White House consents to congressional interview of ex-staffer

Abstract: WASHINGTON - The White House said on Friday it has consented to a former staffer appearing before a congressional panel for an “on the record interview,” accompanied by his lawyers, regarding security clearance policies and procedures. The “reasonable accommodation offer” of a voluntary appearance by former White House Personnel Security Director Carl Kline before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Reform was disclosed in a letter to the panel’s ranking Republican, Jim Jordan. It came after Jordan, a leader of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus better known for stoking than soothing partisan frictions, sought to defuse tensions between House Democrats and the Trump administration with a letter urging the White House to agree to a voluntary committee interview on April 30 or May 1, according to two sources who saw Jordan’s letter. The House Oversight Committee is probing allegations that the administration inappropriately granted security clearances to some Trump advisers during Kline’s tenure as personnel security director for the White House. Kline served in that post for the first two years of Trump’s presidency and now works for the Defense Department. White House Counsel Pat Cipollone responded to Jordan, saying on Friday that Kline “is available to appear for an interview on Wednesday, May 1,” with the committee, according to a copy of the Cipollone letter obtained by Reuters. “We understand the scope of the interview will be limited to White House personnel security policies and practices, consistent with our prior offers for Mr. Kline’s voluntary cooperation with the Committee,” Cipollone said in the letter. The committee, chaired by Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings, has issued a subpoena to compel Kline to testify before the panel under oath. While acceding to an “on the record interview,” the Cipollone letter makes no mention of sworn testimony. He calls the subpoena “unnecessary” in light of the “additional accommodation offer made over three weeks ago” for Kline’s voluntary appearance. No immediate comment was available from Cummings or other Democrats on the committee, and it was not clear whether they would accept the terms laid out by Cipollone. Still, the approach by Jordan was the first sign since the release last week of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 elections that House Republicans might be willing to cooperate with Democrats on probes into national security issues. Among recipients of the security clearances at issue, said congressional sources who asked not to be named, were Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner. Both allegedly obtained high-level clearances, despite recommendations from career security officials against it. In a dispute over the terms of Kline’s appearance before the committee, the White House had advised him to ignore the subpoena. The committee responded by moving to hold Kline in contempt of Congress, possibly followed by legal action. Two congressional sources told Reuters that Jordan’s letter to Cipollone on Friday had urged the White House “to avoid unnecessary conflict between Congress and the executive branch and to de-escalate Chairman Cummings’s orchestrated interbranch confrontation.” Jordan warned that Cummings might proceed with contempt of Congress proceedings against Kline as early as the coming week. Cummings launched the investigation after Tricia Newbold, a career security official at the White House, disclosed that the administration overruled experts to give questionable security clearances to more than two dozen people.

congress
white house
donald trump
elijah cummings
carl kline


Biden spars with Trump over age as he faces questions on women

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Newly announced 2020 Democratic candidate Joe Biden faced scrutiny on multiple fronts Friday, as President Donald Trump knocked him for his age and an all-female panel questioned his past treatment of women. It was unlikely the rollout that the former vice president had expected on the first full day of his White House campaign, but the attention from Trump himself served to signal Biden’s status as the leading challenger in a crowded field seeking to oust the current president. Biden’s day in the public eye began with the 72-year-old Trump opening a fresh line of attack on his rival’s age, saying Biden made him “look very young” by comparison. “I’m the youngest person. I am a young, vibrant man,” a smiling Trump told reporters at the White House. “I look at Joe, I don’t know about him,” he said of Biden, who is 76 and would be the oldest person ever to serve as president. “I would never say anyone is too old, but I know they’re all making me look very young both in terms of age and I think in terms of energy.” Biden, speaking Friday on ABC’s popular talk show “The View,” acknowledged politics is a “show-me business” where voters assess not just a candidate’s political platform, but his physical fitness for office. “If he looks young and vibrant compared to me I should probably go home,” Biden said of the president. Trump is technically obese, has a penchant for fast food and avoids strenuous exercise. His doctor declared him healthy in February. Keen to paint Biden as unfit for the job, he has nicknamed his potential rival “Sleepy Joe.” Biden presented himself as a vigorous candidate, insisting he was more like “hyper Joe.” When he was asked Friday how he would beat Biden, whose working class appeal could help win back states Trump snatched in 2016 — such as Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — the president was succinct: “I think we beat him easily.” But Trump is watching Biden’s rollout carefully. The former VP is angling to win back lower-income white voters who propelled Trump to the White House in 2016. Biden’s opening campaign message Thursday featured a direct challenge to Trump’s fitness for office, as he blasted his response to deadly white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017. On Friday it was Biden on the back foot, as he faced awkward questions about his past actions — and stopped short of making outright apologies for them. Multiple women have accused Biden this year of touching them inappropriately in the past, and while they have not said the elder statesman sexually harassed them, his tactile style and invasion of personal space has come under increasing scrutiny in the #MeToo era. “So I invaded your space. I’m sorry this happened,” Biden said, referring to his efforts to console or thank or inspire women he has met over the course of his half-century political career. “I’m not sorry in the sense that I think I did anything that was intentionally designed to do anything wrong or be inappropriate.” Biden was also pressed on his handling of an infamous 1991 Senate hearing that involved testimony by Anita Hill, who was aggressively questioned by an all-male committee about her claims of sexual harassment. He said he recently called Hill to express regret over his handling of the hearings, but when asked by “The View” hosts to apologize directly to her, he stopped short. “I don’t think I treated her badly,” Biden said, adding that he believed her claims of harassment “from the beginning.” “There were a lot of mistakes made across the board. For that I apologize,” he said. Biden’s team was quick to refocus attention on the positive, announcing he raked in $6.3 million in the first 24 hours of the campaign, outpacing all other Democratic contenders on their opening days. In a news release Friday, Biden’s campaign says he raised the money from nearly 97,000 individuals across all 50 states, including 65,000 who weren’t solicited by email. Biden edged former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s first-day total of $6.1 million and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ sum of slightly less than $6 million. Biden attended a fundraiser in Philadelphia on Thursday evening aimed at raising $500,000. Hosts said Friday raised substantially more. The former vice president under Barack Obama entered the race Thursday, declaring the “soul of this nation” at stake under the Trump administration. He’s already scheduled a May 8 fundraiser in Los Angeles at the home of James Costos, Obama’s ambassador to Spain. Co-hosts include Richard Blum, the husband of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein; movie mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg; and other top Obama and Hillary Clinton donors.

u.s .
women
elections
joe biden
donald trump


Not so fast: Trump's Alaska drilling study slammed by U.S. wildlife regulator

Abstract: WASHINGTON - The Trump administration failed to adequately consider oil spills, climate change and the welfare of polar bears in its expedited study of proposed drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, according to comments published by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The unusually harsh criticism from federal wildlife regulators could deal a blow to one of the most high-profile items in President Donald Trump’s energy agenda, and reflects the pitfalls of the administration’s drive to speed up big projects with quicker, shorter environmental studies. The Interior Department wants to hold its first lease sale of at least 400,000 acres (160,000 hectares) in ANWR, America’s largest wildlife sanctuary, later this year, but could face lawsuits if its permitting process is flawed. The Fish & Wildlife Service said the ANWR Coastal Plain draft environmental impact study (EIS) failed to include oil spill response plans, analyze the effects of climate change on the Arctic, or ensure that surveys of polar bear denning habitats are required. The Interior subagency also listed dozens of other information gaps in its 59 pages of comments and implied that the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management wrote the study without properly consulting wildlife regulators. “The Service has managed the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and its resources for several decades and has information and expertise that is valuable in formulating a final EIS that can withstand the scrutiny of legal sufficiency,” wrote the agency’s Alaska director, Gregory Sikanie. The Fish & Wildlife Service declined to provide further comment. The Interior Department said its Bureau of Land Management had received thousands of comments on the draft study, all of which would be considered. “BLM has an obligation to consider all of these comments-including those from its sister agency (Fish & Wildlife) — and anticipates they will inform the Final EIS in multiple ways,” spokeswoman Molly Block said in an email. BLM completed the draft environmental impact study at the end of December, after Trump expressed an interest in opening the zone to drilling. The comment period ended on March 13. The study was among the first of its kind since Trump’s Interior Department in 2017 issued an order that assessments under the National Environmental Policy Act be completed within one year and be no longer than 150 pages. NEPA studies under past administrations have taken years and filled out thousands of pages, a major source of frustration for drillers, miners and other industries that argue the process creates unnecessary delays. Experts said the effort to streamline environmental permitting, however, could also cause problems. “Imposing the timelines and page limits will mean significant impacts go unanalyzed. Tribal consultation and coordination will likely get shortchanged, important scientific data will not be considered, and the public’s ability to provide meaningful input on alternative courses of action will be compromised,” said Geoff Haskett, former Fish & Wildlife Service director for Alaska and president of the National Wildlife Refuge Association. ANWR covers some 19 million acres (7.7 million hectares) of Alaska’s North Slope, home to bears, caribou, lynx and musk ox, and overlying around 16 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil reserves, according to federal officials. It has been a lightning rod of contention between energy companies that want to develop it and conservationists that want to protect it since the 1970s.

pollution nature gas oil endangered arctic


Sri Lankan ex-defense chief Gotabaya Rajapaksa says he will run for president, tackle radical Islam

