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Japan dealt severe blow in bid for last 4 in curling

2010-02-23T17:15:00.000+09:00

Japan dropped a crucial game to Switzerland 10-4 in eight ends in the women’s curling tournament at the Vancouver Olympics on Monday. Japan took its fourth loss in seven games and fell into a fifth-place tie with Germany in the 10-team round-robin standings.

Switzerland sat in fourth place with a 4-3 record. The top four teams will move on to the knockout stage of the tournament.

The Swiss curlers had four points in the fourth end to extend their lead to 6-2 before adding two each in the sixth and eighth ends.

‘‘Those four points really hurt us. We might’ve had a chance of turning things around if we limited them to two or so in that fourth end,’’ said Japanese skip Moe Meguro. ‘‘I’ll work on my delivery for the remaining two games to keep our hopes alive for a place in the last four.’‘

Host Canada (6-1) regained sole possession of the lead after a 6-2 win over defending champion Sweden (5-2). World champion China (5-3) remained in third place.

Rio wins bid for 2016 Olympics; Tokyo eliminated in 2nd round

2009-10-03T11:10:00.000+09:00

Tokyo’s hopes of hosting the 2016 Olympics were shattered Friday as the Japanese capital was eliminated in the second round of voting by the International Olympic Committee.

Rio de Janeiro was named the winner of rights to stage the 2016 Games, beating Madrid in the final round of voting to become the first South American Olympic host. Rio had 66 votes to Madrid’s 32.

Chicago was eliminated in the first round of voting before Tokyo’s exit left the race down to the Rio and Madrid. Tokyo had 22 votes in the first round and 20 in the second.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama released a statement Saturday congratulating the Brazilian people on Rio de Janeiro’s win in a bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.

‘‘I want to offer my heartfelt appreciation for the citizens of Tokyo and athletes,’’ said Tokyo Gov Shintaro Ishihara. ‘‘Let’s use this precious experience, while tackling environmental issues and contribute to the development of world cities. I pray for the success of the Games in Rio de Janeiro.’’

Under host city voting procedures, the city with the fewest number of votes in each successive round of balloting is eliminated until one city has reached a majority of the valid votes cast.

It was Japan’s third consecutive failed bid to win the rights to hold the Summer Games. Nagoya lost out to Seoul for the 1988 Olympics, while Osaka was eliminated in the first round of voting for the 2008 Games, which went to Beijing.

‘‘It’s a pity. We united as a team and did everything we could,’’ said Japanese Olympic Committee chief Tsunekazu Takeda.
‘‘There is a winner and a loser and this time we couldn’t win but we have also gained something. We have to figure out how to go for the 2020 Olympics.’’

About 500 people who gathered at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building could not help but sigh early Saturday when Tokyo was eliminated from consideration for the 2016 Olympics in the second round of voting.

When International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge announced the elimination of Tokyo in a live image displayed on a large screen, those gathered in a hall on the fifth floor of the building let out sighs of disappointment.

Vice Tokyo Gov Hiroshi Sato, Japanese Olympic Committee members and athletes, including Yuko Arimori, a marathon runner who won the silver medal in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, gathered there to support Tokyo’s bid for the host city of the 2016 Olympics and watch the results of the IOC voting.

Hiromi Miyake, a Japanese female weightlifter, said, ‘‘I was excited because I thought Tokyo would be selected as Chicago was eliminated in the first round of voting.’’

In an event held at Tokyo Tower to support the Japanese capital’s bid, the venue was covered by a festive mood when Tokyo moved to the second round of voting, but hopes were dashed within a few minutes as Tokyo was eliminated.

‘‘It’s very frustrating,’’ said hurdler Dai Tamesue. Fashion designer and event producer Kansai Yamamoto, who represented supporters for Tokyo’s bid, said, ‘‘It’s like going from the top to the bottom on a roller coaster.’’

But he added, ‘‘We have a chance again in four years.

Tokyo was left to rue what might have been after efforts failed to convince the IOC that it could stage ‘‘the most compact and efficient Olympic Games ever.’’

JOC Vice President Tomiaki Fukuda said he was surprised at Madrid staying alive.

