical European sample is 40-45 percent. “Collectivism,” the pair wrote, “serves an ‘anti-psychopathology’ function.” In other words, collectivist societies supposedly reduce the amount of psychological pressure people feel. They do this by lowering the amount of individual stress people feel, because society spreads out the stress rather than loading it up. No one is saying that differences in 5-HTTLPR caused Japan to become collectivist. But the apparent finding of differences in the frequency of the two forms between East and West serves as a useful reminder that societies are complex things. Chiao and Blizinsky say a complete understanding of the factors that contribute to societal structure requires us to look at genetics, as well as the usual social and environmental factors.

europe genetics asia happiness serotonin


Japan's real wages up 0.1% on year, the first rise in five months

Abstract: Japan’s real wages in May gained 0.1 percent from a year earlier for the first rise in five months, the government said Friday. Total cash earnings per worker, including base and overtime pay, increased 0.7 percent to an average ¥270,241 (around $2,300), the second consecutive monthly rise, the Health and Welfare Ministry also said in a preliminary report. “As the ratio of part-time workers fell and that of regular and other workers with higher wages increased, growth in total earnings topped a rise in consumer prices,” a ministry official said. The number of workers grew 2.6 percent, while total hours worked, including overtime work, increased 1.2 percent, the first rise in eight months, the ministry said, adding these factors also contribute to the rise in wages in real, or inflation-adjusted, terms. Average base pay and other scheduled wages rose 0.9 percent to ¥241,008, while unscheduled wages, including overtime pay, grew 0.7 percent to ¥19,100.

wages
japanese economy
economic indicators
workforce


Nuclear Regulation Authority chief draws flak for saying North Korea should attack Tokyo instead of a reactor

Abstract: The head of the Nuclear Regulation Authority drew fire Friday for a comment he made Thursday saying it would be “far better” for North Korea to launch a missile at Tokyo than at a small nuclear reactor. “I don’t know the level of North Korea’s technology but it is far better to drop (a missile) right in the middle of Tokyo (than try to) drop it on a small reactor,” NRA Chairman Shunichi Tanaka said at an event in Takahama, Fukui Prefecture, which hosts two reactors. He made the offhand comment when asked by a resident about how the NRA, which is affiliated with the Environment Ministry, would respond to a missile attack from the North. After the event, Tanaka told reporters the example he had used “was inappropriate.” “Only a peaceful country should use nuclear power. I hope that entering a state of war will definitely be avoided,” he said. On Friday, Environment Minister Koichi Yamamoto chastised the NRA chief. “Chairman Tanaka has offered an apology, saying that his comment was inappropriate. I want him to be careful with his words and actions from now on,” Yamamoto said. Takahama is home to reactors 3 and 4 at Kansai Electric Power Co.’s Takahama nuclear plant. The reactors were recently booted up after passing the stricter safety requirements the NRA drafted in the wake of the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis. On Tuesday, North Korea said it tested an intercontinental ballistic missile that landed within Japan’s exclusive economic zone in the Sea of Japan. It is the fifth time since last August that a North Korean missile has fallen into the EEZ, which extends some 200 nautical miles (370 km) from the coastline.

north korea
nuclear regulation authority
nuclear power plant
missiles
takahama
shunichi tanaka


Underwater music festival held at Florida reef

Abstract: BIG PINE KEY, FLORIDA - A radio station’s broadcast underwater in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary on Saturday attracted about 400 divers and snorkelers who listened to music and announcements advocating reef preservation. The Lower Keys Underwater Music Festival at Looe Key Reef, part of the world’s third-largest living coral barrier reef, featured four hours of music custom-programmed by station WWUS for subsea listening. “We have a captive audience down there,” said Bill Becker, the event’s co-founder and the station’s news director. “We have divers and snorkelers listening to public service announcements about reef preservation, coral reef etiquette and diver awareness. “It’s things that they can do to lessen their impact on the coral reef,” he said. The aquatic-focused playlist included the theme from the “The Little Mermaid,” the Beatles’ “Octopus’s Garden” and the theme from the iconic shark motion picture “Jaws.” “We just wanted to get their (participants) attention,” laughed Becker. Other songs included Jimmy Buffett’s “Fins,” the theme from the television classic “Flipper” and “Atlantis” by Donovan. Participants in the water could hear the commercial-free broadcast via Lubbell Laboratory waterproof speakers strategically hung from boats floating above the reef. Several divers were costumed, including two mermaids and a Sponge Bob cartoon character. Others pretended to play Florida Keys artist August Powers’ sculpted musical instruments. Becker described the underwater listening experience at “ethereal,” saying that the sound was not loud, but very clear and it seemed that music could be “felt through your body and not just through your ears.”

music nature oceans florida festivals stunts


Pediatric cancer center seeks donations to build more clean rooms

Abstract: The National Center for Child Health and Development in Tokyo is using crowdfunding to create two additional clean rooms needed to treat pediatric cancer. The center is aiming to raise ¥15 million by Sept. 8. Donations will be returned if the center fails to reach its target, it said. To treat leukemia and immunodeficiency disorders, patients may receive transplants of blood-forming stem cells from donors. They must live in a sterile room for three to four weeks as they are susceptible to infections. The center’s Children’s Cancer Center houses a hospital and research institute where 30 stem cell transplants are carried out annually. It has two clean rooms but needs more to cope with the rise in patients. To meet demand, the center is also soliciting corporate donations. It hopes to begin designing the rooms in fiscal 2018. A 17-year-old high school student who was treated in one of the clean rooms at the center said the atmosphere inside was gloomy and that its shower was out of order. “I will be happy if people who are using the room next time will be able to stay in more comfortable surroundings,” he said.