Abstract: COLOMBO - Sri Lanka’s former wartime defense chief, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, said on Friday he would run for president in elections this year and would stop the spread of Islamist extremism by rebuilding the intelligence service and surveilling citizens. Gotabaya, as he is popularly known, is the younger brother of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the two led the country to a crushing defeat of separatist Tamil rebels a decade ago after a 26-year civil war. More than 250 people were killed in bomb attacks on hotels and churches on Easter Sunday that the government has blamed on Islamist militants and that Islamic State has claimed responsibility for. Gotabaya said the attacks could have been prevented if the island’s current government had not dismantled the intelligence network and extensive surveillance capabilities that he built up during the war and later on. “Because the government was not prepared, that’s why you see a panic situation,” he said in an interview with Reuters. Gotabaya said he would be a candidate “100 percent,” firming up months of speculation that he plans to run in the elections, which are due by December. He was critical of the government’s response to the bombings. Since the attacks, the government has struggled to provide clear information about how they were staged, who was behind them and how serious the threat is from Islamic State to the country. On Friday, President Maithripala Sirisena said the government led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe should take responsibility for the attacks and that prior information warning of attacks was not shared with him. Wickremesinghe said earlier he was not advised about warnings that came from India’s spy service either, presenting a picture of a government still in disarray since the two leaders fell out last October. Gotabaya is facing lawsuits in the United States, where he is a dual citizen, over his role in the war and afterward. The South Africa-based International Truth and Justice Project, in partnership with U.S. law firm Hausfeld, filed a civil case in California this month against Gotabaya on behalf of a Tamil torture survivor. In a separate case, Ahimsa Wickrematunga, the daughter of murdered investigative editor Lasantha Wickrematunga, filed a complaint for damages in the same U.S. District Court in California for allegedly instigating and authorizing the extrajudicial killing of her father. Gotabaya said the cases were baseless and only a “little distraction” as he prepared for the election campaign. He said he had asked U.S. authorities to renounce his citizenship and that process was nearly done, clearing the way for his candidacy. He said that if he won, his immediate focus would to be tackle the threat from radical Islam and to rebuild the security setup. “It’s a serious problem, you have to go deep into the groups, dismantle the networks,” he said, adding he would give the military a mandate to collect intelligence from the ground and to mount surveillance of groups turning to extremism. Gotabaya said that a military intelligence cell he had set up in 2011 of 5,000 people, some of them with Arabic language skills and that was tracking the bent toward extremist ideology some of the Islamist groups were taking in eastern Sri Lanka was disbanded by the current government. “They did not give priority to national security, there was a mix-up. They were talking about ethnic reconciliation, then they were talking about human rights issues, they were talking about individual freedoms,” he said. President Sirisena’s government sought to forge reconciliation with minority Tamils and close the wounds of the war and launched investigations into allegations of rights abuse and torture against military officers. Officials said many of these secret intelligence cells were disbanded because they faced allegations of abuse, including torture and extrajudicial killings. Muslims make up nearly 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s population of 22 million, which is predominantly Buddhist.

religion
terrorism
sri lanka
ethnicity
mahinda rajapaksa
mass murder
maithripala sirisena
gotobaya rajapaksa
sri lanka attacks


North Korea turns to diplomats after Kim sidelines point man in nuclear talks

Abstract: SEOUL - The demotion of Kim Yong Chol, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s point man for nuclear talks with the United States, signals that long-time diplomats who had been sidelined from the process will return to center-stage, diplomatic sources in Seoul and regional experts said. The hawkish former general and spymaster was recently removed from a key party post, taking the fall for the failed Hanoi summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump. Kim Yong Chol remains a formidable force in Pyongyang but there is no word whether he has been given a new role in the ultrasecretive North Korean power structure. He did not accompany Kim Jong Un to Russia this week for a summit with President Vladimir Putin, the North Korean leader’s first international foray since his Hanoi meeting with Trump in February ended in disarray. Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho and his deputy, Choe Son Hui, flanked the North Korean leader at the meeting in Vladivostok, including riding in his car, a highly unusual display of proximity. “The Hanoi summit damaged the North’s long-held principle that its leader never makes an error, so they have to shift the blame,” said Kim Hyun-wook, a professor at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy in Seoul, referring to Kim Yong Chol’s demotion. “This may not mean an immediate shift in their U.S. strategy, but the diplomats will likely take the initiative to contain the fallout from Hanoi and promote diplomacy with various countries.” Kim Yong Chol was beside Kim through the last 12 months, including for his three meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, two with Chinese President Xi Jinping and the two Trump summits, in Singapore and Hanoi. But for those who have known him as a hard-line military general, Kim Yong Chol never seemed comfortable with the art of negotiating the roll back of his country’s nuclear program in exchange for concessions from the United States. Kim avoided getting into details at negotiating sessions, instead leaving it to diplomats to build strategy, two diplomatic sources in Seoul familiar with the North’s diplomatic engagements said. Even then, he refused to yield control, one of the sources said. “Whether or not he understood the issues, he kept a tight grip on the negotiations. It seemed like: ‘Over my dead body I’m going to let Ri Yong Ho take over,'” the source said, referring to the North’s foreign minister. The collapse of the Hanoi summit was a major setback for Kim Jong Un, who, several sources said, was led to believe by hawkish aides like Kim Yong Chol that he was about to win sought-after sanctions relief in return for a promise to partially scrap nuclear facilities. Cheong Seong-chang, a senior fellow at South Korea’s Sejong Institute, said the demands Kim made of Trump in Hanoi had the hallmarks of the “best scenario” strategy advocated by hawks like Kim Yong Chol. “But it turned out to be a scenario that the United States could never accept,” Cheong said. “Kim Jong Un cutting his reliance on Kim Yong Chol is a positive sign for the negotiations.” While Ri has gradually been promoted under Kim, the influence of Vice Foreign Minister Choe has surged since the Hanoi summit, officials and North Korea experts said. She was a junior player on the North’s U.S. diplomacy team in the 1990s and became the first vice foreign minister and a member of the powerful State Affairs Commission this month. She held several news conferences after the collapse of the Hanoi summit, playing the rare role of conveying Kim Jong Un’s thinking. Thae Yong Ho, former North Korean deputy ambassador in London who defected to the South in 2016, said Choe has joined an inner circle of women close to Kim Jong Un, including his sister and his wife. “Now she’s the real spokeswoman for Kim Jong Un,” Thae told a forum hosted by the Asan Institute of Policy Studies on Wednesday in Seoul. “How can Choe read his mind? Because she has access.” A diplomatic source also said Choe appears to have built rapport with Kim Yo Jong, Kim’s sister who is also a senior party official, which contributed to her recent promotion. “We have to remember that (Foreign Minister) Ri and Choe are not only North Korea’s best people for the job of dealing with the U.S.,” said Michael Madden, a North Korea leadership expert at the U.S.-based Stimson Center. “But they both have known the leader since he was a small boy so there is a dynamic of their wanting to see Kim Jong Un thrive and succeed.”

u.s .
north korea
kim jong un
nuclear weapons
south korea
north korea nuclear crisis
donald trump
moon jae-in
kim-trump summit


Trump says U.S. paid no money to North Korea in Otto Warmbier release

Abstract: WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said the United States did not pay any money to North Korea as it sought the release of Otto Warmbier, a day after a report said Trump had approved a $2 million bill from Pyongyang for the American student’s care. “No money was paid to North Korea for Otto Warmbier, not two Million Dollars, not anything else,” Trump wrote in a tweet. The Washington Post reported on Thursday that Trump had approved payment of a $2 million bill from Pyongyang to cover its care of the comatose college student, who was held in a North Korean prison for 17 months until June 2017. Warmbier, a University of Virginia student from Ohio visiting North Korea as a tourist, was imprisoned in January 2016. He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for allegedly trying to steal an item with a propaganda slogan from his hotel, North Korean state media said. Warmbier died six days after his release from North Korea. An Ohio coroner said Warmbier died from a lack of oxygen and blood to his brain. North Korea, which has dismissed claims that it tortured the student, blamed food poisoning and a sleeping pill. The Treasury Department received the bill from North Korea and it remained unpaid through 2017, the Post reported. It was not clear whether the administration paid the invoice later. Trump’s tweet did not address whether any agreement had been made and representatives for the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Asked whether it was accurate to say that no money was paid to North Korea in the Warmbier case, a State Department spokeswoman said by email: “We decline to comment.” The Treasury Department did not respond to a request for comment. The Post said an invoice was handed to then State Department envoy Joseph Yun hours before Warmbier was flown out of Pyongyang in a coma on June 13, 2017. The U.S. envoy, who was sent to retrieve Warmbier, signed an agreement to pay the medical bill on instructions passed down from Trump, the Post reported, citing two unidentified people familiar with the situation. Yun, who has since retired from the State Department, told CNN on Thursday the United States did not pay any ransom for American prisoners held by Pyongyang while he was the special representative for North Korea. He left the post in March 2018. Last December, a U.S. court ordered North Korea to pay $501 million in damages for the torture and death of Warmbier. In his tweet on Friday morning, Trump defended his handling of hostage negotiations and slammed efforts by his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama. Speaking to reporters later on Friday, Trump said “that was a fake news report that money was paid.” “I haven’t paid money for any hostage,” he said. “We don’t pay money for hostages.” In his tweet Trump noted that the Obama administration had swapped five Taliban prisoners to secure the release of Bowe Bergdahl, a U.S. Army sergeant who has since been dishonorably discharged. He accused Obama officials of paying ransom money in exchange for the return of four detained Americans in 2016, a charge the Obama administration has denied. The Obama administration had said the payment of $400 million to Iran settled a long-standing Iranian claim at the Hague that coincided with four detained Americans’ return but was not a ransom. Obama had also defended the deal that led to Bergdahl’s release and later changed the way the U.S. government handles cases in which Americans are detained by militant groups following a six-month review. A spokeswoman for Obama’s office had no immediate comment on Trump’s tweet.

u.s .
north korea
donald trump
otto warmbier


Hong Kong museum documenting Tiananmen Square massacre reopens ahead of anniversary