‘‘I thought Madrid would be eliminated. There is a possibility that it won votes out of sympathy for (former IOC president Juan Antonio) Samaranch. It’s a real shame. I want Tokyo to bid for the Olympics one more time.’’

Samaranch had appealed for the Spanish capital, reminding IOC members that, at age 89, ‘‘I am very near the end of my time.’’

During Tokyo’s final presentation ahead of the vote Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama urged the IOC to pick Tokyo during a heartfelt speech, saying it was ‘’ well positioned to serve as a future model of public safety and environmental stability.’’

The host of Asia’s first Olympics in 1964, Tokyo won praise from the IOC in an evaluation report last month for its vision and concept to stage a compact Olympic Games and a solid financial plan.

It had planned to use several renovated venues from the 1964 Games while its Olympic Stadium would have been be the first in the world to be powered by solar energy.

Amid the global economic downturn, Tokyo had also secured a special 400 billion yen budget for the Games.

During the IOC bid evaluation committee’s visit to Tokyo in the spring, committee chairwoman Nawal El Moutawakel said the inspectors were most impressed by the concept of hosting an Olympics, in which 97 percent of the venues would be located within 8 kilometers of the Olympic Stadium.

Initial concerns, though, had been raised regarding Tokyo’s lack of public support, while low marks in the evaluation report were also given for existing venues, operations and land area for the athletes’ village.

Although there is no official IOC continental rotation policy, Tokyo faced another obstacle in trying to bring the games to Asia so soon after Beijing staged last year’s Games.

from: robladin.com

Tension mounts, tempers fly ahead of 2016 Olympic host city vote

2009-10-01T18:32:00.000+09:00

The International Olympic Committee is no stranger to tough decisions. It took the risk of sending the games to Beijing and said “No” to New York in the aftermath of 9/11. Yet, despite all of that accumulated experience, some IOC members are struggling with their latest conundrum: choosing the Olympic host for 2016.

Just two days ahead of the vote, many were undecided.

And that means two things—it’s still too close to call between Rio de Janeiro, Chicago, Tokyo and Madrid and, for the next couple of days, IOC members are going to feel that they are the most popular people on the planet. Everyone in Copenhagen, where they are gathered, seemingly wants to be their new best friend.

Want to meet Michelle Obama? Not a problem if you’re an IOC member who needs a little pointer on which way to vote. The first lady, beating her husband to the Danish capital, has a two-room suite in the IOC hotel, with homely white leather furniture and an interactive table that, at the touch of a hand, gives bird’s eye views of how a Chicago Olympics might look.

Mrs Obama arrived Wednesday, two days ahead of the U.S. leader, and got straight to work on impressing IOC members.

“We’re not taking anything for granted, so I’m going to go talk to some voters,” she said.

IOC members who have been through this selection process repeatedly, previously sending the games to London, Beijing, Athens and Sydney, told The Associated Press that they could not remember a tougher choice. The AP canvassed the opinions of a dozen IOC members. With all four cities seen as amply capable, technically at least, of holding the Olympics, they said much will ride on how well or badly the cities make their case in final 45-minute presentations to the IOC on Friday before the successive rounds of secret balloting.

“I have two favorites,” IOC member Nicole Hoevertsz said. “It’s going to come down to the last, last presentation. It’s going to come down to the last minute.”

As tension mounted, so did tempers. Despite fresh IOC warnings that the cities should avoid criticizing their rivals, the Spanish Olympic Committee’s vice president, Jose Maria Odriozola, told the national Efe news agency that “Rio is the worst bid.”

Rio bid organizers said the criticism was “totally unacceptable” and formally complained to the IOC.

The outcome Friday could hinge on which cities are eliminated first and, if and when their favorites are knocked out, how IOC members subsequently line up behind the other candidates. That makes predicting a winner perilous and means that even members who say they already have made their choice are still worth lobbying.

“It is difficult enough to know where the first-round votes are going to go, so trying to imagine where the swinging votes are going to go is impossible,” said Spanish IOC member Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr, whose father served as IOC president for 21 years.

“Events in the next 48 hours will decide the winner, because they will have a significant influence on the second- and third-round votes,” he said.

Samaranch said he believes nearly all the IOC’s 106 members already have a favorite. But IOC vice president Chiharu Igaya said “many” members are undecided.

