Izumisano mayor raps ministry over rule on origin of gifts under furusato nōzei hometown tax donation system

Abstract: IZUMISANO, OSAKA PREF. - Hiroyasu Chiyomatsu, the mayor of Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture, has criticized an instruction issued by the internal affairs ministry earlier this year regarding a review of the furusato nōzei (hometown tax donation) system. The ministry instructed local governments to limit gifts for donors offered under the system to products from their own regions, in order to cool competition between the regions for donations. The ministry is preparing to submit a legal revision to exclude from the system any local government that does not adhere to the guidance. Izumisano attracted donations totaling ¥13.5 billion in fiscal 2017 — the largest amount among all municipalities. On the city’s lineup of gifts offered in return are about 1,000 local specialties procured from across the country, including beef and beer. In a recent interview Chiyomatsu claimed that the donations to the city resulted from efforts by related officials and others to find and prepare popular gifts based on a survey of what donors want. “It’s not appropriate for the central government to unilaterally determine the scope of allowable gifts” while it is also calling for stepped-up local autonomy, Chiyomatsu argued, adding that such moves by the state are an act that “overrides efforts by local governments.” “We want room for local governments’ efforts to come up with ideas that will be left” in the ongoing review of the donation system, he said, calling for the establishment of a forum for discussions in which both central and local governments are involved. “We could make a decision to withdraw from the framework of the donation system if products other than specialties unique to regions in and around recipient local governments are excluded from the range of gifts permitted in return under the system,” the mayor said. Under the system, people can make donations to prefectures or municipalities of their choice that do not necessarily have to be their hometowns. The donors qualify for income and residential tax cuts. Many recipient local governments offer gifts to donors in return, with some of them offering expensive gifts to lure more donors. Chiyomatsu said his city plans to continue offering reward points that can be used to buy tickets for flights on Peach Aviation, a budget airline based at Kansai International Airport that straddles Izumisano and two other municipalities in Osaka Prefecture. Meanwhile, the mayor expressed some understanding regarding another internal affairs ministry instruction about keeping the value of the gifts at or below 30 percent of amounts donated. The city will follow the instruction if the ministry shows sufficient grounds for applying the rule across the nation under the system, he said.

osaka
hometown tax
donations
izumisano
hiroyasu chiyomatsu


Trump claims China election meddling that cyberfirms don't see

Abstract: WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump has said China is interfering with the November midterm elections, but the findings of top cybersecurity firms are casting doubt on his claims. “We haven’t observed any evidence of Chinese targeting the midterms or anything that would be relevant to upcoming elections,” said Luke McNamara, a principal intelligence analyst at the cybersecurity firm FireEye Inc., which works with some state and local authorities to monitor election threats. Jon DiMaggio, a senior threat intelligence analyst at Symantec Corp., which studies threats to campaigns, candidates, states and on social media, said he has observed “no digital trail of bread crumbs that is leading back to China.” Identifying nation-state hackers is complex, and the analysts agree that there may be some they haven’t detected. But the firms’ common finding of no evidence raises fresh questions about Trump’s assertions. Trump’s claim — that China is pursuing a campaign to interfere in the election and damage his administration — is putting extra strain on an already fraught relationship between the world’s two largest economies. Beijing and Washington are currently locked in an escalating trade conflict, and earlier this month, U.S. and Chinese warships nearly collided in the South China Sea, where both nations are seeking to assert their regional dominance. The Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Office of Director of National Intelligence warned Friday that nations including China are engaged in “ongoing campaigns” to “undermine confidence” and influence policy and opinion in the U.S. The administration hasn’t provided evidence to back up the allegations. Dmitri Alperovitch, chief technology officer at Crowdstrike Inc., which works with states and municipalities to look for intrusions, said of China, “we haven’t seen any activity in cyberspace from them that’s election-related, but there could be something outside of it,” such as conventional election-related propaganda. Chris Krebs, a DHS undersecretary, told reporters Friday that the threat involved “media manipulation.” Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have both cited a paid advertising supplement the Chinese government placed in the Des Moines Register, Iowa’s largest newspaper, criticizing the administration’s trade policies. The accusations have been building since last month, when Trump told the United Nations Security Council that “China has been attempting to interfere in our upcoming 2018 election, coming up in November, against my administration.” Pence followed up with a speech this month, saying, “There can be no doubt: China is meddling in America’s democracy.” Pence characterized Beijing’s behavior as “an unprecedented effort to influence American public opinion, the 2018 elections, and the environment leading into the 2020 presidential elections.”

china
u.s .
hacking
donald trump
2018 u.s. midterm elections


China's Baishui No. 1: One of the world's fastest-melting glaciers

Abstract: YULONGXUESHAN, CHINA - A loud crack rang out from the fog above the Baishui No. 1 Glacier as a stone shard careened down the ice, flying past Chen Yanjun as he operated a GPS device. More projectiles were tumbling down the hulk of ice, which scientists say is one of the world’s fastest-melting glaciers. “We should go,” said the 30-year-old geologist. “The first rule is safety.” Chen hiked away and onto a barren landscape once buried beneath the glacier. Now there is exposed rock littered with oxygen tanks discarded by tourists visiting the 15,000-foot-high (4,570-meter) blanket of ice in southern China. Millions of people each year are drawn to Baishui’s frosty beauty on the southeastern edge of the Third Pole, a region in Central Asia with the world’s third-largest store of ice, after Antarctica and Greenland; it is roughly the size of Texas and New Mexico combined. Third Pole glaciers are vital to billions of people from Vietnam to Afghanistan. Asia’s 10 largest rivers — including the Yangtze, Yellow, Mekong and Ganges — are fed by seasonal melting. “You’re talking about one of the world’s largest freshwater sources,” said Ashley Johnson, energy program manager at the National Bureau of Asian Research, an American think tank. “Depending on how it melts, a lot of the freshwater will be leaving the region for the ocean, which will have severe impacts on water and food security.” Earth is today 1 degree C (1.8 Fahrenheit) hotter than pre-industrial levels because of climate change — enough to melt 28 to 44 percent of glaciers worldwide, according to a new report by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Temperatures are expected to keep rising. Baishui is about as close to the Equator as Tampa, Florida. And the impacts of climate change already are dramatic. The glacier has lost 60 percent of its mass and shrunk 250 meters (820 feet) since 1982, according to a report in the Journal of Geophysical Research this year. Scientists found in 2015 that 82 percent of glaciers surveyed in China had retreated. They warned that the effects of glacier melting on water resources are gradually becoming “increasingly serious” for China. “China has always had a freshwater supply problem, with 20 percent of the world’s population but only 7 percent of its freshwater,” said Jonna Nyman, an energy security lecturer at the University of Sheffield in England. “That’s heightened by the impact of climate change.” For years, scientists have observed global warming change Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in the province of Yunnan. One research team has tracked Baishui’s retreat of about 30 yards (27 meters) per year over the past decade. Flowers, such as snow lotus, have rooted in exposed earth, says Wang Shijin, a glaciologist and director of the Yulong Snow Mountain Glacial and Environmental Observation Research Station, part of a network run by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Nestled into a suburb of Lijiang, population 1.2 million, the station is home to Wang and his team: geologist and drone operator Chen, postgraduate glaciology student Zhou Lanyue and electrical engineer Zhang Xing, a private contractor. After breakfast, the team heads off by van for the day’s mission. A cable car carries them up to a majestic view of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. The team shuffles past a line of tourists — many in red ponchos, most sucking oxygen canisters, a few vomiting from altitude sickness — before descending to replace a broken meteorological station. The team operates remote sensors that collect data on temperature, wind speed, rainfall and humidity. Other sensors measure water flow in streams fed by melted ice. Cold, downpours, rock slides, gales and glacier movement break the equipment. “It is not easy to encounter good weather here,” Wang said. This weather will ensure Yunnan has plenty of freshwater even while other glacier loss poses serious risk of drought across the Third Pole, he said. The next day, the team wore crampons while repairing more sensors scattered across the glacier’s crags. The team forded streams and jumped crevasses in search of long iron bars they previously embedded in the ice. GPS tells them how much the bars, and thus the glacier, have moved. They also measure how much height the glacier has lost during the summer. Back on the viewing platform, Che launched a buzzing camera drone over the white expanse. The photographs help tell a story of staggering loss. A quarter of its ice has vanished since 1957 along with four of its 19 glaciers, researchers have found. Changes to the Baishui provide the opportunity to educate visitors about global warming, Wang said. Last year, 2.6 million tourists visited the mountain, according to Yulong Snow Mountain park officials. On a recent blustery day, hundreds of tourists climbed wooden stairs through grey fog to snap selfies in front of the glacier. Hou Yugang said he wasn’t too bothered over climate change and Baishui’s melting. “I don’t think about it now because it still has a long way to go,” he said. To protect the glacier, authorities have limited the number of visitors to 10,000 a day and have banned hiking on the ice. They plan to manufacture snow and to dam streams to increase humidity and slow melting. Security guard Yang Shaofeng has witnessed a warming world melting this mountain, which his local Naxi minority community considers sacred. Yang remembers being able to see the glacier’s lowest edge from his home village. No longer. “Only when we climb up can we see it,” he said sadly, as tourists lined up to have their names engraved on medallions bearing the glacier’s image. The etching is already outdated.

china
climate
climate change
environment
mountains
glaciers


Gamma-ray constellation named after Japanese movie monster Godzilla

Abstract: Using the orbiting Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, an international research group that includes NASA researchers has named a constellation of gamma ray-emitting stars Godzilla, according to movie distributor Toho Co. Godzilla is among the 22 newly recognized constellations of such stars. They are different from the 88 official ones designated by the International Astronomical Union. According to a recent announcement by Toho, the constellation was named after the company’s popular character because gamma-ray bursts there, which happen around a black hole and other areas, resemble Godzilla’s “heat ray,” or fiery jet — the giant creature’s trademark weapon. The 22 constellations were recognized to commemorate the research group’s feat of discovering more than 3,000 gamma-ray sources. Among the names chosen for the new constellations are the Hulk, the Little Prince, the Enterprise from “Star Trek” and Mount Fuji. On its website, NASA describes Godzilla as one of cinema’s most famous monsters and it is among the most recognizable symbols of popular Japanese culture. Since the film “Godzilla” premiered in 1954, 29 Godzilla movies have been produced in Japan with the latest, “Shin Godzilla,” released in 2016.