Abstract: HONG KONG - A museum documenting the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has reopened in Hong Kong after a three-year hiatus, marking the 30th anniversary of the bloody crackdown on a pro-democracy protest. “The reopening of this June 4th Museum on the 30th anniversary is a clear demonstration of our commitment to uphold memory, pursue justice and hope for the future of our country,” Albert Ho, head of a group that operates the museum, said Friday, referring to the date the military crackdown is remembered by. The museum showcases relics from the incident, including a helmet worn by Chinese student Wang Nan when he was shot in the head by troops, and a bullet fragment removed from another student, Zhang Jian, who recently died. Other items on display include photographs, newspaper clippings and declassified government documents related to the incident. The museum first opened in 2014 in a commercial building but was forced to close two years later amid legal disputes with the site’s owner. Its new location, also in a commercial building in the Mong Kok district of Kowloon, could face similar challenges from the building’s owner. The museum is operated by the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, which holds annual memorials for the hundreds of mainly student protesters who died after soldiers began the crackdown on the night of June 3, 1989, and later opened fire on protesters in Tiananmen Square. “We cannot lose sight of the past and close eyes to injustice in the past, because if we did not remember the past, we would lose sight of the future,” Ho said. “We will continue … to call for vindication of the student movement and … to bring those responsible to justice.” Cheung Wing-fai, a 60-year-old former teacher who was visiting the museum, called it “meaningful,” because Hong Kong is the only place in China to host such a site. “I hope (the museum) will continue (operate) so that people who want to know history can come, no matter how differently people think of the crackdown,” he said. Before the museum reopened, about 20 people had staged protests at the new site for days, calling for its expulsion on the grounds that it would draw too many visitors and become a disturbance to other proprietors in the building. Ho said police are investigating after the museum was vandalized about two weeks before the reopening. He believes the attack was politically motivated.

china
hong kong
history
rights
protests
tiananmen square


Hong Kong bookseller flees to Taiwan fearing extradition

Abstract: TAIPEI - A Hong Kong bookseller who disappeared into Chinese custody for half a year said Friday he has fled to Taiwan after the financial hub announced plans to approve extraditions to the mainland. Lam Wing-kee was one of five publishers selling gossip-filled tomes on China’s leaders who vanished at the end of 2015, resurfacing in Chinese custody and making televised confessions. He was allowed back to Hong Kong in June 2016 on condition that he pick up a hard drive listing the bookstore’s customers and return to the mainland. Instead he skipped bail and went public with explosive testimony detailing how he was blindfolded by mainland police after crossing the border at Shenzhen and spent months being interrogated. Following his ordeal, 64-year-old Lam had previously said he wanted to move to Taiwan, which does not have an extradition agreement with China. But he said his plans were sped up after Hong Kong’s government this year announced the controversial move to allow extraditions to the Chinese mainland. “Right now Hong Kong is not safe for me anymore,” he said in Taipei, saying he had flown to the Taiwanese capital the day before. Lam said he was “enjoying the air of freedom and reading some free books,” adding that he hopes to work for a friend and is currently in talks to open a bookstore on the self-ruling democratic island. Because Lam skipped bail he is still technically wanted on the Chinese mainland. Hong Kong currently has no extradition agreement with China. The city has a separate legal system through the “one country, two systems” deal struck between Britain and China. Historically the city has balked at mainland extraditions because of the opacity of China’s criminal justice system and its liberal use of the death penalty. But earlier this year, Hong Kong’s government announced plans to overhaul its extradition rules, allowing the transfer of fugitives with mainland China on a “case-basis” for the first time. The legislation has been winding its way through the city’s parliament. Lam said he felt he could not take the risk of staying. “You don’t know what kind of excuses or charges they will use to put you on the wanted list,” he said, adding the law “puts every Hong Konger in a very dangerous position.” He said he felt Taiwan was a safer bet because it “really has rule of law.” Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council told local media Lam had been granted a one month business stay and that if he wanted to stay longer he would need to submit the relevant applications. The planed extradition changes in Hong Kong have sparked large protests and mounting alarm within the city’s business and legal communities who fear it will hammer the financial hub’s international appeal and tangle people up in China’s opaque courts. A new protest is planned for Sunday.

china
hong kong
taiwan
rights
extradition


Sri Lankan forces raid Islamist hideout; 15 dead after three cornered bombers blow selves up

Abstract: COLOMBO - Fifteen people including six children have died during a Sri Lankan security forces operation in the aftermath of the Easter attacks, as three cornered suicide bombers blew themselves up and others were shot dead, police said Saturday. The three men set off explosives, also killing three women and six children inside what was believed to a jihadi safe house near the eastern town of Kalmunai on Friday night. “Three other men, also believed to be suicide bombers, were found dead outside the house,” police said in a statement, adding that they had been shot. Police backed by troops exchanged fire with those inside the house for over an hour, a military official said, adding that the bodies were recovered early Saturday following a search operation. Security forces have stepped up their searches for extremists after the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the suicide attacks on three churches and three luxury hotels, which killed least 253 people and wounded hundreds more. The joint operation between the police and the army was carried out following a tip-off that those responsible were holed up in a built-up area of Kalmunai, 370 kilometers (230 miles) east of the capital. There were no casualties among the security forces, the police said. The government has admitted major intelligence lapses, although Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he was unaware of any warnings ahead of the attacks, in a sign of the rift between him and President Maithripala Sirisena. “If we had any inkling, and we had not taken action, I would have handed in my resignation immediately,” he told the BBC. “But what do you do when you are out of the loop?” Sirisena tried to sack Wickremesinghe last year, and experts believe the feud could have played a part in Sri Lanka’s failure to act on intelligence warnings given weeks before the attacks. Friday’s clashes came hours after the security forces raided a nearby location where they believe Islamist radicals recorded a video pledge to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi before carrying out the Easter bombings. Police said they found an IS flag and uniforms similar to those worn by the eight fighters for the video before they launched the attacks. IS released the video two days after the attacks. The head of a local extremist group, Zahran Hashim, who appeared in the video, was killed at one of the Colombo hotels targeted, the Shangri-La. He was accompanied by a second bomber identified as Ilham Ibrahim. Authorities had been desperately searching for Hashim after naming his group, National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ), as the perpetrators of the attack, but announced Friday he had been killed in the hotel bombing. DNA tests are being done on a severed head to conclusively establish that it is Hashim’s, officials said. The government is on the defensive over its failure to heed a foreign intelligence warning that NTJ was planning suicide bombings on churches. Police chief Pujith Jayasundara became the second top official to resign over the blunders Friday, after top defence ministry official Hemasiri Fernando also stepped down. Sri Lanka’s Catholic leader, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, has said he felt “betrayed” by the government’s failure to act on the warnings. Wickremesinghe apologized on Friday. “We take collective responsibility and apologize to our fellow citizens for our failure to protect victims of these tragic events,” the PM wrote on Twitter. The military have poured troops onto the streets to back up police as they search for suspects using newly granted powers under a state of emergency. At least 94 people are in custody, including a man believed to be the father of two of the bombers. “We now have info that there are about 140 people in Sri Lanka linked to the Islamic State. We can and we will eradicate all of them very soon,” Sirisena said Friday, announcing new legislation to ban extremist groups. Dozens of foreigners died in the attacks and the government has said it expects the number of overseas tourists to fall by 30 percent this year, at a cost of $1.5 billion in revenues. Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said the island — which depends on tourism as a cornerstone of its economy — could take up to two years to fully recover. The U.S. State Department on Friday escalated its travel warning for Sri Lanka and ordered the departure of all school-age family members of U.S. government employees. Terrorists “may attack with little or no warning,” it said in a statement that advised citizens to reconsider traveling to the island. Several nations including Israel, Australia and Britain have already warned their citizens against visiting Sri Lanka in the wake of the attacks.

religion
terrorism
sri lanka
mass murder
sri lanka attacks


Japan begins 10-day Golden Week holiday ahead of Imperial succession

Abstract: An unprecedented 10-day Golden Week holiday started Saturday ahead of the Imperial succession, with bullet train stations, airports and expressways crowded with travelers heading to their hometowns, major cities and overseas destinations. From the morning, there were long lines at check-in and luggage drop counters at Tokyo’s Haneda airport as the rush of travelers leaving the capital during the holiday peaked, while the occupancy rate of nonreserved cars of many bullet trains topped 100 percent. With Emperor Akihito’s abdication set on April 30 and the ascent of Crown Prince Naruhito the following day, areas around the Imperial Palace, where related ceremonies will be held — and other popular spots in Japan — attracted a wave of tourists. “This will be a good memory as I wanted to come here before the Imperial era changes (from Heisei to Reiwa),” said Junko Suzuki, 48, a housewife from Akita Prefecture. Iichi Shimada, 61, a company employee who was on a one-day bus tour from Yokohama said, “I hope Reiwa will be an era without wars or natural disasters, as the Heisei Era saw many disasters.” Visitors crowded other tourist spots as well. At the iconic Tokyo Skytree, Taishin Kanno, a physiotherapist from the city of Fukushima, said, “Since I started working, I didn’t think I can rest for so long like this.” “It is the first day of the 10-day vacation, and speaking of Tokyo, I thought a visit to Skytree would be a start,” said the 23-year-old, who was visiting the 634-meter tower with a friend. The number of vacationers from Japan traveling domestically and overseas is expected to reach a record high during the extended Golden Week vacation, according to a major travel agency. Golden Week — running through May 6 — has been lengthened to 10 days this year for the first time to celebrate the Imperial succession. Travel agency JTB Corp. said 24.67 million people are set to travel between April 25 and May 5, up 1.2 percent from the same period last year, with 24.01 million on domestic trips and 662,000 going overseas, both record highs. While many people will use the break to take longer vacations than usual, travel packages celebrating the Crown Prince’s ascension and the start of the new era next Wednesday — after Emperor Akihito’s abdication the previous day — are popular. Nippon Travel Agency Co. said it has sold out a three-day tour from Osaka to Izumo Grand Shrine, a Shinto shrine in Shimane Prefecture historically associated with the royal family, to celebrate the end of the Heisei Era and beginning of Reiwa. The agency has also received many inquiries for its May 4 day trip from travelers who want to join other well-wishers when they will be allowed entry into the Imperial Palace to congratulate the new Emperor. “There is a huge momentum for both domestic and overseas trips,” a spokesman for the agency said. Internationally, trips to nearby destinations such as South Korea and Taiwan, and relatively distant ones such as Hawaii and Europe are popular. Myanmar has become an attractive destination for Japanese tourists after it began granting them visa-free entry for a year from last October. Among domestic trips, the operator of the Hokkaido Shinkansen saw the first year-on-year rise in its seat reservation for the Golden Week holiday since the opening of the service in 2016. Travelers can get from Tokyo Station to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto Station in Hokkaido — where cherry blossom blooms latest in Japan — in less than four hours, after a timetable revision in March. “We expect an increase in passengers as (the holidays) overlap with the cherry blossom season” in Hokkaido, an official at Hokkaido Railway Co. said.