Kagoikes arrested over alleged subsidy fraud involving Moritomo Gakuen schools plugged by Abe's wife

Abstract: OSAKA - Prosecutors on Monday arrested the former chief of a scandal-mired nationalist school operator and his wife for allegedly defrauding the central government of public subsidies for their business. The arrest of Yasunori Kagoike, 64, former chief of Moritomo Gakuen, and wife, Junko, 60, follows the scandal over a sweetheart land deal allegedly linked to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Abe’s wife, Akie, was honorary principal of an elementary school Moritomo Gakuen intended to open in April. Before their arrests, prosecutors had questioned the Kagoikes on Monday afternoon after quizzing them for the first time last Thursday. Junko Kagoike served as a senior official at the schools. Yasunori Kagoike told reporters after the first round of questioning that he had “remained mostly silent.” He drew attention for securing a huge discount on a parcel of state-owned land in Osaka Prefecture where he wanted to build an elementary school. Moritomo Gakuen was found to have acquired the 8,770-sq.-meter plot in June last year for just ¥134 million, or roughly 14 percent of its appraisal value, after holding negotiations with the Finance Ministry’s local bureau in the area. Abe’s wife resigned her honorary post at the school after the deal came to light, but the possibility that she and the prime minister were linked to it came under scrutiny in the Diet. Abe denied that he or his wife played any role in the real estate deal, which some dubbed the “Akheed scandal,” playing on the infamous 1976 Lockheed scandal and the first name of Abe’s wife. The Osaka District Public Prosecutor’s Office’s special investigation squad opened an investigation into the Kagoikes after receiving a complaint in March that the school entity unlawfully claimed state subsidies worth about ¥56 million ($505,000) related to the construction of the elementary school in Toyonaka. Moritomo Gakuen gave up on opening the school as the scandal grew, and Yasunori Kagoike stepped down as its head in March. He also faces a criminal complaint filed in May accusing him of swindling Osaka Prefecture out of about ¥62 million in subsidies between fiscal 2011 and 2016 for a kindergarten in the city of Osaka. In June, the prosecutors raided sites linked to Moritomo Gakuen. In applying for the state subsidies, Moritomo Gakuen submitted a document listing around ¥2.38 billion in construction costs. But the operator is suspected of padding the costs to obtain higher subsidies, investigative sources said. The office intends to build cases on the two allegations in the belief that Yasunori Kagoike initiated the actions, the sources said.


Abe’s hotel spa and gym visits inflame media speculation

Abstract: Are Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s weekly “workouts” masking something more ominous? An oft-cited adage goes, “Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.” This principle could easily be applied, for example, to the unpredictability of the tenures of Japan’s prime ministers. Abe is still relatively young — he’ll turn 63 in September — but he is known to suffer from inflammatory bowel disease, a chronic, autoimmune condition first diagnosed when he was age 17. In February 2007, only four months into his first term as prime minister, several weekly magazines ran stories about concerns over Abe’s health after he visited Keio University Hospital in Shinanomachi to enter the “human dock,” as a complete physical examination is referred to in Japan. Abe’s visit, the media observed, was unusually long, lasting from 8 a.m. to 1:48 in the afternoon. Finally he emerged, smiling, and reassured the awaiting reporters with, “There’s no problem whatsoever. I can do my job with full peace of mind.” Seven months later and a year to the day he became prime minister, Abe resigned and was succeeded by Yasuo Fukuda, who all but publicly admitted his distaste for the job. In 2012, a year after northeastern Honshu was beset by catastrophic natural and man-made destruction, Abe made his comeback. His “miraculous” physical recovery — said to be thanks to the drug Mesalazine (also known as Asacol) — gave him the renewed vigor to regain LDP leadership. As of now, his two terms cumulatively make him Japan’s third-longest serving postwar prime minister, after Shigeru Yoshida (2,614 days) and Eisaku Sato (2,796 days). Since the end of World War II, it has become rare for serving prime ministers to die while in office. (The sole exception was Masayoshi Ohira in 1980). But the media is quick to pounce on telltale signs that the stress may be taking a toll on the health of the nation’s top politician. In this regard, Shukan Shincho (June 22) reported that on June 9, Abe and his wife celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary at an Italian restaurant. Later that night he collapsed and a physician was summoned. Although hospitalization was deemed unnecessary, the doctor advised bed rest. The next morning Abe stayed home; but that afternoon he went to the Nagomi Spa and Fitness Gym, a members-only facility inside the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Roppongi, where — in seeming defiance of the previous evening’s episode — he reportedly worked out for over three hours. Leave it to Asahi Geino (July 6) to fill in the blanks. The magazine, whose contents normally cover celebrity gossip, sports and sex — topics nearest and dearest to Japan’s salarymen — cites a number of unattributed sources of the kind that may be said typical of tabloid reportage. In other words, it’s hard to tell where the facts end and the speculation begins. An unnamed political insider told the magazine: “While Mr. Abe has worked out at that gym in the past, the real reason he’s been going there is to receive medical checkups. The expensive membership fee, ¥1.5 million, is enough to ensure privacy, and he is able to slip from the gym to a suite in the same hotel, where he consults with a physician.” How has Abe managed thus far to conceal his use of a “top secret examination room” in the Roppongi Hyatt? Asahi Geino’s writer uses the word “ hitakakushi ,” which translates as “hiding at all costs.” Abe is reportedly being attended by a team of several doctors, and any changes in his condition are closely monitored. In addition to two physicians trained in conventional medicine, Asahi Geino noted he has also begun consulting a third doctor who specializes in traditional Asian herbal treatment, perhaps using Daikenchuto, a gastrointestinal prokinetic herbal medicine whose properties are beneficial for various chronic conditions and intestinal obstructions. “The powerful steroids Abe’s been taking as a part of his treatment have had strong side effects, and it’s believed that these are responsible for his sometimes ruddy complexion and bloated, moonfaced appearance,” a source at Keio University Hospital was quoted as saying. Asahi Geino deduces that Abe’s visits to the “secret examination room” at the Hyatt had heretofore been limited to about once or twice a month, but after returning from the Group of Seven meeting in Italy on May 27, he visits the gym for his “three-hour workouts” every Saturday. Has the accumulated psychological stress from a seemingly interminable string of domestic scandals, along with the looming threat of North Korean missiles, perhaps aggravated his condition? In any event, the English word “post-Abe” has been cropping up in the media with increasing frequency, even more so since the landslide victory by Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike’s Tomin First party in the July 2 Metropolitan Assembly election. A reporter for a national daily suggests to Asahi Geino that Abe’s putting up a brave front reflects his determination, and he’ll continue projecting a healthy image until next year, when debate comes up for revising Japan’s Constitution. “The left-of-center media and political parties such as the Democratic Party and the Communists made the mistake of overplaying the Moritomo Gakuen scandal,” the reporter said. “Perhaps they had hopes of forcing out Abe to prevent revising the Constitution. But that strategy backfired, and Abe seems more determined than ever.” As things stand now, Abe may literally be staking his life on leaving behind his political legacy. Asahi Geino predicts the frequency of those surreptitious visits to the secret treatment room at the Grand Hyatt are likely to increase.