Osaka casting a nervous eye toward rival Baku in bid for 2025 World Expo

Abstract: OSAKA - With one month to go until the host of the 2025 World Expo is selected, Osaka officials are casting a nervous eye toward Baku, the city they increasingly see as their toughest rival. Osaka and the Azerbaijani capital, along with Yekaterinburg, Russia, are vying for the right to hold the event. The Paris-based Bureau International des Expositions will decide the winner on Nov. 23. After Paris withdrew from the competition earlier this year, Yekaterinburg, which had barely lost to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in bidding for the 2020 World Expo, had been seen by Osaka’s political and business leaders as the city to beat. Few took Baku seriously. But that began to change after it became clear that Baku’s theme, centered on the future development of human capital, was capturing the imagination of many BIE delegates. With a well-oiled international public relations machine and deep connections in Paris, Osaka’s leaders began to grow more concerned about Baku’s chances. Osaka then found itself scrambling after Baku bid officials made an appeal to the BIE delegates in June to consider cities that had never hosted an expo before. Osaka hosted the 1970 Expo while Japan most recently hosted the event in 2005 in Aichi Prefecture. “Baku is a strong rival, and both Japan and Azerbaijan are racing hard to the end,” Osaka Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura said after returning from a promotion effort in Paris earlier this month. The other concern in Osaka is in regards to Baku’s ability to outspend it when it comes to international lobbying efforts. Though falling oil prices are hurting its economy, Baku’s long history as an oil-rich city on the Caspian Sea allows it to hire an extensive network of international consultants to help make its case among BIE delegates. Osaka, by contrast, appears to be relying mostly on the central government and the Kansai Economic Federation to push its case abroad, although, in addition to Yoshimura’s Paris trip, Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui gave a presentation on the expo to African delegates at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Tokyo earlier this month. Osaka bid officials are now hoping international criticism of Azerbaijan’s human rights record will prove to be a factor for BIE delegates when they cast their votes. They are positioning themselves as the “safe” choice, in every sense of the word, much as Tokyo positioned itself as such for the 2020 Olympics. In just over a month, Osaka will find out if the BIE, like the International Olympic Committee, will, indeed, make the safe choice as Osaka sees it and return the event to the Kansai area or elect to take a chance on Baku, or Yekaterinburg.

osaka
kansai
world expo
baku
ekaterinburg


Is Yumeshima safe as a casino site? Some question Osaka's pitch after flooding at Kansai airport

Abstract: OSAKA - Less than two months ago, Typhoon Jebi ripped through western Japan and slammed a tanker into the only bridge leading to Kansai International Airport, forcing it to shut down. Although the airport, built on an artificial island, quickly recovered and repairs to bridge are progressing, Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui and Osaka Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura now face questions about the vulnerability to storm flooding at another man-made island: Yumeshima, where there are plans to build a casino resort. The central government could grant Osaka one of three initial licenses to operate an integrated resort by the end of the year, and the city and prefecture are offering Yumeshima in Osaka Bay as the site. Local residents, along with casino opponents in the municipal and prefectural assemblies, are voicing concerns that Yumeshima, like the airport, may be vulnerable to flooding. Officials, however, say there’s nothing to worry about. “The island of Yumeshima is higher above sea level than Kansai airport, so there is no problem,” Matsui tweeted last month. “Yumeshima is nine meters above sea level, so there would be no flooding at all,” Yoshimura also said on Twitter around the same time. But September’s flooding at Kansai airport also raises the possibility that Osaka will debate additional anti-flooding measures for Yumeshima, leading to the thorny question of whether the city and prefecture would expect the casino operator to help cover at least part of the additional costs for implementing those measures. Despite the concerns, Osaka remains one of the top candidates nationwide for a casino license. The prefecture and city are finalizing plans to establish a committee of third-party experts, who will evaluate proposals from casino operators. Three international casino firms have expressed strong interest in opening a casino resort in the city: Melco Resorts & Entertainment, MGM Resorts International and Las Vegas Sands. All three are expected to submit proposals if Osaka is officially chosen as a casino site. The expert committee is expected to be made up of specialists in casino economics and finance, security, and gambling addiction, and will be evaluating each aspect of an operator’s integrated resort proposal. The committee will send its final recommendations to the city and prefecture. In neighboring Wakayama Prefecture, which is also seeking an integrated casino resort, officials are stepping up efforts to attract local support ahead of next month’s gubernatorial election. In September, the prefecture announced it was studying the possibility of high-speed ferries between Kansai airport and Wakayama Marina City, the proposed location for a casino in the city of Wakayama, roughly 40 kilometers away. Earlier this month, seven local chambers of commerce called on the prefecture to include measures to lobby for a casino resort in its fiscal 2019 budget. Wakayama Gov. Yoshinobu Nisaka expressed hope that the prefecture would remain a strong contender for a casino license even though Osaka had a head start. “Only three locations will be chosen, and Osaka’s business community is quite aggressive in their activities to invite a casino,” Nisaka warned the business leaders when they presented their request. Nisaka is up for re-election on Nov. 25, and a casino resort is expected to be one of the top issues for voters. But the governor remains at odds with Wakayama Mayor Masahiro Obana on the issue of Japanese visitors to a local casino. Nisaka favors allowing Japanese into a casino, whereas Obana has said that he’d support a casino plan as long as it was only for foreign visitors. Obana was re-elected in late July by a comfortable margin while Nisaka is heavily favored to win re-election next month.


Dutch police hunt owners of lion cub found abandoned in field

Abstract: THE HAGUE - Dutch police on Sunday were searching for the owners of a lion cub found abandoned in a cage in a field outside the central city of Utrecht, police and news reports said. “Today (Sunday) we received quite an extraordinary message: ‘A witness has found a mini-lion in a cage in a pasture,’ ” local police said on their Facebook page. “When we arrived at the scene, we discovered a lion cub in a cage. It seems to have been abandoned,” the police said, estimating the little feline to be about four months old. The cub was first spotted by a jogger near the small village of Tienhoven, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) north of Utrecht, a local news report said. The cub was examined by a veterinary surgeon, and then taken to the Lion Foundation in the northern Netherlands, the NOS public broadcaster said. Meanwhile, local police and the Dutch food and goods watchdog appealed to the public for information leading to the lion cub’s owners. “If you know anybody who recently bought a lion cub, or know anything about this particular cub, please contact us immediately,” police said.