Japanese police hunt for man after knives found near Prince Hisahito's desk at junior high school

Abstract: Two knives were found near the desk of Prince Hisahito, the 12-year-old grandson of Emperor Akihito, at his junior high school, with security camera footage showing a man wanted in connection with the incident trespassing on school grounds, police said Saturday. The footage shows a helmeted middle-aged man dressed in blue entering Ochanomizu University Junior High School on Friday around noon, according to the police. Prince Hisahito, who began classes this month, was not in the classroom, which was empty at the time when the knives are believed to have been left there. The Metropolitan Police Department is searching for the man, who is suspected of disguising himself as a construction worker to get in to leave the knives — thought to be fruit knives. The incident came just ahead of next week’s Imperial succession, which will make the young prince second in line to the Chrysanthemum Throne. Prince Akishino, father of Prince Hisahito, will be first in the line after the succession. There was a seating chart in the classroom and the Metropolitan Police Department suspects that someone who saw it identified where the prince sits, according to investigative sources. The hilts of the knives were attached by adhesive tape to a stick, the sources said, and the combination was placed across the prince’s desk and the one next to it. The blades of the knives were painted pink, they added. Whenever Prince Hisahito leaves his residence, he is guarded by police officers but at school they stand by on campus and do not accompany him inside buildings or his classrooms, according to an Imperial Household Agency official. Students of the women’s university, which is on the same campus, were surprised that the incident occurred despite tight security. Guards at the premise’s two main gates have always checked the identities of visitors and asked students to show their cards, according to a student attending its graduate school. “I have never worried about safety. I can’t believe such an incident happened,” said the 23-year-old student. “It is difficult for an outsider to freely enter the campus,” a senior student at the university also said.

royalty
emperor akihito
prince hisahito
imperial family
police
emperor naruhito


Immigration Services Agency to toughen Japanese-language school standards

Abstract: The Immigration Services Agency plans to strengthen its eligibility standards for Japanese-language schools, it was learned Saturday. The move comes as Japanese-language schools have been under fire for accepting many foreign students whose purpose is to work in Japan. The number of Japanese-language schools recognized by the government grew 1.6 times over the past five years to 749 as of April 2. The government late last year outlined plans to improve the quality of Japanese-language schools as part of efforts to bring in more foreign workers to the country. Under the agency’s plan, the requirement for the average student attendance rate would be revised from the current 50 percent or more in a month to 70 percent or more in a period of seven months. Schools failing to meet the requirement would not be allowed to accept foreign students. In addition, 70 percent or more of students who complete courses would have to proceed to universities or to certify through outside tests that their Japanese-language ability is above daily conversation levels. Schools failing to meet the threshold for three consecutive years would not be able to accept foreign students. Japanese-language schools currently undergo eligibility checks only when they accept foreign students for the first time. Under the agency’s plan, they would be required to undergo checks every year and report outcomes regularly. The agency would require schools to be aware where their foreign students work part time. Schools would be obligated to report to the agency about the part-time jobs of foreign students whose monthly attendance rate falls below 50 percent.

foreign workers
japanese language schools


Japan's internet took on a life of its own during the Heisei Era

Abstract: The story of a recent online phenomenon offers a great snapshot of internet culture in Japan during the Heisei Era (1989-2019). Twitter user @Ninjamaaaaaan posted a blurry photo of a pooch in motion, with its tail swooping in front of its face. It looked vaguely like the canine in the image was throwing a haymaker with a particularly jacked-up arm. More than 48,000 retweets later, right-hook dog has taken on a whole new existence. Users across the internet created fan art , latte designs and 3D printed models . Soon enough other famous dog characters were getting the proteined-up treatment, while others drew comics . A buff fox was soon uncovered . Naturally the two squared off . Given the pace of internet culture in 2019, right-hook dog isn’t going to be the final meme to spread before the Reiwa Era officially starts (who knows what animal is enjoying its time in the digital spotlight as you read this?). However, it does serve as a nice note to go out on when talking about online life in Japan over the past few decades. What started as a seemingly innocuous photo mutated into a multi-layered thing netizens riffed on and mashed up with other pop-culture staples. The only difference now is just how widespread this stuff can get. As was the case with the early origins of the internet everywhere, the Japanese web started as a series of small sites and message boards that were viewed as some kind of weird alternative space by the mainstream media. The bulletin board system 2channel (often referred to 2chan) launched in 1999. It exemplifies this well. Featuring a cluster of subforums devoted to all kinds of niches, it allowed multiple communities to form and a number of trends to emerge. The use of ASCII to create characters in the shape of cats (nicknamed Giko Cat ), for example, became an early mascot for the platform, which has gone on to appear in all kinds of other digital environments . Mainstream media treated these online communities in much the same way as they covered the world of otaku (geek) culture a decade earlier — as degenerates who were up to no good, with incidents such as a 17-year-old boy posting on 2chan that he planned to hijack a bus and then doing just that , with one person murdered in the process. There’s also the whole nationalism thing, with plenty of anger routinely leveled at other Asian countries and liberals in Japan. “The most typical communication style on 2chan is trading snarky commentary on specific kinds of source material,” Tokyo University professor Akihiro Kitada wrote in an essay titled “Japan’s Cynical Nationalism,” adding that this was aided by a shared knowledge of pop culture and the media. The attitude extended beyond just that board, too. One of the earliest large-scale internet trends (what would be a “meme” today) was Senkousha. What started as a legitimate robotics breakthrough for China in 2000 became the subject of ridicule after the site Samurai Damashi posted a sarcastic article about it in 2001 , mocking its “crotch cannon” and comparing it to Japanese robots. The post went viral, eventually becoming a real-life model , inspiring a fan-made video and multiple online games. The internet’s leaning toward nationalism comes through clearly in the joy taken in mocking China (though, to be fair, it isn’t a cosmetically pleasing robot). It’s also a shared joke for netizens, something traditional media would never touch. This shared culture defined early online communities. All this changed with “ Densha Otoko ,” the 2004 story told on 2chan’s “single man” forum about an awkward otaku-type falling for a woman he met on the train. Both an earnest love story and a reference-heavy thread loaded with self-deprecating jabs aimed at 2chan men, it crossed over into the mainstream, resulting in a book, movie and a theater production, among other things. It remains one of the most celebrated productions out of Japan in the 21st century, with plans for a Hollywood version ongoing . While online culture mostly remained within these zones over the next decade, more and more trends slipped over to the real world. Hatsune Miku started as a Nico Nico Douga superstar before turning into a mainstream force, for example. And then the internet just became part of regular culture in Japan. Today, it feels like almost everyone is on Twitter or Instagram or some other social media platform. Even message boards have just become another part of the ecosystem. Memes are now widespread and even pop up on morning TV shows. However, the way these memes mutate — as seen with right-hook dog — is still very much in line with how they played out early in the Heisei Era. Users are drawn to something strange, and then put their own spin on it or bounce it off other pop culture to create something new. This is now the norm for online discussion in Japan.