shinzo abe
yasuo fukuda
yuriko koike
shukan shincho
w asahi geino
nagomi spa
keio university hospital
post-abe


Rare video footage of 'comfort women' released by South Korea

Abstract: SEOUL - The South Korean government has released rare video footage of Korean women forced to work in Japanese military brothels during World War II, the first time moving images have been shown of the “comfort women.” A government-funded research team from Seoul National University found the footage, which was filmed in 1944 by an American soldier, in the United States National Archives after a two-year hunt. “South Korea has not had its own data on comfort women and (has) been relying on Japanese and American data,” said Kang Sung-hyun, an academic on the team. “It is crucial for South Korea to have our own data for the issue of comfort women,” he said. The 18-second black-and-white clip shows seven women lined up outside a brick house, being questioned by Chinese soldiers. The women were found by U.S.-China allied forces in China’s Yunnan province, the team said. The women were registered by U.S. soldiers, the research team said. Two of the women in the video had already appeared in previously released photos of comfort women.


Are crime syndicates in Japan sitting on a gold mine?

Abstract: The Japanese underworld loves gold — it has been the analog bitcoin of crime syndicates in recent years. The origins of gold are difficult to trace, and the material is easy to convert into cash and store. Crime syndicates are increasingly smuggling it, stealing it or robbing it from other smugglers who don’t have ties to gangs. A gold smuggler isn’t likely to report any theft to the authorities and therefore makes the perfect victim. Over the past three years, thieves have conducted a “Reservoir Dogs”-style gold heist dressed as police officers hijacked a Mercedes believed to have been loaded with gold and robbed gold dealers in broad daylight. According to the Finance Ministry, customs reported 294 cases of gold smuggling between July 2015 and June 2016. And yet crime syndicates have been interested in gold for some time. In December 2014, a member of the Yamaguchi-gumi and an associate were arrested at Fukuoka International Airport after disembarking from a flight from Hong Kong. Hiroaki Ishimaru, 45, and Yuichi Nagano, a 30-year-old member of the Fukuhaku-kai, were subsequently charged with attempting to smuggle four blocks of gold weighing 1 kilogram each into Japan. The gold was estimated to be worth ¥18 million and the pair later told investigators they had been trying to avoid paying tax. This appears to be a common practice in crime syndicates. Customs officials say crime syndicates have been known to purchase gold in places such as Macau or Hong Kong, where the precious metal faces very little tax. The gold is then typically smuggled into the country by plane, often through Fukuoka, which has many international flights. By not declaring the gold to customs officials, the smugglers avoid paying the consumption tax rate of 8 percent. After the gold has been smuggled into Japan, it is sold for cash at stores trading in the precious metal, which are often similar to pawnshops. Smugglers are typically paid the consumption tax on top of the value of the metal, which they simply pocket as profit. When crime syndicates aren’t smuggling the gold themselves, they’re targeting the people who are smuggling it or anyone who deals in it. In July 2016, men disguised as police officers robbed a vendor of gold bars worth ¥750 million ($6.7 million) in Fukuoka. In May, police arrested 10 men suspected of being involved in the crime, with many believed to have ties to organized crime. Police in Aichi Prefecture are currently investigating whether an officer leaked information to the suspects, a suspicion that, if proven true, would be incredibly embarrassing. In 2013, a chief inspector from the prefecture was suspected of having leaked details of an investigation to none other than the Yamaguchi-gumi. Profit aside, there’s actually another significant reason that crime syndicates have been attempting to get their hands on a large amount of gold. “Since the organized crime ordinances introduced nationwide in October 2011, banks have used contract law to shut down all bank accounts run by crime syndicates. A gang member can’t open a bank account without committing fraud and being arrested,” an organized crime detective in Tokyo told me on condition of anonymity. “So what do you do when you have money but no place to save it? You buy gold. “People don’t see gold in the same way as something like drugs,” he adds. “There is less resistance to smuggling it and so crime syndicates have little trouble recruiting ordinary people to do it,” he says. “However, the payoff isn’t worth it. Think of any gang member involved as being like the title character in ‘Goldfinger.'” I’m sure you all remember the 1964 smash hit that was composed by John Barry and performed by Shirley Bassey for the opening and closing title sequences of that film but, in case you don’t, here’s a quick reminder: “Goldfinger/ He’s the man, the man with the Midas touch/ A spider’s touch/ Such a cold finger/ Beckons you to enter his web of sin/ But don’t go in.” And that’s the lesson, folks: Just don’t go in.