Pence speech merely opening salvo as U.S. declares full-on rivalry with China

Abstract: WASHINGTON - In the buzzwords of George W. Bush’s administration, China needed to become a “responsible stakeholder.” For Barack Obama, China had an interest in embracing “the rules-based international order.” U.S. President Donald Trump’s message to Beijing is, true to his character, starker. Trump, his Vice President Mike Pence vowed, “will not back down.” On Thursday, Pence delivered one of the most hawkish speeches by a senior U.S. official since the two countries restored ties four decades ago. Pence assailed China as a military aggressor, a prolific thief of U.S. technology and, controversially, as interfering in American elections. Yet in a sign that the United States still sees a need for China, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit on Monday after his latest negotiations in North Korea, the nuclear-armed regime which counts on Beijing as its diplomatic and economic lifeline. Pompeo, speaking to the traveling press on his way to Asia, said China was “determined to support our efforts” on North Korea despite the high tensions. Pence in his speech said the United States still hoped for improved relations with China but otherwise drew a bleak picture. He said the United States will keep ramping up its military spending to counter a rising Beijing and he renewed threats to more than double the $250 billion in tariffs placed on Chinese products. “I do think that this marks a significant change in the bipartisan approach to China that has dominated over the last several decades,” said Jamie Fly, a former official in the George W. Bush administration who heads the Asia program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Pence’s speech “doesn’t completely preclude cooperation on narrow areas like North Korea, but it’s much more clear in the U.S. assessment of Chinese intentions and China’s goal of really replacing the U.S. and pushing back U.S. power,” he said. While Trump and Pence are polarizing figures, the hard line on China has been increasingly shared across the U.S. political spectrum. Few policymakers with ties to the rival Democratic Party raised broad objections when the Trump White House in December released a National Security Strategy that cast China as a competitor. The bargain set forth by former President Bill Clinton when he welcomed China into the global trading order — that greater prosperity would bring reforms — has fallen flat, with President Xi Jinping increasingly clamping down on domestic dissent and religious freedoms tightly controlled. U.S. business leaders, who long advocated warm ties with China as they coveted the world’s largest consumer market, have cooled markedly toward Beijing amid complaints of widespread industrial espionage, which Beijing denies. A survey published in August by the Pew Research Center found that the percentage of Americans who viewed China favorably had fallen to 38 percent. Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, a Mandarin-speaking China expert who now heads the Asia Society in New York, in a recent speech said that “engagement,” for decades the narrative in relations for both Washington and Beijing, “is now officially and effectively dead.” “As a result, I fear we may now also find ourselves on the pathway to medium-term strategic confrontation, as each side competes for ascendancy in what is now seen increasingly on both sides as a zero-sum game,” he said. China denounced Pence’s speech as “ridiculous.” But it has largely stayed measured in its public statements, with Foreign Minister Wang Yi promising late last month at the United Nations that the Asian power had no ambition to overtake the United States as the pre-eminent global power and wanted to nurture a stable multilateral system. Without naming the work, he voiced anxiety about the popularity in the United States of Harvard scholar Graham Allison’s theory of the “Thucydides Trap,” which cites the lessons of ancient Athens and Sparta to predict inevitable U.S. rivalry with a rising China. Beijing may also be emboldened by the turmoil in U.S. politics, with chief Asian allies Japan and South Korea both unnerved by simmering trade tensions with Trump. And Pence was clearly speaking at least partly for a domestic audience in his speech, delivered at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank, a little over a month before critical congressional elections. Pence charged that China was taking action that is more malicious than Russia’s, just as Trump is under a cloud as special counsel Robert Mueller probes whether his presidential campaign colluded with Moscow. And as evidence of China’s election meddling, Pence cited a paid advertisement in a U.S. newspaper and countertariffs that targeted politically important states — both steps that are commonplace. “China poses a major challenge to the U.S. economic, political and strategic posture, but gratuitously demonizing them with half-truths and distortions only complicates efforts to find a new balance of interests and a redefined relationship with Beijing,” said Robert Manning, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.

china
u.s .
military
trade
xi jinping
donald trump
mike pence


Forever young: China's 'dancing aunties' kick up their heels

Abstract: SHANGHAI - In a sparkling white cap and oversized sunglasses, 55-year-old retiree Zhang Yongli and dozens of neighbors liven up a Shanghai park by doing the jitterbug, part of a public dance craze that has become China’s national pastime. Every day, an estimated more than 100 million people — dubbed “dancing aunties” as they are primarily older women — take over squares and parks to tango, waltz, and grind out everything from flamenco to Chinese traditional dance. Complaints over speakers blaring late at night have ensued, and even physical brawls pitting aunties against others vying for park turf. But toes are tapping to an ever-quickening beat as “square dancing” — as it is known in China — booms. Teams are competing in dance-offs featuring thousands of contestants, while a thriving market of dance-related paraphernalia and mobile apps catches the attention of the business world. Even the government has jumped on the bandwagon to extol the health benefits. “Square dancing happens wherever there is a square,” said Wang Guangcheng, a fitness instructor and choreographer who helps the government devise dance routines and is widely known as China’s “Square Dance Prince.” “It has become a venue for the masses to exercise.” More than 240 million Chinese are 60 or older, a number expected to double by 2050. By then, the government estimates China will be spending more than one-quarter of GDP on elderly care and medical services, compared to around 7 percent in 2015, placing increasing importance on healthy, active lifestyles. Zhang “was sitting at home, doing nothing” after retiring five years ago from her travel-agency job, undergoing treatment for diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol. “Since I started dancing, my (health) indicators are now normal. I no longer need medication,” she said as her neighborhood dance group’s red skirts twirled in Shanghai’s Zhongshan Park. “I also look younger,” said Zhang, who has jitterbugged away 11 kilograms (24 pounds) of bodyweight. A 2016 national fitness plan stresses “square dancing” as a team sport to be “vigorously developed” and last year it became an official event at China’s National Games along with old-reliables like athletics and swimming. Local contests are proliferating. Shanghai retiree Li Zhenhua’s team worked with a professional instructor for weeks, enduring the winter chill and the summer heat of their local square to train for a monthslong citywide contest that culminated in August. The team, drawn mostly from China’s ethnic Korean minority, took the title with their traditional Korean dances, beating out 750 other troupes. “I was happy to find a Korean ethnic dance team in Shanghai, not only to exercise and dance but also to pass along our ethnic culture,” Li said. Mass public dancing took root after the 1949 communist takeover as the government organized communal activities to foster unity and loyalty to the party. But it has really taken off lately as an increasingly prosperous China finds more leisure time, and nearly every neighborhood park or square today is enlivened by dancers availing themselves of the free exercise. Taobao, the leading Chinese e-commerce site owned by Alibaba, and other businesses are expressly targeting the new market to sell clothing, speakers, and gadgets for watching and learning new dances, and market studies say the industry is booming. Han Xiaoyuan, 28, founded a mobile platform for organizing competitions and purchasing gear. User numbers quintupled over the past two years to more than 500,000. It is also one of many business initiatives seeking to tap into the wider “silver economy” represented by dancers, by selling travel packages, financial services and other products geared towards retirees. Han said the elderly “have time (and) money. … They are our best business target group.” Square dancing is even changing age-old gender dynamics, as grandmothers are often away training for long stretches. “Several of our team members’ husbands have learned to change diapers and taken over feeding the grandchildren as a way of supporting us,” said 65-year-old Hong Aizhen, a competitor in the Shanghai-wide contest. But many men are showing off their dance moves as well. Late one recent weekend, hundreds of people filled a tree-lined park in central Shanghai amid a cacophony of musical styles as men and women waltzed or formed conga lines, and children did the cha-cha. Often, they dance to old Chinese revolutionary standards or other patriotic tunes. “We are not only delivering a fitness culture, but also the concept of a prosperous country,” said choreographer Wang. “Many songs we choose express our national characteristics and values.” But dance enthusiast Zhang prefers the zesty jitterbug. “It’s quick and rhythmic. I forget all my worries when I dance, sometimes even my age,” she said.


Beware of the ¥10 million business card

Abstract: Business cards carry a lot of weight in Japan, so much so that they can be used to devastating effect if someone decides to deploy them for criminal purposes. A recent case highlights the danger that comes with placing trust in such cards. At the end of August, prosecutors in Tochigi Prefecture indicted a former employee of a subsidiary of travel agency JTB Corp. on suspicion of fraud. Yoshinobu Tamura, 49, is suspected of swindling 51 people out of a total of ¥2.4 billion in a currency exchange scam. Prosecutors claim Tamura defrauded a 58-year-old male executive in the city of Maebashi out of ¥10 million in cash on March 20, 2016, by claiming the money would be exchanged for U.S. dollars and result in a dividend. At the time of his arrest, the police alleged Tamura had used his business card and misleading promotional material to convince dozens to entrust him with money between 2010 and June 2016. Just before the police launched an investigation in the matter in July 2016, Tamura turned himself in. “The business I’ve been barely running has collapsed,” Tamura told the police. JTB subsequently fired him. It’s not clear why Tamura did what he did, but the story reminds me of a similar experience I had in 2004. Working as a reporter for the Yomiuri Shimbun assigned to the Metropolitan Police Department, I heard that an employee of Nikko City Group Securities was being investigated for fraud. The suspect was a close friend of mine from college. The police suspected my friend of claiming to represent a company that offered a savings fund that paid an annual interest rate of 15 percent. Using his company’s logo, my friend approached numerous clients by email and collected $1 million from 30 people. He paid a little interest on the first investments and convinced people to offer up more capital. By the time I had caught wind of my friend’s actions, he had already been fired. I sat with my friend in a park and tried to convince him that he had no alternative than to turn himself in to the police. It was a difficult conversation for me to have with someone I had trusted. In the end, however, my friend agreed. He had spent the money on women and entertainment, picking up the bill whenever possible. He had always been known to be generous with his own money, and he was even more so when spending other people’s investments. He honestly believed he would pay it all back until, ultimately, he accepted the fact that he couldn’t. I introduced my friend to a lawyer who accompanied him to the police when he made his confession. “I deceived people who trusted me and I’m sorry,” my friend told the officers. “I want to pay for my crimes.” I filed a story on the case in August, and when he was arrested on Oct. 2, I covered that too. We lost touch after he was released from prison, and it wasn’t until some years later that his sister informed me that he had passed away. The news of his death made me remember our frequent correspondence, and so I checked my inbox for the one thing I wasn’t really prepared to see. I uncovered an email that promised a great return on an investment that included his company’s logo. It certainly looked convincing, and the only reason that I hadn’t taken the bait is because I hadn’t even bothered to read it. The experience taught me a valuable lesson: Never jump at an attractive offer that appears to have solid corporate backing without first exercising diligence. People typically represent corporations and sometimes even the people you trust the most will attempt to con you.