social media
japan pulse
heisei era
memes


Trains, planes and automobiles to celebrate Golden Week

Abstract: If you’re looking for some mundane distractions to get you through the holiday period, Shukan Taishu (May 6-13) has got just the thing. Its “Reiwa Commemorative Edition” introduces unusual rides. Okinawa, for example, sports an “Ostrich Land,” where you can hop a ride on the back of one of its giant birds. Not to be outdone, a park in Tochigi has camels for the same purpose, as does another in Chiba offering elephant rides. At Hakkeijima Sea Paradise in Yokohama, visitors from age 10 (who can prove they can swim for a distance of 25 meters) may emulate the “boy on a dolphin” theme and ride atop a friendly beluga whale. Two-wheeled Segway personal transporters are available for inexpensive rental at Showa Memorial Park in the city of Tachikawa. And, starting from 7 a.m., the first 100 visitors on a first-come, first-served basis are able to go aloft aboard a hot-air balloon at the Tokorozawa Aviation Memorial Park in Saitama Prefecture. Asahi Geino (April 25) rates the 31 most significant railroad developments of the Heisei Era (1989-2019). In first place was Japan Railways’ 1992 introduction of the Shinkansen’s 300 Nozomi limited express series, which shaved 19 minutes off the journey between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka, to just two hours and 30 minutes. After a decade of service, the model was phased out in 2012. In 2003, Okinawa Urban Monorail, Inc. finally brought rail service to the last of Japan’s 47 prefectures. While an extension is in the works, the two-car trains currently run between Naha Airport to Shuri, making 13 stops along its route. Readers are invited to watch a 27-minute “mid-air stroll” video in southern Okinawa by going to www.yui-rail.co.jp/navi/en . Meanwhile, travel agencies and airlines are reportedly milking this year’s extended holiday for all it is worth. Shukan Post (May 3-10) noted that a round-trip economy ticket between Tokyo’s Haneda airport and Paris’ Charles de Gaulle, departing from Japan on April 27, was priced at ¥446,060 — nearly four times the price of the same journey departing on May 11. For travelers hoping to visit the Notre-Dame Cathedral, the disappointment is palpable. “It offers a great view of the city from the tower and will be hard to replace,” sighed one tour operator. Travel agencies have been scrambling to divert visitors to alternate destinations. One strategy is to bus groups to another Notre-Dame — the 12th-century gothic cathedral at Chartres, 80 kilometers southwest of Paris, and impressive in its own right. Even staying at home and conducting a thorough spring cleaning might be worth your while. So says Shukan Gendai (April 27-May 4). After all, who knows — perhaps buried deep in the recesses of your desk or chest of drawers might be something for which eager collectors are willing to pay a princely sum. Specially minted coins are one item that has appreciated in value. Minoru Terada, a stamp and coin dealer in Tokyo’s Shinbashi district, tells the magazine that items with an original face value of ¥10,000 or higher, which were only sold in limited editions or by lottery, may have appreciated considerably. A set of gold, silver and bronze medals commemorating the 1970 Osaka World Exposition, for example, may bring in between ¥40,000 and ¥50,000 via net auction. Quarter-ounce South African gold Krugerrands, which were in high demand during the economic bubble period in the early 1990s, can also bring a high return. Other popular items include baseball cards bearing Giants superstar Shigeo Nagashima; first-generation Licca-chan dolls; and a complete first edition set of the 15-volume Doraemon comic series. A good-quality copy of the Dec. 15, 1976, issue of Weekly Myojo, sporting a cover photo of model-actress Chiaki Matsubara, is said to bring a whopping ¥67,000. Friday (May 3) profiles a 53-year-old Chiba resident who became annoyed when, on the morning of April 13, a railway crossing gate on the Keisei Line in the city of Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, got stuck in the lowered position. “I was in a hurry to get to work. I couldn’t cross the tracks and lost my temper,” Katsunori Nakano, a metal worker, told the police. Nakano was captured by a security camera using a saw to hack through the gate so he could drive across the tracks. The gate was replaced within two hours, but the train schedule was considerably disrupted in the interim. Nakano at the very least faces charges for destruction of private property, which carries a sentence of six to 12 months imprisonment, likely to be suspended for three years. The railway is also entitled to seek damages to recover its losses. A compensation of ¥300 to each of the estimated 10,000 passengers affected would exceed a not inconsiderable ¥3 million. We can be grateful at least, Friday remarks, that a serious tragedy was averted. Over the 30 years and four months of the Heisei Era, Weekly Playboy published 1,453 issues. Its issue of May 13 ran glossy thumbnails of every one of those issues, from Jan. 18, 1989, to the current one. It also took a head count of its most popular cover girls. In first place, with 57 appearances, was the much imitated and still active AKB48 female entertainment troupe. The most popular single female models were (in descending order, with number of cover appearances in parentheses) Yuko Ogura (21); Kasumi Nakane (20); Misako Yasuda (17); Yoko Kumada (16); and Yumiko Takahashi and Aya Ueto (both with 15). For its final issue of the Heisei Era, Weekly Playboy also offered a tongue-in-cheek glimpse of things to come in the form of a “Future Chronological Table of Sex” — which the writer promises will be “bright indeed!” Some highlights include the year 2025, when 3D printers will have the capability to precisely reproduce the physical attributes of one’s lover, and also feature “touch feedback.” By 2034, a boom in commercial sex will have begun harnessing virtual reality. A year later, robots will go on the market that combine house cleaning functions with sexual services. The table stops at 2050, when the writer predicts that marriage between humans and robots will have been legalized.


Keeping up appearances in the workplace in Japan

Abstract: Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan Inc., which employs about 17,000 people, announced earlier this month it would allow office workers to come to work in jeans and sneakers. Factory workers in the company will still be required to wear uniforms and sales staff will still be expected to don business suits as per regulations in the existing dress code but, for everyone else (about 3,700 workers), the choice of clothing is optional — or, optional up to a point. Polo shirts are OK and women are able to wear sleeveless tops, but the new regulations prohibit shorts, T-shirts, sandals or ripped jeans. In fact, the company released photographic examples of what it calls sawayaka (refreshing) style, a play on the beverage maker’s advertising catch copy, which still incorporates suit jackets. The purpose, according to an article that was published in the Asahi Shimbun , is to encourage individuality, which will in turn increase communication among employees and boost productivity. In other words, there’s sound business logic behind the relaxation of rules, which, if you think about it, isn’t much of a change. There are still rules, they’re just different from the previous ones. Work clothing, meaning apparel considered suitable for specific kinds of jobs, divides between social consensus and practicality. Jobs that require interaction with the public or persons outside one’s immediate workplace often require semi-formal attire that reflects an employee’s seriousness and respect for others. For certain blue-collar labor, the clothing should provide comfort and safety, but practicality can also mean alleviating the need for workers to come up with something appropriate every day. Business suits and uniforms take the uncertainty out of preparing for work. This way of thinking was canonized by Steve Jobs, whose preference for blue jeans and black turtlenecks was not a sartorial preference, but rather a time-saving strategy. The Asahi Shimbun article about the new dress guidelines at Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan carries a sardonic aftertaste, especially in light of how much coverage the newspaper has given to the matter of socially acceptable appearance this year. The newspaper’s obsession seemed to start with a verdict handed down by the Osaka District Court on Jan. 16 that found in favor of two Osaka Municipal Subway drivers who sued the city for giving them a negative evaluation because of their facial hair, which has been forbidden under rules enforced since Toru Hashimoto was mayor, the idea being that the transportation bureau was a public organization and thus personnel who were the face of the city must be presentable. One of the drivers had a goatee before the new rules went into effect and refused to shave it off. The court deemed the rule unconstitutional. Then-Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura, insisting the Osaka Municipal Subway is not a “private club,” vowed to appeal. Individuals are guaranteed certain rights by the Constitution, but how far can one take those rights? This case addressed men whose transgression was tame. It’s not as if they showed up to work in cargo shorts and whiskers down to their chest. Facial hair is the exception rather than the rule at workplaces in Japan and so what’s problematic is not forbidden modes of appearance, but rather mandated ones. A March 29 Asahi Shimbun article examined the issue of high heels. A woman named Yumi Ishikawa bristled when the funeral services company she worked for sent her to a firm that said she had to wear pumps with 5-centimeter heels, which she finds painful. In response she referenced the Twitter hashtag #KuToo, a pun on kutsu , which can mean “shoes” and “pain” (depending on whether a longer vowel sound is used at the end), that also suggests the anti-sexual harassment #MeToo movement. Her post on Twitter was retweeted more than 30,000 times. It’s easy to understand why a woman would not want to spend a whole work day in high heels. What was strange about the article is that the reporter felt it necessary to include a detailed history of high heels that framed the issue as one of gender discrimination and, while there is certainly an element of that, the more immediate problem is discomfort, meaning social consensus and practicality are at odds with each other. A similar issue that more clearly reveals sexism is whether women must wear makeup on the job. A March 6 Asahi Shimbun article examined Virgin Atlantic’s decision to no longer oblige female cabin attendants to wear makeup, though, as with the Coca-Cola dress code, it was discussed as a business decision: Flight attendants could save time. Nothing was said about the freedom to not wear makeup. The Asahi Shimbun’s fascination with the topic springs from the tension between self-expression and the desire to belong, so the tone of an April 11 article about the entrance ceremony for new Meiji University students was one of concern. Almost all the 4,000 or so freshmen who attended the April 7 ceremony at the Nippon Budokan arena in Tokyo were wearing black or dark blue suits, even though there were no dress guidelines. One 19-year-old woman said, “I don’t like to stand out.” Professor Daisuke Tano of Konan University traced this phenomenon to the late 1990s and early 2000s, when post-university job searches were difficult. In order to boost their chances, students bought conservatively dark “recruit suits.” Freshmen, who assume they’ll need such suits when they look for a job down the line, buy them early for the entrance ceremony. Some universities seem as alarmed with this trend as the Asahi Shimbun is. International Christian University sent out a notice specifically saying that freshmen did not have to wear suits. However, it was apparel retailers who came up with the recruit suit concept, not to mention other sales campaigns that take advantage of a target demographic’s desire to blend in. A separate Asahi Shimbun article described how girls now demand expensive hakama outfits for their elementary school graduation ceremonies. The message here isn’t the loss of individuality, but the power of marketing. If businesses can influence consumers before adolescence, they’ve got them for life.