yamaguchi-gumi
yakuza
organized crime
fukuoka
gold


Japan Times 1992: 'Oita village sells itself as "Twen Peaks" '

Abstract: 100 YEARS AGO Sunday, July 1 1917 There are heard such cries as “To the mountains” as the hot summer approaches. As may be remembered, a number of excursionists met with disaster last year owing to the improvidence on their part as well as the inclemency of weather in the heart of mountains. These incidents, however, did not diminish the zeal and fervor of many young adventurers this year who have determined to make mountaineering trips. The Mountain and Forestry Bureau of the Home Department has therefore recently published a notice as a warning to such adventurers, giving them advice in regard to precautionary arrangements they should make before climbing. The notices says that such expeditions should only be undertaken with a certain number of men for company, and they must precalculate the distance they would make each day in reference to the speed of the slowest walker of the party. Regarding traveling outfit, the travelers should dress themselves in a jacket with a stick-up collar and half-trousers furnished with many pockets. Besides these garments, they should carry with them some woolen shirts and belly hoses, for warmth, and a hooded overcoat to guard against rain and straw mats for sitting. The following odds and ends are also suggested as being handy to carry by such travelers: map, watch, a case of magnetic needle, whistle, handbook, pencils, paper, name cards, knife, cane, towels, lint, bandages, flaxen ropes, oiled paper, water bottle, tallow matches, small kettles and pots, rice, dried bonito, dried boiled rice, biscuits, wheat flour, buckwheat flour, dried sweet “mochi,” salt, candy sugar, brandy, etc. 75 YEARS AGO Saturday, July 11, 1942 The latest U.S. craze is all things Japanese The successive debacles suffered by the U.S., particularly in the Pacific, are responsible for the enthusiasm ever mounting in that country recently for the study of Japan, reports the Asahi this morning, quoting information reaching authoritative quarters of this country on Friday. In the U.S. of late, books on Japan are being published in succession, while in newspapers and magazines, articles concerning the Pacific War are appearing abundantly, states the paper. According to a recent issue of Life, a popular American magazine, the Japanese language is being taught in the U.S. Army, while judo and Japanese chess are also in vogue, all for the purpose of learning Japanese strategy, the journal continues. In New York of late, a Japanese chess contest is held regularly every Monday evening, states the dispatch, adding that even Edward Lasker, a noted chess player, gave up his chessmen for white and black go stones. Go boards made by the Richard Howell Exhibits Co. are selling fast, while New Yorkers are rushing to book stores for a Japanese primer on go written by Walter de Havilland, father of noted Hollywood actress, Olivia de Havilland, who lived for a long time in Japan, adds the dispatch. Thus, with the expanding Japanese war achievements in the current War of Greater East Asia, American optimism of the past has been completely replaced by Japanophobia, resulting in their earnest study of things Japanese, adds the paper. 50 YEARS AGO Saturday, July 15, 1967 Elderly man embarks on 180-km row up river A man is struggling on his way to finish a 180-km adventure by rowing down the Mogami River, Yamagata Prefecture, in a small raft. Not much news compared with the stunning 10,000-km crossing of the Pacific (on Thursday), but the man is 70 years old and the ship is a 1½-meter-long rubber boat, 3½ meters shorter than Ikuo Kashima’s Korasa II. Chu Imai of Urawa, Saitama Prefecture, paddled off aboard the rubber boat with a flag of the Rising Sun flapping in the breeze on Wednesday morning at a point about 180 kilometers upstream from the river mouth. Imai plans to finish his adventure in eight days, sleeping on the river bank at night. He took three years to equip his all-weather rubber boat with an umbrella, stabilizing rubber inner tube on both sides and a flag pole. “I’m determined to prove an old man like me has yet enough guts left to compete with courageous young men,” Imai said with confidence. Ikuo Kashima became the first Japanese to complete a solo voyage across both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans on July 13, 1967. 25 YEARS AGO Friday, July 31, 1992 Oita village selling itself as ‘Twen Peaks’ The tiny village of Maetsue, Oita Prefecture, and Kyushu Japan Railway Co. are riding on the bandwagon of the popular U.S. television series “Twin Peaks,” asserting that the local scenery closely resembles the fictional American town. A JR Kyushu poster designed to attract tourists to the area features a scenic photograph with a “Welcome to Twen Peaks” sign. The spelling was intentionally changed as a joke, a JR spokesman said. The poster also bears the slogan, “Your Twin Peaks might be there,” and an advertisement for the “Twin Peaks” movie with a photo of actor Kyle MacLachlan. Kikuya, a confectionary in Oita Prefecture, is selling cherry pies that are purportedly the same kind loved by FBI special agent Dale Cooper, who MacLachlan plays. The owner of the confectionary says that cherries imported from Michigan are used in the pies. He claims MacLachlan visited Japan, ate the pies and certified that “they taste just like the cherry pies back home.” Wowow will air David Lynch’s rebooted “Twin Peaks” in Japan from July 22.