Keidanren to scrap long-held Japan recruitment guidelines in 2021

Abstract: Keidanren said Tuesday it has decided to scrap its long-held guidelines for corporate hiring of university students to give flexibility in recruiting amid increasing competition for young and talented workers. Japan’s largest business lobby, also known as the Japan Business Federation, will abolish the guidelines for university students joining the workplace in spring 2021. Current third-year students who will enter companies in spring 2020 will be the last generation to follow the traditional job-hunting schedule. Many companies start their business year on April 1. The decision comes after Hiroaki Nakanishi, chairman of the business lobby, said last month he feels “uncomfortable about Keidanren setting hiring schedule dates,” and expressed an intention to end the practice. Many university and government officials are concerned that scrapping the guidelines could lead to a drawn-out job hunt that would have an adverse effect on students’ academic work. A government-led meeting with academic and business circles will start discussing new hiring rules, possibly from next Monday. The recruitment guidelines, designed to allow university students to concentrate on their studies, originally started in the form of an employment agreement in 1953 between the government, universities and businesses. But the system was later scrapped due to companies circumventing the rules to hire young workers earlier than agreed. Keidanren then set up the current rules by which many of the group’s member firms — mostly major companies — have typically abided, although in a nonbinding manner. Under the rules, Keidanren member companies begin holding job orientation sessions in March for third-year students who will be seeking work upon completion of their studies and start the applicant screening process, including job interviews, in June the same year.

jobs
keidanren
job hunting
recruiting
students


Tokyo stocks tumble on yen's strength

Abstract: Stocks plunged Tuesday on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, hurt by the yen’s rise against the dollar. The Nikkei 225 average tumbled 314.33 points, or 1.32 percent, to end at 23,469.39. On Friday, it shed 191.90 points. The market was closed Monday for a national holiday. The Topix, which covers all first-section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, finished 31.53 points, or 1.76 percent, lower at 1,761.12 after retreating 8.54 points Friday. Both market gauges fell for the fourth straight session. The higher yen battered export-oriented names, brokers said. Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities Co., attributed Tuesday’s tumble to the yen’s rise as well as an overnight drop in the technology-heavy U.S. Nasdaq composite index. Buying was held in check as investors retreated to the sidelines to see how U.S. stocks would perform later Tuesday, Miura said. The impact of a system glitch that hit the TSE in the morning was “limited,” he said, noting that trading volume reached a decent level. The TSE “was in a correction” phase following its recent surge, an official of a bank-linked securities firm said, while indicating that the correction is about to end. Falling issues far outnumbered rising ones 1,823 to 247 in the first section, while 40 issues were unchanged. Volume grew to 1.568 billion shares from 1.489 billion Friday. Automakers Toyota, Honda, Subaru, Suzuki, Nissan and Mazda met with selling on the back of the yen’s strength. Technology issues, including measurement equipment producer Keyence and semiconductor manufacturing equipment maker Tokyo Electron, were downbeat after their U.S. peers fared poorly Monday. Also on the minus side were telecommunications and investment firm SoftBank Group and air conditioner maker Daikin. By contrast, retailer FamilyMart Uny Holdings and clothing store chain operator Fast Retailing attracted purchases.


Annual survey finds physical condition of Japan's elderly has improved

Abstract: The physical strength and athletic ability of elderly people in Japan has largely improved, while that of people in their 30s and 40s has mostly fallen, the Japan Sports Agency said in an annual survey released Sunday. According to the survey, men aged 70 or older and women aged 65 or older posted record-high scores. But men in their late 30s and early 40s and women in their 30s and 40s saw their physical strength and athletic ability deteriorate. People aged between 65 and 79 registered improvements in most tests, including standing on one leg with their eyes open and performing situps. More than 60 percent of people aged 65 and above exercise at least once a week, the survey found. “Many people share the belief that exercise is very important in order to keep their bodies healthy,” said Hisashi Naito, a professor at Juntendo University, who analyzed the survey results. The scores of women aged between 35 and 39 remained sluggish, although better than the record lows marked in the previous survey. The proportion of girls in junior high school to women in their 40s who do not exercise at all increased from fiscal 1998. The athletic performance of people aged 6 to 19 years old worsened in tests such as throwing a ball. In the survey, conducted between May and October last year, participants earned points in each exercise category. Data on 64,648 people aged 6 to 79 were obtained in the latest survey.


Foreign and Japanese students at Nagoya University of Foreign Studies publish English newspaper

Abstract: A group of non-Japanese and Japanese students at Nagoya University of Foreign Studies jointly published an English tabloid newspaper, called The NUFS Times, in September to deepen communication between the two communities. The university in Nisshin, Aichi Prefecture, says it will support the effort with the intention that the newspaper will become a regular publication that can promote the institution. The university says it takes in around 200 students from foreign countries each year, but since most only stay for about six to 12 months, they don’t get enough chances to communicate with Japanese people. To create an opportunity for foreign and Japanese students to work together, Kazuhiko Kojima, 66, a former Chunichi Shimbun reporter who currently serves as press relations adviser to the university, called on a student newspaper club that publishes a newspaper a few times a year to create an English-language paper. The project began in April with nine foreign students from five countries, including the United States, Britain and Italy, and eight Japanese members of the newspaper club. They covered such topics as fair trade activities in Nagoya, Japanese food, and exchanges between Nagoya and the Italian city of Turin. The foreign students interviewed sources and wrote the articles in English, while the Japanese students helped them come up with questions to ask in Japanese and translate the interviews into English. Cassandra Evangelista, 29, an American student, wrote about an established tofu shop in Kinshachi Yokocho, a shopping area that opened right outside the grounds of Nagoya Castle in March. She said she was surprised to learn about the numerous procedures needed to produce tofu and the passion of the workers dedicated to making it. She said she enjoyed working with the Japanese students who helped her when she had difficulty understanding the language. “I was worried whether the project would work out, but I was motivated by the foreign students’ willingness,” said Renya Hakamata, 19, a second-year student at the university and a member of the newspaper club. The students printed 5,000 copies of the newspaper and distributed them free of charge at the university and at high schools in the Tokai region. They hope to publish a second issue by the end of this year, and starting in the next academic year the university plans to make the project a part of English classes attended by both foreign and Japanese students. “The project offers a great opportunity for foreign students to communicate with Japanese people outside the university, and for Japanese students to brush up their language skills,” says Hiroko Tokumoto, 58, an associate professor in the university’s International Institute for Japanese Language Education who supports the project. “It has a big educational effect on both groups.”

newspaper
foreign students
english
nagoya university of foreign studies


Zozo chief Yusaku Maezawa eyes world peace and inspiration with SpaceX moon trip

Abstract: Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, who is scheduled to take a trip to the moon in 2023, said Tuesday that he wants to use the opportunity to make a name for himself around the world and promote his initiatives, while also expressing his expectation that the trip will be great inspiration for his work. “This is a huge chance to spread my message to the world. I believe it will bring positive impacts to Zozo, too,” said Maezawa, founder and CEO of the major online fashion mall operator Zozo Inc., during a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo. In mid-September, Maezawa announced he would embark on an 800,000-kilometer trip around the moon and back aboard SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s BFR spacecraft along with several artists that he plans to invite. Maezawa, who would become the first private lunar traveler, said he wants to contribute to world peace, a desire that was given greater urgency following the terrorist attacks on 9/11. Thus, he said he was seeking “artists committed to making the world a better place.” He plans to take six to eight artists representing various mediums with him, and hinted that the candidates’ creations should match his taste. Maezawa did not say when he would choose who will join him. Maezawa added he was hoping the trip would provide a valuable input to his own work. “I like new experiences so I want to promote the same among my colleagues, and this is why I decided to go on this adventure, because I believe going to the moon will help me create something better,” he said. While being aware of the space mission’s dangers, Maezawa said he trusts and respects Musk. “I thought I could trust him after seeing his relationship with his workers. People believe in him,” Maezawa said. Regarding Musk’s recent tweets mocking the Securities and Exchange Commission, with whom he recently reached a settlement over allegations of fraud, Maezawa said, “Twitter can be either a good or a bad tool, depending what use you make of it, as you can notice following Musk’s posts.” Asked whether he would employ the Zozo Suit, the firm’s signature high-tech polka-dot outfit used to measure body size, to make spacewear for his trip, he said that might be under consideration. “I gave (Zozo’s) suit to Elon Musk and proposed to use our technology to create spacewear,” Maezawa said. But he wasn’t sure if Musk took the proposal seriously, and quoted the American entrepreneur as having called the idea “crazy” and “good.” It is unknown how much Maezawa, who is the 18th richest person in the country according to Forbes, paid for the planned trip to space, but he is known as a lavish spender and owns many pricey pieces of art. Maezawa stressed he buys artwork for the value behind it. Last week, Maezawa tweeted about having purchased a 1717 Stradivari violin called Hamma. “I want to buy the passion poured into those masterpieces,” Maezawa said at the news conference, stressing that craftsmanship, the history behind the work and the passion the artist poured into it raises a piece’s value.”I already own a lot of things and want to share this passion, especially with young people,” he said. “I want to show them how many blisters these creators have on their hands, how much effort they have put into their work.”