Japan's hospitals scramble to secure doctors during 10-day Golden Week

Abstract: Hospitals have been scrambling to secure enough doctors during the unprecedented Golden Week holiday period that began Saturday, which was extended to 10 days to accommodate the Imperial succession. By hiring doctors to work temporarily, many medical institutions have sought to give their regular physicians days off as the medical sector, along with other industries, aims to change the notorious culture of long work hours. However, some hospitals in rural areas have given up plans for temporary recruitment and are asking their own doctors to work longer instead. M. Stage Co., a medical personnel resource service company based in Tokyo, said that as of April 22 it had received 4,538 requests to dispatch doctors between April 27 and May 6, about 800 more than what it received during last year’s Golden Week period. While medical institutions usually seek doctors who can attend to inpatients during the holiday period, there is more demand this year for those who can see outpatients, according to the company. “Many medical institutions have secured personnel well ahead of the holidays, but those that are still short have decided to offer higher pay,” said an M. Stage official. Japan enacted a law to have one-off public holidays that will stretch the length of Golden Week this year. The government hopes that the added holidays will help the nation celebrate the enthronement of Crown Prince Naruhito on May 1, following the abdication of his father, Emperor Akihito, the previous day, and serve as a way to address the country’s long work hours. The move has not been entirely welcomed though, because many businesses including banks and nursery schools will be closed during the period, and the longer holiday season can mean longer work hours and a disruption of work-life balance for those working in service industries. “I wonder if the government thoroughly considered the impact on the medical front,” said an official at a hospital in Hokkaido. Hospitals in rural areas are chronically short of staff and have struggled to find replacements. The Hokkaido hospital itself began looking for substitute doctors to fill night shifts during Golden Week but the effort was in vain. Consequently, it decided to have its staff physicians work longer to fill overnight shifts, according to the official. In Tokyo, Hamadayama Hospital in Suginami Ward, which conducts well over 1,000 orthopedic surgeries a year, has hired two doctors to work temporarily during the holidays. They will lend support to the hospital’s seven full-time doctors so that it can open some of its departments for four days during the vacation period and see patients who must come in for treatment at least once a week. “We wanted staff physicians to take days off as much as possible, as we are urged to reform the way they work,” said an official at the hospital. Japan has introduced a labor reform law in a bid to change long-held working behaviors, setting a legal cap on overtime work and implementing an equal pay for equal work principle. Starting this month, major firms will be punished if they violate the overtime work cap of 100 hours per month and up to 720 hours per year.


METI hatches plan to build Japanese-style 'Broadway' in Tokyo

Abstract: The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has started discussing with private companies the idea of developing a theater district in Tokyo like Broadway in New York to attract more tourists to the capital. On Broadway and in London’s West End, high-quality musicals and plays are performed in many theaters clustered near each other. This has turned the areas into major tourism hubs, keeping nearby dining establishments busy well into the night. The theaters in Tokyo, on the other hand, are fewer in number and scattered around the capital. Tokyo also lacks the high-quality entertainment found on stages in New York and London. Tourists also have difficulty getting information about theatrical performances and thus cannot purchase tickets smoothly. “No show-business model has been established in Tokyo,” a person familiar with the matter said. Under the initiative, ways to develop facilities and sell tickets more easily will be considered with the parties involved, including travel agencies, informed sources said. There are also proposals to highlight performances of traditional Japanese arts, such as kabuki and wadaiko , a type of drumming, they added.


732 problematic child-on-child sex cases logged at Japanese care facilities in fiscal 2017: survey

Abstract: There were 732 cases of problematic sex-related conduct between children involving 1,371 disadvantaged individuals at care facilities in fiscal 2017, a welfare ministry survey said Friday. In the government’s first fact-finding survey on the matter, the ministry will analyze the background of the cases to draft preventive measures. The sexual conduct included both specific acts, such as sexual intercourse, and ambiguous acts, namely sexual activity devoid of physical contact, such as the taking of nude pictures. Experts on the issue are concerned about the potential for sexual violence at such facilities, given the residents’ difficult backgrounds, which may include parental abuse. Although the child welfare law stipulates acts of violence committed by staffers at such facilities must be reported to their municipal governments, the reporting of child-on-child violence is not mandatory. So the reality of sexual violence at care homes is not well understood. At the end of March 2018, there were some 600 homes nationwide housing 25,000 orphans and other children in need of protection. For the survey, conducted between January and February this year, four types of facilities were checked: homes for children in danger, temporary custody facilities at child consultation centers, foster parents’ homes, and “family home” group foster facilities. In the first category, which included orphanages and similar facilities, there were 687 problematic child-on-child sex-related incidents involving 1,280 residents. For the other three, the numbers came to 34 cases and 74 children at temporary custody facilities, seven cases and 10 children at foster parents’ homes, and four cases and seven children at group foster facilities, the survey said. The ministry set up a panel in October last year to consider questions for the survey and analyze the results. In a report based on the outcome, the panel called for increasing the number of smaller facilities and foster parents to ensure residents will receive an appropriate upbringing. “We also need to prepare a support system and improve expertise for this,” the panel added.


Carlos Ghosn's release on bail is part of a wider trend in Japan's criminal justice system

Abstract: As Japan’s legal system faces international scrutiny over its treatment of defendants amid the Carlos Ghosn saga, there is a silver lining to be found for critics: the rising number of suspects being granted bail. The 65-year-old former Nissan Motor Co. chairman was released late Thursday night after posting bail of ¥500 million. Ghosn’s prolonged detention — 108 days between Nov. 19 and March 6, when he was released on bail for the first time — and treatment, including interrogation without his lawyers present, have unleashed international criticism toward the country’s legal system, with some critics labeling it “hostage justice.” Historically, if a suspect didn’t plead guilty courts were unlikely to grant bail, usually siding with claims by prosecutors, including those in the Ghosn case, that the individual was likely to tamper with evidence. Critics have slammed such a practice, saying it creates an environment that leads to false confessions. But if anything, Ghosn’s conditional release follows a larger trend, with courts increasingly likely to approve bail. The rate of bail approval in Japan has increased from roughly 15 percent in 2007 to about 32 percent in 2017, according to the Japan Bail Support Association, an organization that helps those who have difficulty securing bail payments. Mikio Miyoshi, a law professor at Sophia University in Tokyo and a former judge at the Tokyo High Court, attributed the increase in the rate of bail approval to the legal system overhaul that started in 1999. The country was experiencing a shortage of criminal defense attorneys at the time, Miyoshi said, but because of the reform, the number of defense lawyers dramatically increased, and there are now more cases of them presenting clear, detailed bail conditions to the court. Such a trend has made it easier for the court to grant bail, Miyoshi explained. The number of lawyers swelled to more than 40,000 in 2018 from about 25,000 in 2008, according to the Supreme Court. “Back in those days, not many lawyers wanted to take criminal cases because they were hard and not profitable,” he said. But as the number of lawyers has gone up, it has prompted younger and efficient lawyers to take on such cases due to a more competitive environment, he said. “So for instance in a criminal case, more lawyers are willing to work hard to secure one’s freedom by applying for bail,” he said. Yasuyuki Takai, an attorney and a former prosecutor, told The Japan Times when Ghosn was released for the first time in March that him being granted bail is a reflection of the country’s changing legal system. Japan, like many advanced democracies, used to release a suspect on bail shortly after arrest, he said. But protracted detention became an issue in the late 1970s amid a major political scandal, establishing the questionable practice, he said. However, in recent years, judges have been more prone to grant bail because they specifically focus on determining whether there is a significant risk that the accused will destroy evidence, instead of whether the suspect is admitting guilt or not, he said. Nobuo Gohara, a lawyer and a former prosecutor at the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office, explained that in a 2014 lawsuit, the Supreme Court ruled it was illegal to reject a request for bail merely based on the possibility that a suspect may tamper with evidence. After that decision, the rate of bail being granted has gone up, he said. Gohara says the country’s justice system is slowly but finally catching up to the international norm. “The country has no choice,” Gohara said. “The system has been abnormal up until now.” Still, bail conditions can be strict. In addition to the conditions of his release in March, which restricted phone and computer use, Ghosn is now not allowed to see his wife, Carole, without court permission. Domestic media reports have suggested her involvement in the latest accusation against him, an allegation that Ghosn’s defense team denies. Carole Ghosn has not been subjected to any charges, and Ghosn described the restriction as “cruel and unnecessary.” “We love each other very much, she answered all of the prosecutors’ questions in court, and she has done nothing wrong,” Ghosn said in a statement shortly after his release.


Japan's famed convenience stores look to cut opening hours amid labor shortage

Abstract: Apart from culture, food and a superefficient rail system, one of the things that most impresses travelers to Japan is its convenience stores, bursting with sushi, alcohol, underwear and ready-made food available at all hours. Well, maybe not for much longer. The 24-hour konbini experience is starting to show cracks as a labor shortage in the world’s third-biggest economy forces operators to consider cutting store hours On Wednesday, FamilyMart UNY Holdings Co. joined Lawson Inc. and Seven & I Holdings Co. in saying that they are contemplating changes and testing reduced hours in order to cope. With unemployment at 2.3 percent, near 1992 lows, the nation’s labor shortage is being felt acutely across all industries from construction demands ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics to caring for a rapidly aging population. Convenience-store operators are feeling the pain. In a survey by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry last year, 61 percent of convenience-store franchisers said they didn’t have enough workers — almost triple the ratio from 2014. “A lot of franchise-store owners are having to work themselves, sometimes 16 to 18 hours a day just to keep operations going,” said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Thomas Jastrzab. “It’s really exhausting for them.” Many store owners are required to keep their doors open all hours of the day because it’s written into franchise contracts that can last up to 15 years. In the past, franchisers such as 7-Eleven owner Seven & I Holdings have rigidly enforced store hours even as the labor crunch worsened. Operators argued that they needed to generate profits by selling to nocturnal consumers in cities and stay open for residents in rural areas. Now, that seems to be changing. FamilyMart, which has more than 16,000 stores throughout Japan, said Wednesday it will experiment with reduced-hour operations. It is offering 270 stores the option to join the project, which begins in June and will last up to six months. Seven-Eleven Japan Co. Ltd., the largest convenience store operator in Japan, tested a non-24 hour program in 10 directly managed 7-Eleven stores in March, and will allow franchisees to test the operating model starting this month. “We need to be flexible in thinking about dealing with the customer and the location’s needs as well as the franchiser’s,” Seven & I Holdings Chief Executive Officer Ryuichi Isaka said last week. Restaurant chains Royal Host and McDonald’s have also cut back on 24-hour operations in recent years. Retailers are not the only ones feeling the crunch. Last year, 153 companies in Japan went bankrupt due to labor shortages, up 44 percent from the prior year, according to Teikoku Databank Ltd. “We recognize, as a government ministry, that this is a serious problem,” said Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko at a meeting with executives from eight convenience store operators on April 5. He noted the tighter labor market and the burden on store owners, adding that convenience stores are “necessary infrastructure” for Japan’s population of 126 million people.