judo
chess
climbing
oita
hiking
twin peaks
go
ikuo kashima
maetsue
twen peaks


Japan and EU seal FTA after four years of talks

Abstract: BRUSSELS - Japan and the European Union sealed a broad agreement Thursday on free trade in a deal they hailed as a sign of their joint efforts to promote an open economy. After four years of talks, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker announced a deal in Brussels that will form a market of nearly 640 million people and account for nearly one-third of the global economy. “Amid moves of protectionism, we could demonstrate our commitment to raising the banner of free trade. It’s an outcome to be proud of,” Abe said at a joint news conference with Tusk and Juncker. Referring to the agreement, Tusk said, “Although some are saying that the time of isolationism and disintegration is coming again, we are demonstrating that this is not the case.” Juncker said the deal “sets the standards for others, and it shows that closing ourselves off from the world is not good for business, nor for the global economy, nor for workers. As far as we are concerned, there is no protection in protectionism.” The broad agreement on the eve of the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, was achieved after the two sides resolved thorny issues at a meeting the previous day on tariffs on sensitive products such as Japanese automobiles and European wine and cheese. Juncker said they will aim to reach a final agreement and put the pact into force in early 2019. Both Japan and the European Union are concerned about Trump’s “America First” approach to trade, as seen in the country’s withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact and recent suggestion of punitive tariffs on steel imports from Europe, Japan and other countries. Japan is a member of the TPP accord. The European Union has also seen talks stalled on a free trade initiative with the United States, called the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, after Trump came to power. For Japan, the deal will be its biggest trade treaty unless the TPP takes effect with the participation of the United States. The new pact will represent a crucial part of Abe’s growth strategy to tap into growing overseas markets to offset a drop in domestic demand in the long term amid the country’s declining population. And, in the wake of Britain’s decision to leave the bloc, the pact will also show skeptics in the European Union the benefits of staying in the grouping with access to inner and outer markets,, analysts said. The Japan-EU deal is expected to spur trade and investment by removing or lowering tariffs on a broad range of products, including farm and industrial products, while it is also to set common trade rules. Japanese automobile and electronics manufacturers are expected to regain competitiveness in the European market in competition with rivals from South Korea, which has already signed a free trade pact with the bloc, while European farmers are seeking to tap deeper into the Japanese market for wine, cheese and meat. Local dairy producers have been wary about the influx of competitive European products and the government is expected to compile measures to mitigate the negative impact on them from the pact. Negotiations for the Japan-EU pact were launched in 2013 but discord over whether and when to eliminate tariffs on Japanese automobiles and European agricultural products, such as cheese and wine, have slowed progress. Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom endorsed the FTA on Thursday. Among key areas the two sides settled on, Japan will set up a low-tariff quota on European cheese that will be eliminated over 15 years, a source close to the matter said. The two sides will also scrap their tariffs on wine as soon as the pact comes into force, while duties on European chocolates and pasta will be scrapped in 10 years, the source said. The bloc will ease regulations on wine such as on sugar content and bottle size and also agreed to immediate cuts on tariffs on Japanese sake and green tea. In the automobiles sector, the two sides have agreed to phase out tariffs on Japanese automobiles after seven years and on Japanese TVs after five years. The bloc will also immediately get rid of tariffs on Japanese electronics, the source said.