elon musk
spacex
moon
yusaku maezawa
zozo


Japan continues to rely on coal-fired plants despite global criticism

Abstract: Japan may be feeling the effects of global warming more than ever with the series of natural disasters that hit the archipelago this summer, but this resource-poor country is sticking with coal-fired energy production that emits more than double the carbon dioxide generated by liquid natural gas-fueled plants. To meet its pledge to the world in the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord, Japan aims to achieve a 26 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by fiscal 2030 from the fiscal 2013 level. But the government has drawn a lot of criticism from both in and outside the country for going against the international trend to move away from coal. In November 2017, Japan was again embarrassed by winning a “Fossil of the Day Award” for its failure to make sufficient efforts to tackle climate change. The award’s organizer, Climate Action Network, said that “Japan together with the U.S. administration is still trying to promote nuclear and coal, which hinders efforts for expanding renewable energy in developing countries. Japan should change its anachronistic policy on coal and nuclear.” Why is Japan facing all this criticism? Below we discuss some of the reasons and explore current and future trends related to coal-fired power plants in Japan. How much does Japan rely on coal? Coal-fired plants provided 32.3 percent of the country’s total electricity in fiscal 2016, whereas reliance of natural gas stood at 42.2 percent and nuclear power at 1.7 percent. Japan has around 90 coal power plants and companies were planning to build 30 more with a total capacity of 16,730 megawatts (MW) as of March. Why does this country continue to turn to coal? Japan is poor in resources such as oil and natural gas, and it built numerous coal-fired power plants in the aftermath of the “oil shock” of the 1970s in order to reduce dependency on oil and diversify its energy sources. The country also increased its dependency on nuclear power and liquefied natural gas. As climate change issues grew in importance, the government, in its basic energy plan endorsed in 2010, sought to increase reliance on nuclear to 53 percent of the total and reduce that of coal to 11 percent by 2030. But the Fukushima No. 1 disaster threw that plan into disarray. Under the current plan, the government is aiming to rely on nuclear power for 20 to 22 percent of Japan’s electricity, and coal for 26 percent by fiscal 2030. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry considers coal “an important baseload source” due to its cheapness and stable supply compared with renewables. Construction of small coal-fired power projects has also been the rise on the back of deregulation of the power industry in recent years, with METI saying that intensifying competition is leading existing power companies to turn to what they perceive as cheap and stable power sources. Is coal-fired power the cheapest source of energy produced in Japan? Not really. Power generation costs fluctuate and at times natural gas is less expensive. Coal was the third cheapest at ¥12.3 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) after nuclear energy at ¥10.1, according to a report by METI that calculated power generation costs for 2014. LNG was rated at ¥13.7 per kWh. But in another calculation that looked into the costs as of 2016, using the same methodology as METI, coal-fueled power stood at ¥11.35 per kWh and LNG was the cheapest at ¥8.58, according to the Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center. The center attributed the change to a decline in fossil fuel prices: Coal had dropped 24.6 percent and LNG had fallen 57.1 percent from 2014. Don’t energy companies have to pass environmental assessments before constructing coal-fired power plants? Coal plants that generate less than 112.5 MW do not need to go through the government assessment process, which according to nongovernmental organization Kiko Network can take six to seven years from initial planning to the start of operations. Small-scale plants can begin operations in just a few years after initial planning. In the government assessment process, power companies have to determine the environmental impact. This includes discussions with experts, local municipalities and residents. A 112-MW plant in Miyagi Prefecture that began operating last October has been met with a massive backlash from local residents. The wrangling has led people living in the area to file a lawsuit against the operator of the Sendai Power Station to shut down the plant over health concerns. How harmful are coal power plant emissions to human health? Burning coal produces gases that contain pollutants, mainly sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide. They are the major sources of PM2.5 airborne toxic particles and ozone pollution that can cause health and environmental problems. The government has ordered all coal plant operators to install filters to eliminate emissions of the harmful substance. But Kiko Network has pointed out that even though operators claim the latest filters can remove over 95 percent of pollutants, it is impossible to stop them all from escaping into the air. According to an estimate based on a 2017 study by Daniel Jacob, an atmospheric chemistry professor at Harvard University, pollutants emitted from coal-fired power plants currently operating in Japan lead to the premature death of 1,117 people every year. And that number is expected to increase to 1,572 if new power plants come into service. Are there ways to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from using coal-fired plants? One option promoted by the government is “clean coal” technologies such as ultra-supercritical coal-fired power (USC) plants. These are the most efficient type of coal-fired facility and use less coal than normal plants. USC plants achieve power generation efficiency of over 42 percent, compared with 39 percent for normal plants. USC plants also emit less carbon dioxide than normal ones, but they still emit nearly double the amount of LNG plants. METI is currently aiming to ensure that 50 percent of all coal-fired power comes from USC plants by 2030. Another solution for minimizing carbon dioxide emissions is carbon capture and storage (CCS), a system that collects and stores carbon dioxide waste underground. The government has begun CCS experiments in Tomakomai, Hokkaido, and has stored approximately 180,000 tons of carbon dioxide in the ground since 2016. In a report issued this year, METI said new technologies including CCS are a “must” if Japan is to drastically decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Japan’s stated long-term goal is to cut emissions by 80 percent by 2050. But the Tomakomai area was hit by a magnitude 6.7 quake in September and concerns have been raised among residents and environmental groups regarding the system’s safety in quake-prone Japan.

energy
nuclear power
coal
climate change


Dollar hits three-week highs around ¥113.30 in Tokyo

Abstract: The dollar hit three-week highs around ¥113.30 in Tokyo trading Wednesday, as risk appetite increased among market participants thanks to brisk U.S. equities overnight. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥113.19-19, up from ¥112.80-81 at the same time Tuesday. The euro was at $1.346-1347, down from $1.1363-1363, and at ¥128.44-44, up from ¥128.18-19. The dollar changed hands above ¥113 in early trading, carrying over its overnight strength abroad that mainly reflected receding risk aversion following Wall Street’s sharp rebound, traders said. Also supported by buying from Japanese importers for month-end settlements, the dollar rose to three-week highs around ¥113.30 in the morning and the afternoon, the traders said. Other major dollar-positive factors were a continued surge in the benchmark 225-issue Nikkei stock average and higher Chinese stocks. In late trading, the U.S. currency pared its gains due to profit-taking by Japanese institutional investors and selling on a rally mainly from foreign exchange margin traders, market sources said. A currency market broker said that “no trading incentive emerged” from a news conference by Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda in the afternoon. “Few players are making active moves in the dollar-yen sector as U.S. stocks may grow unstable” after key events, including the announcements of earnings by Apple Inc. on Thursday and U.S. jobs data for October on Friday, as well as the U.S. midterm elections Tuesday, said an official of a margin trading service firm.


Tokyo stocks surge further on continued buybacks

Abstract: Stocks surged further on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Wednesday thanks to continued buybacks after the recent market tumble. The 225-issue Nikkei average jumped 463.17 points, or 2.16 percent, to end at 21,920.46, after soaring 307.49 points Tuesday. The Topix index of all first-section issues closed up 34.66 points, or 2.15 percent, at 1,646.12. It gained 21.90 points the previous day. The market attracted buying following Wall Street’s sharp rebound Tuesday, market sources said. Investors also took heart from the yen’s drop versus the dollar, the sources added. “Pessimism has receded” somewhat in the market about business performance at major Japanese companies following the recent announcements of brisk earnings, said Mitsuo Shimizu, chief strategist at Aizawa Securities Co. An official of an online securities firm indicated that purchases of high-priced stocks with strong earnings, such as Honda Motor Co., pushed up the key market indexes. The Tokyo market’s strength came as “Chinese equities moved on a firm note,” an official of an asset management firm said. Aizawa Securities’ Shimizu said that Tokyo stocks “began to show signs of bottoming out.” Rising issues overwhelmed falling ones 1,654 to 419 in the TSE’s first section, while 38 issues were unchanged. Volume fell to 1.811 billion shares from 2.207 billion shares Tuesday. Automaker Honda climbed 6.47 percent following an upward revision to its consolidated net profit estimate for the year through next March to ¥675 billion from ¥615 billion, brokers said. In the semiconductor sector, Advantest Corp. closed 12.91 percent higher after raising its operating profit forecast for the year through next March to ¥53 billion from ¥34.5 billion. Other major winners included mobile phone carrier SoftBank Group Corp. and air conditioner-maker Daikin Industries. By contrast, steel-makers JFE Holdings Inc. and Kobe Steel met with heavy selling on downward revisions to profit estimates for the year through next March, the brokers said. Also on the minus side were clothing store chain operator Fast Retailing Co. and retailer FamilyMart Uny Co. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key December contract on the Nikkei average jumped 400 points to 21,880.

stocks
nikkei
tse
markets
topix
honda motor co .