Loaded with Saudi satellite, SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket poised for first commercial launch

Abstract: DENVER - SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket is poised for its first commercial space launch Wednesday, carrying a Saudi satellite operated by Arabsat, a year after sending founder Elon Musk’s red Tesla roadster into orbit as a test. The Falcon Heavy is scheduled to lift off from the Kennedy Space center in Florida at 6:36 p.m. (2236 GMT) and place the 6-ton Arabsat-6A satellite into geostationary orbit some 22,500 miles (36,000 km) above the Earth. SpaceX has two operational rockets: the Falcon 9, which with 21 launches in 2018 dominates the U.S. market, and the Falcon Heavy, which as its name suggests is designed to lift much heavier payloads into more distant orbits. It consists of the equivalent of three Falcon 9 rockets combined, tripling its thrust. SpaceX will attempt to re-land the rocket’s three boosters. In its first launch, in February 2018, a dummy dubbed Starman was placed behind the wheel of Musk’s roadster, which is currently orbiting the Sun somewhere between Earth and Mars. Since then, the U.S. military and private clients have signed contracts for Falcon Heavy launches, and NASA has raised the possibility it may use the rocket for its planned missions to the moon.

nasa
elon musk
spacex
saudis
falcon heavy
arabsat


Hong Kong's equity market surpasses Japan as world's third largest in value

Abstract: HONG KONG - Bragging rights to Hong Kong, for now. The city’s equity market overtook Japan earlier this week to be the world’s third largest in value, behind only the U.S. and mainland China, courtesy of a rebound in Hong Kong stocks after their worst year since 2011. Hong Kong’s market cap was $5.78 trillion as of Tuesday, compared with $5.76 trillion for Japan, according to data compiled by Bloomberg based on where primary securities are listed. The Asian city’s Hang Seng Index climbed 17 percent this year through Tuesday, when it closed at its highest since June 15. Internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. has been the main driver, with a 22 percent gain. Japan’s Topix Index advanced 8.3 percent in that period. Both markets declined Wednesday, as an economic outlook from the International Monetary Fund renewed concern about a slowdown in global growth and after the U.S. threatened tariffs on the European Union.


Japan government to monitor markets after Brexit delayed, Abe says

Abstract: Japan will continue to urge the U.K. to avoid leaving the European Union without any deal, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Thursday, following news that an arrangement had been reached to delay Brexit by six months. On Wednesday, European Union and U.K. leaders agreed at an extraordinary summit in Brussels to extend the Brexit deadline to the end of October, saving all sides from a chaotic no-deal divorce at the end of the week. “In order to minimize negative effects on Japanese companies’ economic activity, we’ll maintain calls for avoiding a no-deal Brexit,” Suga told a news conference. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also commented on the development at a meeting of Cabinet ministers convened to discuss the issue on Thursday. “Mindful of the risks to the global economy, financial and foreign exchange markets, the government is ready to ensure stability in the markets while coordinating closely with other nations concerned,” he said, adding that he would “ask (the ministers) to respond flexibly, looking carefully at how the situation will unfold.” The prime minister instructed Finance Minister Taro Aso to continue cooperating with Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda to closely watch for further developments and take appropriate measures. Uncertainty over Brexit, originally due to happen on March 29, has unnerved financial markets due to its potential disruption to businesses, including Japanese automakers that have production plants in the U.K. The Brussels summit was more tense than expected, with France’s President Emmanuel Macron opposing a long extension, and most others, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in favor. Ultimately the plan for a longer extension won out. Aso will visit the United States from Thursday to take part in a two-day meeting of the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank heads in Washington, where U.S. President Donald Trump lamented what he described as the toughness with which the EU has handled the Brexit delay. “Too bad that the European Union is being so tough on the United Kingdom and Brexit,” he tweeted. He then turned his attention to the ongoing U.S. trade spat with Europe, saying: “The EU is likewise a brutal trading partner with the United States, which will change. “Sometimes in life you have to let people breathe before it all comes back to bite you!” Trump on Tuesday threatened to impose $11 billion in tariffs on European imports in retaliation over subsidies to aviation giant Airbus, suddenly escalating a transatlantic skirmish that is more than a decade old

shinzo abe
u.s .
trade
eu
u.k .
japan
brexit
u.s. president donald trump


Chinese employees stole corporate secrets from Dutch semiconductor maker, newspaper reports

Abstract: AMSTERDAM - Chinese employees stole corporate secrets from Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in losses, Dutch financial newspaper Financieele Dagblad (FD) reported on Thursday. The paper said, citing its own investigation, technology had been stolen by high-level Chinese employees in the research and development department of ASML’s U.S. subsidiary and ultimately leaked to a company linked to the Chinese government. But ASML itself “found no hard proof of involvement of the Chinese government,” the FD reported. An ASML spokeswoman told Reuters the company was aware of the FD report and was preparing a response. ASML is the dominant maker of lithography systems, used to trace out the circuitry of semiconductor chips. The newspaper based its report partly on company sources and partly on a November 2018 ruling by a California court in a suit between ASML’s U.S. subsidiary and a subsidiary of a Chinese company, XTAL Inc. The documents from the Santa Clara, California Superior Court show six former ASML employees, all with Chinese names, breached their employment contract by sharing information on ASML software processes with XTAL, the FD showed. “The FD’s investigation found XTAL’s Chinese parent company Dongfang Jingyuan has ties with the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology,” the paper said. The court awarded ASML $223 million in damages and XTAL filed for bankruptcy a month later. The Dutch intelligence agency has included warnings in its annual threat assesments for the past several years, saying that China is targeting tech companies in the Netherlands, as it does in other countries, for intellectual property theft. In 2015, ASML disclosed a breach of its computer systems, but said at the time damage from the hack was limited and released few further details. ASML’s sales to China doubled to €1.8 billion ($2 billion) in 2018 from €919 million in 2017 as Beijing makes growth of its semiconductor industry a priority. ASML CEO Peter Wennink told Reuters in January he saw no let up in demand from China, despite an economic slowdown.

china
computers
netherlands
espionage
theft
intellectual property


U.S. House passes 'net neutrality' bill unlikely to become law

Abstract: WASHINGTON - The House of Representatives on Wednesday approved “net neutrality” legislation to require internet service providers to treat all online traffic equally, but the measure is unlikely to pass the Republican-controlled Senate and faces White House opposition. The largely symbolic 232-190 vote on the “Save the Internet” bill aims to restore regulations approved in 2015 and then rolled back in 2017 in the latest back-and-forth over the contentious internet issue that has been debated for over a decade. Net neutrality backers argue that clear rules are needed to prevent dominant internet service providers like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T from blocking or throttling services or websites for competitive reasons. Some activists fear these providers will seek to extract higher fees from heavy data users, like Netflix or other streaming services, and steer consumers to their own offerings or those of paying partners. Critics of net neutrality counter that the rules could stifle investment and innovation, and claim the internet is not designed for utility-style regulation from the 1930s. Both sides in the debate say they are defending the “free and open” internet. Phillip Berenbroick of the consumer group Public Knowledge said the House vote “reflects the overwhelming public consensus that strong net neutrality consumer protections are vital for the internet ecosystem and the digital economy.” Ed Black of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, which includes tech giants Amazon, Google and Facebook, welcomed the move, saying, “Restoring these rules helps thousands of smaller businesses, as well as the next generation of startups, offer their products and services without fear of arbitrary and unnecessary charges” from internet gatekeepers. But Jonathan Spalter of US Telecom, which represents broadband firms like AT&T and Verizon, said the neutrality effort is a move in the wrong direction when online providers are trying to innovate. “Instead of embracing the power of markets, transparency, and surgical rules, we continue to fight this last war and debate a regulatory regime well past its prime, while important technology policy around data privacy and cybersecurity awaits,” Spalter said in a statement. Senate Republican leaders oppose the bill and the White House has pledged to veto the measure if it makes it to the president’s desk. Some analysts have argued for a compromise that would bar internet firms from noncompetitive practices without using utility-style regulation.

u.s. congress
verizon
senate
net neutrality
donald trump


30 firms in Japan have made Reiwa part of their corporate names since April 1 announcement

Abstract: The number of companies in Japan that have adopted Reiwa — the name announced for the country’s forthcoming new era — as part of their corporate names has reached 30, Tokyo Shoko Research Ltd. said. There were no such firms before the name of the new era was announced April 1. Of the total, 12 firms were newly established, while 18 companies had changed their corporate names, the credit research firm said on Wednesday. Of them, 21 adopted new names including Reiwa on the day of the era announcement. Of the firms that changed their names, Reiwa Kensetsu, a general contractor based in Moriya, Ibaraki Prefecture, is the largest company in terms of sales. It was established in 1963 and was formerly known as Matsumaru Industries Co. A publisher in Tokyo, set up in April last year as Heisei Shoseki, changed its name to Reiwa Shoseki. By prefecture, Fukuoka, home to a historical site believed to be the place where the ancient poem that provided the basis for the new era name was written, saw the largest number of firms using Reiwa in their names, at five. Reiwa is set to replace the current Heisei Era on May 1, when Crown Prince Naruhito accedes the throne after the abdication of Emperor Akihito the day before.