shinzo abe
eu
fta
epa
international trade


'Gloomy Japan' highlights a loss of hope

Abstract: “In recent times, reflections on the future of Japanese society have not generally been couched in optimistic terms,” says Yuji Genda, a professor of Labor Economics at the University of Tokyo’s Institute of Social Science. Many people probably know what he means. First, there’s the massive problem of an aging society and a declining birthrate. Then there’s economic hardship outside of the big cities, known as the “shrinking regions” problem. And then there are fiscal deficits, concerns about North Korea, as well as problems that other nations face such as increased globalization and growing social inequality. “These overwhelmingly gloomy prospects for society as a whole may in turn be taken to signal a widespread loss of hope,” says Genda, “which raises the question of whether, and in what form, hope exists among the individuals living in such a bleak society.” I hope you are still reading after that downbeat beginning, because I want to talk about Genda’s comparison of hope between Japan, the United States and Britain. Genda prepared a survey titled “The International Survey of Life and Hope” and sent it via research agencies to people aged between 20 and 59 in those three countries. As a result, 1,276 people in Japan, 1,316 in the U.K. and 1,321 in the U.S. responded to the same 20 questions. The survey was conducted in 2014-15 and has been published in Social Science Japan. Hope feels different in Japan. That’s perhaps because in English hope is mainly used as a verb: “I hope the train isn’t late.” In Japanese, however, hope is used as a noun: “My hope is that the train isn’t late.” However, you don’t really hear people saying that — and not just because the trains are never late. Instead, it’s more common to hear people say, “ Shoganai ” (“Nothing can be done”), which is basically an acceptance of fate. So there is a cultural difference about what hope means. Make of this what you will: The Japanese module on the International Space Station was named Kibo (“Hope”); Britons overwhelmingly voted to name a ship “Boaty McBoatface” (before it was rejected). However, let’s see what Genda found in his survey. The first question was, “Do you consider yourself to be happy?” The proportion who said they are “very happy” is 23.8 percent in the U.K. and 33.2 percent in the U.S. In Japan, it is 18.5 percent. More people in Japan responded that they are “somewhat unhappy” or “very unhappy” than in the U.K. or the U.S. This doesn’t feel too big a “happiness gap” to me — and I wonder even if it might be explained by a greater reticence among Japanese to answer that question positively. Or perhaps it is a greater honesty. However, I was more concerned by responses to the next question. Genda asked, “Do you have ‘hopes’ in the sense of things you want to realize in the future?” In Japan, 54.5 percent of respondents said yes. Not bad, but in the U.K. that figure was 86.7 percent, and in the U.S., 93 percent. Only 7 percent of respondents in the U.S. were literally hopeless — saying they had no hopes for the future — but 45.5 percent of Japanese responded in this way. The proportion of those who are doing many things to realize their most fervent hope is 41 percent in the U.K. and 51.6 percent in the U.S., but 25.4 percent in Japan. It is hard to look at these numbers and not see a lethargy, even a despair, among people in Japan. Genda dug into the reasons why hope and happiness appear to be in short supply in Japan. The biggest factor, he found, was a distinct lack of friends. In the U.S. and U.K., more than 30 percent of people replied that they have many friends; in Japan, that number is only 8 percent. “Given that the perceived number of friends has a steady impact on hope, the perception of having few friends is a substantial reason why Japanese respondents are less likely to express feasible hopes,” Genda says. The next issue Genda considered was how people responded to setbacks. If somebody is injured in some incident, they suffer a drop in happiness but a boost in hope in all three countries. If somebody suffers two or more such incidents, people in Japan still respond positively. “These results confirm that ordeals may influence people to act against difficulties in order to realize their hopes,” he says. The most important finding, Genda says, is that ordeals negatively impact upon happiness, but positively upon hope, whereas many other factors affect happiness and hope in the same way in all three countries studied. In other words, humans are resilient. “There is no story without setbacks or failures, for such a story, if it exists, would be uninteresting,” Genda says. “Only the experience of overcoming a setback can lead to the acquisition of eloquent words to talk about improvement in the future.” As a result, Genda sees a way to increase hope in Japan: Tell personal stories. We need to create a society where people are not afraid of being perceived as losers if they recount setbacks in the stories of their lives. It is the experience of overcoming a setback that inspires hope. Finally, a potentially hopeful finding from the survey found a shift in attitudes in Japan in recent years. It used to be the case that people placed their hopes for work above those for family, but now it’s the other way around. Genda thinks the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, played a big part in recalibrating people’s views on what is important. If that’s true, it may be something good that has come from that disaster.


He was purrfect: Honorary cat mayor in Alaska town dies

Abstract: TALKEETNA, ALASKA - Stubbs, the honorary feline mayor of the Alaska town of Talkeetna, has died at the age of 20. The animal’s owners announced the cat’s death late Saturday in a statement. “Stubbs lived for 20 years and 3 months,” the family wrote. “He was a trooper until the very last day of his life; meowing at us throughout the day to pet him, or to come sit on the bed with him and let him snuggle and purr for hours in our lap. Thank you, Stubbs, for coming into our lives … you are a remarkable cat and we will dearly miss you. We loved the time we were allowed to spend with you.” According to Stubb’s family, Mayor Stubbs, as the cat was most commonly known, went to bed Thursday and died overnight, KTVA-TV reports. Talkeetna, a town with a population of about 900, elected the yellow cat mayor in a write-in campaign in 1998. There is no human mayor in the town. Stubbs had survived an attack by a dog in 2013 and a false report of his death last year. But by late 2016, he was largely staying at home instead of being out and about at local Nagley’s General Store. Although Stubbs is gone, one of his owners’ kittens might be ready to take up his mayoral mantle. “Amazingly, Denali has the exact (same) personality as Stubbs,” the family wrote of the kitten. “He loves the attention, he’s like a little puppy when he’s around people. We couldn’t have asked for a better understudy than Denali — he really has followed in Stubbs’ paw prints in just about everything.” Japan has also had its share of feline “officials,” including a cat “stationmaster” in Wakayama Prefecture that was credited with rescuing the Wakayama Electric Railway Co. from financial difficulties by attracting tourists from across Japan and the globe.