From 'cardboard nannies' to 'fruit money': fast-paced Hong Kong slow to adapt to its elderly

Abstract: HONG KONG - At the Tanner Hill apartments in Hong Kong, the residents — all aged 60-plus — are enjoying the ancient Chinese tile game of mahjong along with some bite-sized delicacies, dimsum, at one of the on-site restaurants. Each of the 588 units comes with wheelchair-height kitchen countertops, an emergency button and a motion sensor which will alert the nurses in the building if it does not detect movement for a prolonged period. “I feel independent living here. I don’t need a helper to look after me — I feel safe,” said Chun Man-lin, 75, who moved two years ago to Tanner Hill, just a stone’s throw from the shopping hub of Causeway Bay. However, gerontology experts say, complexes like this are the exception in Hong Kong, not the norm. They warn that the fast-paced, business-focused city is lagging in its efforts to make life easier for its growing army of elderly residents. From Japan to Britain and Portugal, cities around the world are aging rapidly as authorities struggle to boost birth rates. One-third of Hong Kong’s population will be 65 or older in two decades, official data shows — up from one-fifth now. Observers say not enough is being done to prepare for this demographic shift. “Aging in Hong Kong … is still an issue that people put in the background — it’s not mainstream at all,” said Jean Woo, the director of the Jockey Club Institute of Ageing at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “Right now the aging issue is still invisible to a lot of people. It is there but they don’t see it — not like other countries,” she said. ‘Cardboard nannies’ In the shadows of Hong Kong’s famous skyscrapers, a common sight is the gray-haired women — referred to as “cardboard nannies” — pushing carts filled with old paper and card that they send to be recycled as they eke out a living. With sky-high property prices and rising living costs, about a third of those aged above 65 — some 340,000 people — are trapped in poverty, a government report released in 2017 shows. Authorities provide a monthly living allowance of up to about HK$3,400 ($430) for senior citizens, but that buys so little in this expensive city that it is dubbed “fruit money.” The elderly are most unhappy about housing, community support, health services and employment, a survey of over 9,500 people led by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust found this year. Still, there are some bright spots. Hong Kong scored well in areas like transportation — for HK$2, senior citizens can take most public transport to any part of the city. Its compactness also allows the elderly easy access to shops, clinics, banks and transport networks, with most places located within walking distance. Woo, who was one of the survey’s researchers, said the biggest barriers to making the Asian financial hub more senior-friendly were a lack of awareness and public debate on the consequences if aging issues were not addressed. “Suicides are high among the elderly, including double suicides when the spouse can’t cope by living by themselves,” she said. People aged over 65 have the highest suicide rates in Hong Kong, with nearly 300 cases in 2016, according to the Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention. Other developed parts of the world have already ramped up efforts to deal with aging, with the global population of people over 60 expected to outnumber children under five for the first time by 2020, according to the World Health Organization. In Britain, the government this year created a new ministerial post on loneliness, and allocated £20 million ($26 million) to fund efforts to tackle the isolation felt by more than one in 10 people there. Efficiency over decency In her annual policy address this month, Hong Kong’s chief executive Carrie Lam vowed to boost community care services for the elderly, although her speech largely did not address other challenges as the city ages rapidly. One government adviser said the authorities had been making adjustments, including ensuring barrier-free access on public walkways and putting wider corridors and nonslip floors in new public rental housing. “These measures are just a start. … The government can only do so much,” Bernard Chan, who sits on Hong Kong’s Executive Council which advises the government on policy, wrote in the South China Morning Post newspaper in June. “Meeting our aging society’s day-to-day needs will largely come down to innovators and entrepreneurs,” he said. Projects like Tanner Hill, which was built by the nongovernmental Hong Kong Housing Society, is one example where charity groups try to address the need for elderly housing. It offers a lifelong lease where residents pay a flat fee that is determined by age. For a two-bedroom unit for example, an 85-year-old resident would pay HK$2.94 million and a 60-year-old would pay HK$6.51 million. “Aging is an indisputable fact and the demand for elderly housing is emerging,” said Daniel Lau from the Hong Kong Housing Society, which also works with the government to improve housing conditions for the city’s poorer seniors. Making Hong Kong more accepting of its elderly residents, said aging expert Terry Lum, is not only about improving the facilities, and it is not just a job for government. Changing people’s mind-set and how they treat older people are also important, said the professor at the University of Hong Kong. After living in the United States for 18 years, Lum moved home to Hong Kong in 2011. The first thing he noticed was how Hongkongers quickly became impatient when an older person walked slowly in front of them. “We are focusing so much on efficiency that sometimes we lose basic decency — everything is being rushed through at a very fast pace,” he said. “Hong Kong definitely needs to slow down.”


A-bomb survivor, supporters call on nations to join nuke ban pact

Abstract: NEW YORK - Michiko Tsukamoto, who was just 10 years old when an atomic bomb was dropped over her hometown of Hiroshima in 1945, on Tuesday urged countries that have not signed a landmark nuclear weapons ban treaty to do so quickly. “Last year the nuclear ban treaty was made. I felt years and years of (the) hibakusha’s work bore fruit and we are one step closer to achieving our dream of a nuclear-free world,” she said at a U.N. headquarters event. The treaty, which was adopted in July last year by 122 countries, will come into force after 50 countries sign and ratify it. So far 69 countries have signed it and 19 ratified it. “I hope for a world where everyone thinks that having nuclear weapons is a shame,” she said. “We do not have much time and I hope that every country joins this treaty and creates a world without nuclear weapons.” The average age of the survivors, known in Japanese as hibakusha, is now said to be 82. As they face health problems while their numbers dwindle, it is increasingly difficult for them to speak out at domestic and international events. The 84-year-old Tsukamoto, who has been designated by the Foreign Ministry as a special communicator for a nuclear-free world, is part of a Japanese nongovernmental organization’s project that has taken her and others like her around the world to promote nuclear arms abolition. Tsukamoto spoke out at an event held on the fringes of talks on disarmament and international security by a U.N. committee . “I think there is nobody like the hibakushas who can tell the story,” Austria’s ambassador in Geneva, Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberger, said. “We all know that this tragedy has been instrumental in bringing about the treaty.” Austria has been at the forefront of pushing for the nuclear weapons ban treaty and Tichy-Fisslberger announced that Vienna is volunteering to host the first conference of the parties to the treaty once it enters into force. Mexico’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Juan Sandoval Mendiolea, also stressed how important it is to hear about the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons. “There cannot be another face more clear, and more sincere, and more legitimate to oppose nuclear weapons than the hibakusha,” he said. Like Austria, Mexico has also been an active proponent of the treaty and hosted a major conference in 2014. “The U.N. plays a big role for world peace, I think we should work together and fight together against the pressure from nuclear-armed states,” said Tsukamoto. “Humans and nuclear weapons cannot live together!”

nuclear weapons
united nations
hibakusha
atomic bombs
michiko tsukamoto


Foreign Minister Taro Kono calls on South Korea to take 'firm and resolute' action after ruling on wartime forced labor

Abstract: SEOUL - Foreign Minister Taro Kono said Wednesday he has called on his South Korean counterpart, Kang Kyung-wha, to take “firm and resolute” action over a Supreme Court ruling ordering a Japanese steel firm to compensate four South Koreans subject to forced labor during Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. “As Minister Kang said, the South Korean government has started discussions as to how to address the matter. We will wait for its decision,” Kono told reporters at the Foreign Ministry following phone talks with Kang. Kono said the government hopes Japanese nationals and companies will not be subjected to detrimental treatment as a result of the ruling, but stopped short of expanding on what kind of actions he believes should be taken. A day earlier, Kono called the decision “very regrettable and totally unacceptable,” after the South Korean top court upheld the July 2013 ruling by the Seoul High Court that ordered Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. to pay 400 million won (¥39.7 million) in compensation to the workers. The Supreme Court’s final ruling in the case is likely to have a significant impact on Japanese-South Korean ties. Following news of the court’s decision, Kono called the South Korean Ambassador to Japan, Lee Su-hoon, to the Foreign Ministry and told him that it “fundamentally undermines the legal basis that has served as the foundation of the friendly relationship between the two countries since the normalization of bilateral relations in 1965.” In a statement, Kono also said Japan may take the matter to the relevant international court. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters that “the ruling this time is impossible in terms of international law,” and that “the Japanese government will react in a resolute manner.” The four claimants in the case, only one of whom remains alive today, had said they were deprived of their human rights when they were forced to work at a steel mill belonging to Japan Iron & Steel Co. The firm was later known as Nippon Steel Corp., until it merged with another steel-maker in 2012 to form Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal. Japan’s government has taken the position that the issue of compensation is “completely and finally” resolved, as declared by a 1965 pact attached to the Japan-South Korean treaty that normalized their post-colonial relationship. But Tuesday’s decision by South Korea’s top court found that the right of the plaintiffs to file claims as individuals had not expired, despite the accord with Japan. Nippon Steel lodged an appeal in August 2013 against the earlier Seoul High Court ruling, contending that the issue of compensation had already been settled under the 1965 pact. The company issued a statement Tuesday saying the ruling was “extremely regrettable,” adding that it will respond “properly” after examining the contents of the ruling and taking into account the Japanese government’s response. The top court’s decision represents the first final ruling in South Korea concerning a compensation order against a Japanese company following a post-World War II compensation lawsuit. The decision suggests firms involved in similar lawsuits could face similar outcomes. Among the other Japanese firms that have lost cases in lower courts in South Korea are Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Hitachi Zosen Corp. Tuesday’s ruling “not only clearly violates the Japan-South Korea pact on rights to claim, but also inflicts unfair damage on a Japanese company,” Kono told the South Korean ambassador in Tokyo. The initial part of the meeting was open to media. “What is happening right now is unthinkable in terms of international common sense and in a country that upholds the rule of law,” Kono said. Kono also urged Seoul to “immediately take necessary measures” to prevent any further detrimental impact on Japanese people or businesses. Despite Tokyo’s efforts to foster bilateral relations with Seoul in a forward-looking manner, wartime history continues to cast a pall over ties. Contentious issues include not only South Koreans who were subject to forced labor, but also the issue of “comfort women” — a euphemism that refers to women and girls forced to provide sex for Japanese troops before and during World War II.

wwii
history
courts
forced labor
south korea-japan relations


Surge in number of U.S. women seeking political office could spark change in male-dominated Japanese Diet: experts