emperor akihito
imperial family
small businesses
reiwa


Nikkei ends directionless session tad higher

Abstract: The benchmark Nikkei average closed moderately higher after moving aimlessly amid a dearth of fresh major incentives on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Thursday. The 225-issue average gained 23.81 points, or 0.11 percent, to end at 21,711.38, after retreating 115.02 points Wednesday. The Topix index of all first-section issues closed down 1.14 points, or 0.07 percent, at 1,606.52, following its 11.10-point fall the previous day. After opening marginally lower, the Nikkei fluctuated narrowly around the previous day’s closing level before firming slightly in late afternoon trading. The Topix remained in negative territory for most of the day’s trading, dragged down by sluggish performances of financial issues, market sources said. The Nikkei’s firmness in the afternoon “is believed to have been backed by speculation about the Bank of Japan’s buying of exchange-traded funds,” said Chihiro Ota, general manager for investment research and investor services at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. Meanwhile, Mitsuo Shimizu, chief strategist at Aizawa Securities Co., pointed out that “active trading was held in check” ahead of Friday’s special quotation fixing to settle April options contracts. Hiroaki Kuramochi, chief market analyst at Saxo Bank Securities Ltd., noted that players retreated to the sidelines to watch how Wall Street will respond to earnings reports to be released by major U.S. firms next week. Investors are also paying attention to Japanese firms’ scorecards to be shown later this month, brokers said. Falling issues outnumbered rising ones 1,222 to 814 in the TSE’s first section, while 104 issues were unchanged. Volume decreased to 1.111 billion shares from Wednesday’s 1.122 billion shares. Convenience store operator FamilyMart Uny Holdings Co. went up 3.25 percent, as investors took heart from the company’s brisk earnings for the year that ended in February and decision to change its name to FamilyMart on Sept. 1, brokers said. Among other major winners were auto parts supplier Denso Corp., cosmetics maker Shiseido Co. and air conditioner manufacturer Daikin Industries. Monotaro Co. plunged 4.56 percent, hit by selling following the tool shopping website operator’s announcement of slower sales growth in March. Also sold were automaker Toyota Motor Corp., technology investor Softbank Group Corp. and industrial robot producer Fanuc Corp. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key June contract on the Nikkei average shed 30 points to end at 21,670.


Greenback dips below ¥111.10 in Tokyo trading, penned in by Chinese stocks and euro's advance

Abstract: The dollar weakened below ¥111.10 in Tokyo trading Thursday, pressured by a retreat in Chinese stocks retreat and an advance in the euro. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥111.08-09, down from ¥111.18-18 at the same time Wednesday. The euro was at $1.1281-1281, up from $1.1265-1266, and at ¥125.32-33, up from ¥125.25-26. After trading at ¥111.90-10, the dollar moved up on buying by Japanese importers in midmorning trading, later easing to around ¥111.05. A currency broker said the dollar “moved on a relatively firm note, supported by the Nikkei stock average’s rebound, real-demand backed dollar purchases and a halt to a drop in U.S. long-term interest rates.” But the U.S. currency failed to go higher due to selling induced by Chinese stocks’ sluggishness and the euro’s appreciation, traders said. “It’s difficult for investors to tilt positions prior to the start of Japan-U.S. trade negotiations and the 10-day holiday in Japan,” an asset management firm official said, referring to this year’s extra long Golden Week.

exchange rates
foreign exchange
forex
currencies
fx


Nissan pledges ¥23.9 billion South Africa investment for production of latest Navara pickup

Abstract: JOHANNESBURG - Nissan Motor Co. plans to invest a further 3 billion rand (¥23.9 billion) in its South African plant to prepare for production of the latest version of the Navara pickup. The decision by the Japanese carmaker may add 30,000 units to the plant’s current annual volume of 35,000, said Mike Whitfield, managing director of Nissan Africa, at the factory north of Pretoria on Wednesday. The manufacture of the Navara from 2020 will also create about 400 direct jobs in a country with an unemployment rate of 27 percent. “Automotive is already the largest part of South Africa’s manufacturing sector, contributing around 7 percent of gross domestic product annually and accounting for a third of manufacturing output,” said South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, speaking at Nissan’s facility in Rosslyn. Nissan’s investment is the first significant commitment by an automaker since international firms agreed with the government late last year to extend a manufacturing incentive program through 2035. The plan has also seen the likes of Toyota Motor Corp., Volkswagen AG and BMW AG operate plants in the country, in return for generous tax breaks. The majority of vehicles are produced for export. Nissan plans to more than double its industrial reach in the Middle East, Africa and India by 2022 by adding more factories, according to Peyman Kargar, chairman of the carmaker’s operations in those three territories, who spoke in an interview last month. “By 2022 we want to double our presence in Africa, and South Africa is the most important base for this growth,” Kargar said on Wednesday. “We export to more than 45 countries from South Africa and with the new Navara this will be even more.”


Nomura shares sink as investors flee amid skepticism about revival plans

Abstract: Nomura Holdings Inc.’s latest attempt to revamp its international business is falling flat with investors, who have never been so downbeat on the stock relative to global peers. Japan’s largest brokerage has dropped almost 3 percent in Tokyo trading since Chief Executive Officer Koji Nagai unveiled a sweeping overhaul plan on April 4, bringing its six-month slide to 23 percent. That’s the second-biggest decline among major securities firms worldwide after Societe Generale SA, outpacing even notoriously poor performers like Deutsche Bank AG. Nomura’s valuation discount versus global financial companies deepened to 58 percent this week, the widest gap since Bloomberg began tracking the data in 1999. The figures underscore entrenched skepticism over Nagai’s plans to revive a business buffeted by years of stop-start international expansions and an increasingly competitive battle for retail traders in Japan. While valuations this low have foreshadowed past rallies for Nomura, some investors are losing patience after watching the stock tumble more than 70 percent since the ill-fated takeover of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s European and Asian operations in 2008. “The market seems to be saying ‘If the recovery process takes longer, we do not need to rush back into this name,’ ” said Hideyasu Ban, senior research analyst at CLSA Ltd. in Tokyo. The stock closed 0.7 percent higher in Tokyo on Thursday, after earlier falling as much as 1.2 percent. Nomura watchers have cited several reasons for continued skepticism, including uncertainty about revenue growth and the pace of cost cuts. JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst Wataru Otsuka points to questions surrounding Nagai’s pledge to slash $1 billion off costs, such as how quickly the cuts are likely to take effect and what they’ll mean for long-term profitability. “If the effort is successful and profits recover to a sustainable level we would reconsider our investment opinion, but the details on changes to the business structure are unclear and we expect earnings to remain sluggish,” wrote Otsuka, who has an underweight rating on the stock, in an April 5 report. Shares may see a clear rebound only after Nomura’s managers unveil more details about their restructuring plan and convince the market they can execute, wrote SMBC Nikko Securities analysts Shinichiro Nakamura and Takayuki Hara in a report last week. A Nomura spokesman declined to comment on the firm’s stock price. Bulls can take some solace from history. At 0.5 times net assets, Nomura is now trading at a level that preceded rebounds in 2009, 2012 and 2016. The stock’s average price-to-book ratio over the past two decades is 1.4. Yet given market conditions that Nomura’s CEO described as “increasingly uncertain” on April 4, many investors are likely to think twice before buying. “Their structural overhaul is more about improving profit through cost cuts rather than through raising the top line,” said Kengo Sakaguchi, an analyst at Japan Credit Rating Agency. “Reducing costs may help its earnings improve temporarily, but unless its top line grows afterward, the outlook will remain murky.”

stocks
nomura
brokerages
nomura securities


Amazon Japan to withdraw controversial reward point plan after FTC launched probe

Abstract: Amazon Japan G.K. will withdraw its plan to provide customers with reward points worth at least 1 percent of purchase amounts for all items on its shopping site, company sources said. According to an announcement by the unit of U.S. e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. in February, the costs for the reward points would have been shouldered by sellers using the company’s Marketplace platform, starting next month. The Japanese firm’s decision to withdraw the plan came after the Fair Trade Commission opened an investigation into whether the new reward policy amounts to the firm’s abuse of its superior bargaining position over sellers using Marketplace. Amazon Japan’s plan has been under fire from Marketplace sellers, which describe it as a unilateral decision by the company to impose excessive burdens on them. In February, industry minister Hiroshige Seko said a unilateral contract change forcing Marketplace sellers to defray excessive costs would be a serious problem that hurts competition. As well as withdrawing the plan, Amazon Japan will allow each Marketplace seller to decide a reward point policy by themselves, the sources said.


Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Himawari Life Insurance won't hire graduates who smoke from next year

Abstract: Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Himawari Life Insurance Inc. said it will refuse to employ graduates who smoke when it recruits new hires in April next year. It is unusual for a company to refuse to hire smokers. The move is described as part of corporate efforts to care for employees’ health, an official at the insurer said Wednesday, stressing that the hiring policy does not amount to employment discrimination. The company said it will hire smokers if they quit the habit before starting to work at the company. No penalties will be imposed on employees whose smoking habits are discovered after they have entered the company. The insurer has a goal of lowering its employee smoking rate to 12 percent or less by fiscal 2020, which starts next April 1, from around the current 20 percent.

sompo japan nipponkoa himawari life insurance


Bridgestone to join Toyota and JAXA in rover mission to moon

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Bridgestone Corp. said Wednesday it would tie up with Toyota Motor Corp. and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency on a joint mission to send a rover to the moon. The world’s leading tire maker announced its participation at the Space Symposium in Colorado. JAXA is planning to launch the five-year mission in 2029. Bridgestone said it will design an elastic wheel that can support the rover’s weight, acceleration and braking, minimize its shock absorbance and improve maneuverability — necessary to navigate the moon’s crater-covered, gravelly surface. Toyota and JAXA said in March they would use an American rocket to launch the rover, amid growing international competition in lunar exploration. The rover will be 6 meters in length, 5.2 meters wide and 3.8 meters in height, with a living space of 13 square meters, they said.