Sendai elects opposition-backed Kori as next mayor, dealing another blow to Abe's LDP

Abstract: SENDAI - An opposition-backed former lawmaker won the Sendai mayoral election on Sunday, a result certain to pile pressure on the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which is reeling from scandals and waning public support. Kazuko Kori’s victory in Miyagi Prefecture is the second major local election defeat in a row for Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party and further evidence the tide has turned against him since his party was crushed in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election earlier this month. Kori, a former member of the House of Representatives who was parliamentary secretary of the Reconstruction Agency, defeated funeral home president Hironori Sugawara, who was backed by the LDP and its ruling coalition partner, Komeito, by a vote of 165,452 to 148,993. Kori, 60, was backed by the Miyagi chapters of both the main opposition Democratic Party and the smaller Social Democratic Party. She also received additional support from the Japanese Communist Party and Liberal Party. Capitalizing on her experience from four terms in the Diet, Kori campaigned on a platform promising education reform and a quick resolution to Miyagi’s long waiting lists for child care facilities. Sugawara, 57, was backed by the local chapters of the LDP, Komeito and a smaller conservative force — Nihon no Kokoro o Taisetsu ni suru To (Party for Japanese Kokoro). In an apparent attempt to avoid negative fallout from the scandals that have shaken Abe’s Cabinet, he relied on the support of local politicians, including Miyagi Gov. Yoshihiro Murai and outgoing Sendai Mayor Emiko Okuyama. “The common sense of each and every citizen led to my victory,” Kori said after securing victory. “The residents of Sendai took their fate into their own hands.” Conceding defeat, Sugawara apologized to his supporters for not living up to their expectations. One supporter said Abe’s falling support rate and the LDP’s resounding defeat in the Tokyo assembly election amid favoritism allegations and a slew of other missteps had “no small impact” on Sunday’s election in Sendai. Turnout in the four-way contest was 44.52 percent, jumping from 30.11 percent in the previous mayoral election four years ago. In recent months, Abe and his administration have become ensnared in a string of scandals, including allegations he used his influence to secure government approval for a rare new university veterinary department on behalf of his good friend. His party’s defeat in the July 2 Tokyo assembly election was its worst ever. A Kyodo News poll in mid-July showed that his Cabinet’s approval rating had plunged to 35.8 percent, the lowest since Abe began his second stint as prime minister in 2012. That was followed by a Mainichi Shimbun survey on Sunday that showed he had taken a 10-point fall since June to a dangerous 26 percent. Another source of headaches has been allegations that Defense Minister Tomomi Inada covered up the existence of politically sensitive activity logs kept during the Ground Self-Defense Force’s peacekeeping mission in South Sudan. The scandal resurfaced in the final stages of the Sendai election. The main candidates’ two competitors were Hiroki Hayashi, 39, a former member of the Lower House who left the Democratic Party, and Miyo Okubo, 40, another former member of the chamber. Both campaigned as outsiders, stressing their independence from special interest groups.

shinzo abe
ldp
elections
komeito
opposition
sendai
dp
kazuko kori


Abe's push for more veterinary schools seen as quantity over quality of education

Abstract: The way the government tells it, Japan is in dire need of veterinarians. In a speech in Kobe last month, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reportedly announced his intention to spearhead an effort to create new veterinary departments in universities across the nation. The announcement may have been an attempt to rebuff the accusation that the government’s approval of a new veterinary department — the first in 52 years — at a university run by Abe’s longtime confidant, Kotaro Kake, had anything to do with favoritism. Instead, the government explains creating more veterinary departments will help alleviate the shortage of animal doctors. The following is our look into the status of veterinary education in Japan and the controversy over whether there is a shortage. What is the expected path for aspiring animal doctors? Japan currently has 16 universities, both private and public, that have veterinary departments. Students typically undergo a six-year course and, upon graduation, become eligible to take a national exam for veterinary practice. Of the 1,299 candidates for the exam in fiscal 2015, 1,024 passed, according to the agricultural ministry. The education ministry and other entities have long advocated against establishing new veterinary departments because veterinarians are putatively in full supply. How many vets does Japan have? As of 2016, there were about 39,000 licensed vets, according to the agricultural ministry. In terms of focus, 38.9 percent were providing care to pets while 11.0 percent were working with livestock. Another 24 percent had been public servants at central government ministries as well as municipalities — supervising food safety and consulting on public health measures against epidemics such as bird flu and foot-and-mouth disease. About 12 percent of those licensed had not been practicing as veterinarians, the ministry statistics show. The remaining vets tallied in the 2016 assessment were in related fields — i.e., faculty members at universities or researchers for drug development. Are more vets needed? Demand for vets to treat pets may have peaked, as the number of domestic dogs and cats have trended downward. Dog ownership in Japan stood at 9.87 million in fiscal 2016, down from its 2008 peak of 13.10 million, according to Japan Pet Food Association statistics, which show yearly data dating back to 2003. Domestic cats numbered 9.84 million, slightly down from the previous year’s 9.87 million, marking a significant fall from a peak of 10.89 million in 2008. A recent trend in the country shows a preference for smaller dog breeds such as the Pomeranian and the Chihuahua. Small breeds are generally less vulnerable than larger dogs to developing joint pain and cancer, and therefore tend to require fewer trips to the vet, said Shinji Takai, a professor of Kitasato University School of Veterinary Medicine. “Demand for pet doctors is losing momentum,” Takai said. The market for livestock vets has shrunk, too, with pigs numbering 9.54 million in fiscal 2014, compared with 10.62 million in 1994, suggesting demand for veterinary expertise in this area has also plateaued. “Given the unstoppable drop in the number of livestock, it is the position of the agricultural ministry that there is unlikely to be an uptick in demand for vets in the future,” Jun Warata, chief of the ministry’s Animal Products Safety Division, told a government deregulation meeting in January 2015, according to the meeting minutes. Why does the government say there’s a need for more veterinary departments? Contradicting the agricultural ministry’s stance, the Abe administration emphasizes a need for more vets. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga has pointed to what he calls a “surge” in the need for vets to work on developing new drugs to treat conditions or illnesses such as dementia and cancer. “We have seen a situation where drug makers tasked with developing new medicines have been unable to fill the growing need for researchers who are qualified to conduct animal studies due to the shortage of veterinarians,” Suga told a regular news conference earlier this month. He noted that establishing new veterinary facilities would remedy the situation and “speed up Japan’s development of state-of-the-art medicines.” The government also cites a burgeoning threat posed by cross-border infections affecting livestock, such as avian flu. This could spell trouble for regions, such as Shikoku, that currently have no veterinary departments, Suga said. The shortage of vets, he said, leaves these regions woefully unprepared for a potential outbreak of flu, which could spread nationwide without experienced management. “Failure to contain epidemics could destroy the reputation of, and trust in, local agricultural products, and we believe a new veterinary department would help nurture human resources and boost overall abilities to control the infections,” Suga said. What are the possible results of creating more veterinary departments? The Japan Veterinary Medical Association agrees that there is a “localized” shortage of vets as claimed by Suga, but argues against creating new veterinary departments, citing an acute shortage of qualified teachers. As Takai of Kitasato University explains: “If we go ahead and churn out new departments amid this manpower shortage, there is no doubt the quality of our education will be further compromised,” he said. In response to Abe’s call for more facilities to be swiftly opened nationwide, Mutsumi Inaba, a professor of veterinary medicine in Hokkaido University, said in an open statement that the prime minister’s “dumbfounding” suggestion “could destroy the root of Japan’s veterinary education.” Less focused on adding new departments, the JVMA instead insists that the government should turn its attention to improving the veterinary education programs in Japan — long criticized for its poor practical training — in line with global standards. “We strongly feel that the competence of our students, despite having a six-year educational program, is far from sufficient at the time of graduation,” Takai said. To address this problem, universities launched a new system last year that would allow senior students to get clinical training — such as taking blood samples — as long as they pass what is called a common achievement test. But these efforts to improve the quality of education may be undermined by the government’s shortsighted plan to just crank out more departments, Takai said. In order to resolve the localized shortage of vets, the JVMA instead suggests that wages for livestock vets be raised to a level that reflects their harsh working conditions, in order to make the profession more appealing to younger candidates.