Abstract: WASHINGTON - With the number of women running for U.S. Congress hitting a record high in the Nov. 6 midterm elections, the growing participation of women in American politics may prompt a change in the male-dominated political and business circles in Japan, according to U.S. and Japanese experts on women’s leadership. “I do think the increase in women running in the United States has an opportunity to do a role modeling effect in Japan,” said Glynda Carr, co-founder of Higher Heights for America, a New York-based organization dedicated to bringing black women into politics and elected office. Possibly in protest over U.S. President Donald Trump’s derogatory remarks against women and his scandals over alleged sexual harassment, data shows a record 237 women — 185 Democrats and 52 Republicans — are running for the 435-seat House of Representatives, up from the previous high of 167 in 2016, in what’s being called a “pink wave.” A record 23 women — 15 Democrats and eight Republicans — are also campaigning for 35 of the 100 Senate seats up for grabs, up from 18 in 2012, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University in New Jersey. When Japanese women see more American women running and winning, “they can see the possibility that exists” and this could inspire them to run, Carr said on the sidelines of a recent event in Washington. The Rutgers body said the United States is “on track to see a record number of women” in Congress, but that “achieving gender parity in Congress will take more than one election cycle.” Women’s political representation in the United States is not as high as many might think, with the percentage of female members in the House of Representatives at 19.6 percent as of Sept. 1. But the figure is still higher than the 10.1 percent in the Lower House of the Diet. The percentage of female members in the Senate came to 23.2 percent, compared to 20.7 percent in the Diet’s Upper House, according to data by the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union. Mari Miura, a professor of political science at Sophia University in Tokyo, expressed hope for an increase in women leaders in the United States. “If we hear more voices directly coming from women in the United States, that will empower more women in Japan,” she said in a telephone interview. Miura said it is imperative that women be well represented in decision-making bodies, otherwise issues of women’s concern — such as sexual harassment, pay gaps with men and, particularly in Japan, declining birth rates — would not come to the fore. Enthusiasm among young women voters and political activists is also a key part of the women’s movement in the United States. According to a recent poll conducted by the Washington Post and ABC News, certainty to vote is up 32 points among women younger than 40, compared with 2014, the year of the last midterm elections. Among registered voters, 59 percent of women favor Democratic House candidates while 37 percent prefer Republicans, the poll shows. Citing the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment and assault, analysts said women backing female Democratic candidates oppose Trump’s dealings with women and other issues such as health care. GOP-leaning women are also uncomfortable with the way the president treats women, but they tend to pay more attention to the upbeat economy and historically low unemployment levels. Asked what Japan can learn from the United States to boost women’s political participation, Miura cited political training programs and a greater role for women activists in civil society. “The United States is a leading country in terms of political training programs for women, as well as other leadership training, an initiative that helps women aspiring to run for office,” she said. “I think we need to create and expand those programs in Japan.” In this context, Miura welcomed Japan’s gender parity law, new legislation that requires local governments to expand support for recruitment and training for women wishing to enter politics. Cynthia Terrell, a U.S.-based advocate for rules and systems reforms to advance women’s representation and leadership, points out that the single-member district electoral system mainly used in Japan’s Lower House makes it difficult for women candidates to win more seats. She suggested a broader use of the proportional representation system could raise women’s representation to a 20 percent level, as in the upper chamber.

women
elections
upper house
lower house
men


Japan machine-makers avoid the caterpillar crawl

Abstract: What’s that whirring noise? It’s Japan’s machinery-makers at work, in contrast to investors’ expectations. Results from Fanuc Corp. and Komatsu were a mixed bag Monday. Factory-automation giant Fanuc reported an 8.4 percent drop in fiscal first-half operating income and saw its shares rise, while construction-equipment-maker Komatsu posted an 80 percent profit surge that was rewarded with a stock decline. Put that perplexing share reaction down to the topsy-turvy world of machinery-makers, where investors tend to view dismal earnings as a sign that a company is nearing the bottom, and good results as a warning that it’s close to the top. The overall picture, though, is that concerns sparked by U.S. bellwether Caterpillar Inc. last week of late-cycle cost pressures and a deteriorating China outlook have been overdone, at least as far as the Japanese firms are concerned. China’s faltering economy has been a key focus. Fanuc’s sales in the country, already shrinking, fell a further 42 percent in the quarter through Sept. 30, compared with the previous three months. There was little surprise there: For months, an impending drop in iPhone shipments has weighed on the company, which sells so-called robodrills that make the metal casings of smartphones. Meanwhile, Fanuc’s factory automation business grew 4 percent from a year earlier, with China accounting for 20 percent of those sales. Komatsu said China demand rose 36 percent in the first half from a year earlier, a contrast with Caterpillar, which has been affected by the U.S.-China trade war. The country accounted for 7 percent of Komatsu’s sales, broadly unchanged from the year-ago period. Still, the company said it expects construction demand to slow from its current firm level. China certainly presents challenges. The announcement of an anti-dumping investigation into Japanese high-tech machinery-makers including Fanuc has worried investors. As we’ve noted, though, this is unlikely to hurt the Japanese manufacturers much. Chinese machine-makers don’t make the high-performing vertical-machine centers (core-equipment manufacturing facilities for autos and other advanced processes) that are being probed, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts. Moreover, while worries of an eventual slowdown loom, Chinese manufacturing sector profits are still humming along. They grew 12.5 percent in the 12 months through September from a year earlier. The other good news is that the Chinese government will lower “most-favored nation” tariffs on more than 1,500 goods including construction equipment and industrial machinery starting Nov. 1. More importantly, as China cools the Japanese firms have plenty of buffers: They’re exposed to a variety of geographical and segmental business cycles that don’t move in lockstep, ensuring weakness in one area is often offset by growth elsewhere. While Fanuc’s China sales declined by 12.7 percentage points as a portion of total revenue in the past year, it gained a cumulative 12.9 percentage points in other regions. And as its iPhone-making robotic machines lost 9 percentage points of sales, the company gained as much across other business segments. For Komatsu, Southeast Asian demand climbed more than 22 percent in the first half, while Fanuc recorded a 9.4 percent increase in orders from North America. Signs elsewhere belie the pessimism. Earlier this month, Nidec Corp. posted record quarterly operating profits for its automotive, appliance, and industrial and commercial business. The motor-maker has been expanding production in the U.S. to supply manufacturers there, and noted that it was “capturing business opportunities under trade tensions.” Operating profit at Nidec’s machinery segment, which supplies industrial robots and factory automation systems, rose 26 percent in the second quarter through September, while its industrial and commercial products business grew 35 percent. Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., which reported earnings last week, saw sales volumes gain sharply in North America and Australia, among other regions. It lowered its revenue forecast for China by 3 percent for the full year. The likes of Fanuc and Komatsu are trading at steep discounts to the long-term averages of their one-year forward price-earnings multiples. There’s no doubt China will slow further at some point. But that doesn’t mean factories will shut down elsewhere in the world. Japan’s machinery-makers are likely to stay busy.


Tokyo stocks rebound sharply on buybacks

Abstract: Stocks staged a sharp rebound on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Tuesday, boosted by repurchases after the recent tumble. The 225-issue Nikkei average soared 307.49 points, or 1.45 percent, to end at 21,457.29, after shedding 34.80 points on Monday. The Topix index of all first-section issues closed up 21.90 points, or 1.38 percent, at 1,611.46. It fell 6.45 points the previous day. Both indexes snapped their three-session losing streaks. After opening weaker following Wall Street’s retreat on Monday, the Tokyo market soon wiped out the losses and returned to the sunny side thanks to buybacks on the back of the yen’s weakening versus the dollar, market sources said. In afternoon trading, the market accelerated its upswing owing to a solid performance of Chinese equities, according to the sources. Yoshihiko Tabei, chief analyst at Naito Securities Co., indicated that repurchases of automakers and semiconductor-related names contributed to the overall market’s strength. Tuesday’s sharp rebound was driven by “buybacks of issues with brisk earnings,” an official of an asset management firm said. The official pointed out that such issues were deemed undervalued after the recent market tumble. But investors “are still vigilant (against a possible market plunge) and unlikely to move for (full-fledged) bargain hunting until fresh buying incentives emerge,” the official added. Rising issues overwhelmed falling ones 1,840, to 239 in the TSE’s first section, while 31 issues were unchanged. Volume increased to 2.207 billion shares from 1.373 billion shares on Monday. Construction machinery-maker Komatsu climbed 6.18 percent after upward revisions in its operating profit and dividend estimates for the year through March 2019, brokers said. Automakers Toyota, Honda and Nissan were buoyant following a news report that the Chinese government is considering cutting the tax on automobile purchases. Other major winners included semiconductor-linked Tokyo Electron and clothing retailer Fast Retailing. By contrast, Daiwa Securities Group met with selling after announcing Monday that its consolidated operating profit for the six months through September tumbled 38.7 percent from a year before to ¥37.667 billion. Also on the minus side were mobile phone carrier KDDI and Sumitomo Realty. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key December contract on the Nikkei average jumped 380 points to 21,480.

stocks
toyota
honda
nikkei
nissan
wall street
topix


Dollar firmer around ¥112.80 in Tokyo

Abstract: The dollar was stronger around ¥112.80 in Tokyo trading late Tuesday, aided by robust Tokyo stock prices. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥112.80-81, up from ¥111.92-92 at the same time on Monday. The euro was at $1.1363-1363, down from $1.1408-1408, and at ¥128.18-19, up from ¥127.69-69. The dollar moved above ¥112.30 in early trading after rising above ¥112.50 in overseas trading overnight thanks to a strong U.S. economic indicator announced on Monday, traders said. Toward noon, the greenback rose to levels close to ¥112.70, supported by month-end purchases from real demand-backed players and a rise in the benchmark 225-issue Nikkei stock average. After falling below the level due to a halt to the advance of the Nikkei and Chinese stocks, the dollar rebounded and climbed above ¥112.80 in late trading on the back of higher long-term U.S. interest rates. The dollar drew buying against the yen on hope for an easing of trade tensions between the United States and China following U.S. President Donald Trump’s reported remarks that he expects a great deal with China on trade, traders said. An official of a foreign exchange margin trading service firm said the higher U.S. interest rates and the dollar’s advance against the yen came as fresh U.S. tariffs on Chinese products can exert inflationary pressure in the United States. The dollar attracted “buybacks to adjust positions toward the month-end” after falling below ¥111.50 late last week, an official of a Japanese bank said.


Sharp lifts FY 2018 net profit outlook despite lower sales forecast

Abstract: OSAKA - Sharp Corp. on Tuesday raised its net profit outlook for the current business year due to cost-cutting, and despite lowering its sales forecast. Sharp cut its sales projection for the year through March to ¥2.69 trillion ($24 billion) from a previous estimate of ¥2.89 trillion, reflecting a decline in television sales in China and logistics disruptions following a typhoon. But the Osaka-based electronics maker raised its group net profit projection to ¥90 billion from the previous estimate of ¥80 billion. As its logistics network was disrupted by a powerful typhoon that hit Japan in September, shipments of liquid crystal displays and the procurement of smartphone parts were delayed. Still, Sharp remains on a recovery path as it continues to benefit from restructuring since it came under the wing of Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. in 2016. Sharp projects an operating profit of ¥112 billion, up from ¥110 billion forecast previously. The latest net and operating profit outlooks represent respectively rises of 28.2 and 24.3 percent from the previous business year. Given the TV sales decline in China, Sharp said it aims to shift its business strategy from “quantity to quality” by adding value to its products using artificial intelligence. For the first half to September, Sharp posted a consolidated net profit of ¥40.93 billion, up 17.8 percent from a year earlier, remaining in the black for the second year. It logged an operating profit of ¥47 billion, up 15.9 percent, on group sales of ¥1.13 trillion, up 1.2 percent.


Conservationists fear 'devastating consequences' as China dilutes ban on tiger and rhino parts

Abstract: BEIJING - China unveiled new rules on Monday that would allow the use of rhino horn and tiger parts for some medical and cultural purposes, watering down a decadesold ban in a move conservation group WWF said could have “devastating consequences. China’s State Council issued a notice replacing its 1993 ban on the trade of tiger bones and rhino horn. The new rules ban the sale, use, import and export of such products, but allow exceptions under “special circumstances,” such as medical and scientific research, educational use, and as part of “cultural exchanges.” Horns of rhinos or bones of tigers that were bred in captivity could be used “for medical research or clinical treatment of critical illnesses,” it said. Rhino horn and tiger products classified as “antiques” could be used in “cultural exchanges” with the approval of culture authorities, although they still may not be sold on the market or exchanged via the internet. The new rules came into effect on Oct. 6. WWF said in a statement that Beijing’s move would have “devastating consequences globally” and be “an enormous setback to efforts to protect tigers and rhinos in the wild. “Even if restricted to antiques and use in hospitals, this trade would increase confusion by consumers and law enforcers as to which products are and are not legal, and would likely expand the markets for other tiger and rhino products,” WWF said. Beijing banned trade in tiger bones and rhino horns, both prized in traditional Chinese medicine, 25 years ago as part of global efforts to halt declining animal stocks. But illegal poaching has continued, driven by demand in an increasingly affluent country. Commercial tiger farms in China are legal, and although using tiger bones in medicine was banned, tiger parts from these farms often end up being made into tonics or other medicines, animal rights groups say. Conservation groups say Chinese traditional medicine recipes can make use of substitutes for products from wild animals. Some Chinese officials have in the past said full bans on the use of wild animal parts would threaten traditional Chinese medicine.

china
trade
poaching
wwf
rhinos
tigers
endangeres species
medicine culture


Trump and Bolsonaro: Is a bromance in the cards for U.S. president and new Brazilian leader?

Abstract: SAO PAULO - He has vowed to drain the swamp, slash regulations and get tough with China. Evangelicals and gun-rights advocates love him. He has denounced the media as “fake news.” Political foes? Lock ’em up. Brazil’s new president-elect, Jair Bolsonaro, is an ardent admirer — and shrewd imitator — of his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump. And that could usher in one of the warmest bilateral relationships in the Western Hemisphere. Trump called to congratulate Bolsonaro on Sunday night, shortly after the far-right congressman scored a resounding victory at the polls, winning 55 percent of the vote following a mud-slinging campaign with a leftist rival. Bolsonaro and Trump spoke of “a strong commitment to work side-by-side” on issues affecting Brazil, the United States and beyond, the White House said. Trump has bullied and wrangled with other leaders in the Americas, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. But in Bolsonaro, Trump will find a doppelganger whose world view and pugnacious style are strikingly similar to his own. “Just like he wants to make America great, I want to make Brazil great,” Bolsonaro, a former army captain, said in a televised interview in July. The 63-year-old ran as an outsider bent on smashing what he sees as a corrupt and hidebound political system that has forgotten ordinary citizens. His fiery rhetoric and slurs against gays, women and minorities have thrilled followers who view him as an authentic straight shooter. He has championed law and order, patriotism and religious values. And he has demonized his leftist detractors as enemies of the people. While many world leaders have held Trump at arm’s length, Bolsonaro has made no secret of his esteem. He has praised America’s 45th president as a gutsy, decisive commander who has prevailed in the face of unfair criticism. “Trump faced the same attacks I am facing- that he was a homophobe, a fascist, a racist, a Nazi,” Bolsonaro said last year before his candidacy caught fire. “But the people believed in his platform. I was rooting for him.” Such blandishments are likely to play well with Trump, who has shown an affinity for authoritarian leaders, particularly those who flatter and cajole him. Christopher Garman, chief Americas analyst for the New York-based political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, said a new cross-hemisphere bromance could be in the offing. “(Bolsonaro’s) win will surely herald a stronger bilateral relationship,” Garman said. “Bolsonaro not only is a self-professed fan of Donald Trump, but both were elected on a wave of anti-establishment anger with relatively similar ideological proclivities. “The White House is likely to respond well, and Donald Trump has already shown he values personal relationships with foreign leaders,” Garman said. Bolsonaro has already signaled his plan to shift Brazilian foreign policy hard to the right, a development that would play well with the Trump administration. He has said he will move the country’s embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, following the lead of the United States. And similar to Trump, Bolsonaro is rethinking his country’s membership in multinational organizations and treaties that he thinks might not be in Brazil’s best interest, including the Mercosur trade bloc, the BRICS group of large emerging economies and the Paris climate accord. Those changes would reverse 13 years’ worth of diplomacy crafted by governments led by the country’s leftist Workers Party, which focused on alliances with Brazil’s South American neighbors and other developing powers. Bolsonaro is also questioning Brazil’s relationship with China, which he views as a predatory economic partner. The Asian giant is Brazil’s biggest foreign buyer of soybeans, iron ore and other commodities. But Bolsonaro is alarmed at a spate of Chinese purchases of Brazilian energy and infrastructure companies. “The Chinese are not buying in Brazil. They are buying Brazil,” Bolsonaro has warned repeatedly. Such talk is likely to please Trump, whose tariffs on Chinese goods have ignited a trade war that has much of the world blaming the United States for disrupting global supply chains and rattling markets worldwide. So, too, is Bolsonaro’s plan to privatize a string of Brazil’s state-owned companies and loosen environmental restrictions to make way for more mining, ranching and farming. Still, trade is likely to remain a sore point between the United States and Brazil, whose steep tariffs on imported goods make it one of the most closed economies in the world. Trump singled out Brazil this month in a rant about tariffs. “They charge us whatever they want,” he said in remarks to reporters at a White House event. “If you ask some of the companies, they say Brazil is among the toughest in the world — maybe the toughest in the world.” Even if trade issues remain thorny, Bolsonaro’s gaze is directed north. He is an avid supporter of the National Rifle Association and vows that once he takes office on Jan. 1, he will roll back Brazil’s strict gun laws and let citizens take up arms to defend themselves from criminals. Like Trump, Bolsonaro masterfully tapped into voters’ fears and frustrations to rocket to the presidency. Brazil is beset by appalling levels of street crime. In the past few years, a sprawling investigation has revealed epic levels of corruption at the highest levels of government. One former president is in jail and another was impeached and tossed from office. The economy was hit by the worst downturn in decades and has yet to regain its luster; more than 13 million Brazilians are unemployed. Hungry for change, voters responded to Bolsonaro’s bold promises to crack heads and clean up the mess. Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon said he sees echoes of his old boss, who rode a similar wave of discontent. “It takes those types of crises, and Brazil is going through that type of crisis now,” Bannon said recently. “I think that Bolsonaro, he’s a figure like Trump.”

brazil
elections
donald trump
jair bolsonaro