Osaka's bid to outshine Paris for 2025 Expo still on shaky ground

Abstract: OSAKA - With only four months to go until it must unveil detailed plans for its 2025 World Expo bid, Osaka’s leaders plan to use the rest of the summer and early autumn to ramp up domestic and international efforts to raise the region’s profile and tout its advantages over arch-rival Paris . Two other bid cities, Ekaterinburg, Russia, and Baku, Azerbaijan, are deemed long shots. But with the prospect of receiving strong political assistance for the bid clouded by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s political woes, and criticism from local businesses that the public relations strategy is too vague, how effectively Osaka can wage an international campaign for the event is now the key issue. This week, Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai will lead a nonpartisan group of Diet lawmakers to Osaka to hear out senior business leaders and discuss how best to challenge the Paris bid. While Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui remains convinced Osaka is a strong rival, the bid faces several challenges, starting with the fact that critical national-level support may be harder to come by now that Abe’s Cabinet is polling at around 30 percent. Kansai business leaders supporting the bid have two other concerns. The first is that an internationally renowned city like Paris has no need to introduce itself, especially to the Paris-based Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), which will decide the Expo winner in November 2018. Osaka, on the other hand, is marketing its campaign as the “Osaka, Kansai” bid in the hope that being close to Kyoto will help raise its international appeal even as it attempts to sell the world on its own history and culture. Kansai is the name for the broad business area centered on Osaka but including Kyoto and Kobe. That basic strategy, unveiled by Matsui at a June meeting of the BIE, is drawing criticism. “The impact (of the presentation) was small. It’s not enough to just say ‘Osaka is a great place. Please cooperate with us,’ ” Hiroyuki Suzuki, co-chair of the Kansai Association of Corporate Executives (Kansai Keizai Doyukai), said at a news conference last month. In particular, there are growing fears that Osaka’s theme, “Designing Future Society for Our Lives,” is too vague and fails to take into account broader political and social themes ranging from climate change and migration to youth empowerment. Paris, which used the 2015 climate change meeting that created the Paris Agreement to lobby for its 2025 bid, has promised to tackle these kinds of issues if it gets the Expo. “We want a plan that clearly shows what the dream of the future will lead to by holding the Expo in Japan,” said Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Hiroshi Ozaki at a separate news conference in June. Perhaps Osaka’s biggest disadvantage is media power. Paris is a major international media center, while virtually all of Japan’s international media are based in Tokyo. While Paris, and France, could easily talk up their Expo bid this month for free to the large numbers of media reps in town covering the just-ended weeks-long Tour de France, Osaka struggles to get journalists based in Tokyo or overseas to visit and report, even for a couple of days. Nevertheless, Osaka’s supporters, especially Matsui, believe it has two political advantages over Paris. The first is that Paris may soon be awarded the 2024 Olympics, a move that some in Osaka hope will convince the BIE the city doesn’t need two major events so close together. The second is security. Osaka, and Japan, are expected to emphasize at the November presentation steps to protect visitors during the six-month event. In his June presentation, Matsui spoke of Osaka being able to offer a secure environment. But as the dog days of August loom, Japan’s bid leaders must first make concrete decisions on how best to present themselves to the rest of the country, and the world.