Added British IOC member Craig Reedie: “This is really close. The closer it gets the more people will say, let me think about it. We all want to see the presentations. It’s what people see that will count. Decided? No, I haven’t actually. I’m getting close.”

Late, high-powered lobbying can be important—as then-Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife, Cherie, proved when London campaigned successfully for the 2012 Olympics. Blair traveled to Singapore ahead of the vote and spent two days lobbying members, inviting them to his hotel suite for one-on-one meetings.

Chicago tore a leaf from Blair’s playbook: Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett met with him last week to solicit his advice and get tips on navigating the IOC voting process.

But for the first time, there are no IOC executive board meetings in the days leading up to the vote. That means less opportunity for schmoozing.

IOC votes can be highly unpredictable. Aside from the paramount questions of whether bidding cities’ Olympic plans are technically and financially feasible, emotion, sentiment, geography, politics, self-interest and other factors also play a role.

In Copenhagen, there’s also the star factor, with Spain’s King Juan Carlos and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva already here to lend heavyweight backing to their cities and President Barack Obama jetting in for a few hours on Friday to bolster Chicago’s presentation.

Willi Kaltschmitt, an IOC member since 1988, said the VIP presence would reassure voters that cities’ bids are fully backed by their governments but would be only one of many factors.

Australian IOC member Kevan Gosper said after meeting with Mrs Obama, however, that she and the U.S. leader “could have an influence on marginal votes.”

IOC members used to visit candidate cities but that was stopped because of concerns about bribery. Now, they rely on IOC reports, presentations and lobbying to inform their decisions.

“Since we’re not allowed to visit the cities, it comes down to the very, very little details,” Hoevertsz said.

Ultimately, the choice may hinge on whether IOC members want to make a bold statement by sending the Olympics to South America for the first time or chose more familiar territory. The United States, Spain and Japan have all previously held the Summer Games. Chicago could also be seen as more lucrative in these tough economic times.

“One of the things that is very important to us now is the economic recession,” said IOC member Nat Indrapana, adding that when cities made their cases to the IOC in June, “Chicago made a beautiful presentation.”

The city receiving the fewest votes will be eliminated after each round until one candidate secures a majority. The vote is expected to go the maximum three rounds.

IOC member Samih Moudallal said it will be like choosing between “four sons or your brothers.”

“How do you choose between your brothers?” Moudallal said, adding that he has yet to make his selection. “You have to use your mind and your heart together.

“It’s a very difficult choice.”

Nikkei flat after hitting 8-mth high, US rates weigh

2009-06-11T14:50:00.001+09:00

Nikkei flat after hitting 8-mth high, US rates weigh

Japan's Nikkei average edged above 10,000 to an eight-month high on Thursday before paring gains, with worries about rising U.S. interest rates offsetting an increase in steel shares on a brokerage upgrade.

Nippon Steel Corp (5401.T) shot up nearly 6 percent after Morgan Stanley lifted its rating on the sector to "attractive" from "in-line," saying it was time to shift to an aggressive investment stance as uncertainties surrounding the sector have started to resolve.

But market analysts said rising U.S. interest rates weighed on investors confidence, limiting further gains, as they could put a damper on consumer and business spending.

On Thursday, Japanese government bond prices fell, with the 10-year yield rising to its highest level since late October.

The benchmark U.S. Treasury yield climbed to an eight-month high the previous day, sending Wall Street lower as higher yields act as a benchmark for many lending rates. [US/] [.N]

"Generally speaking, the upward trend in the stock market is continuing as economic stimulus measures taken by governments around the world are still having an impact," said Takashi Kamiya, chief economist at T&D Asset Management.

"But rising U.S. rates pose a huge concern to the stock market. Higher interest rates will dampen an economic recovery and they would make bonds more attractive to investors, compared to stocks."

The benchmark Nikkei .N225 was flat at 9,991.05, after rising as high as 10,022.23 in morning trade, its highest since October 7 and a rise of roughly 43 percent from its March bear market low.

The broader Topix inched up 0.3 percent to 939.63.

As of Wednesday's close, the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI had risen some 35 percent and the S&P 500 .SPX some 41 percent from their March lows.

The Nikkei this week climbed above its 52-week moving average, which now comes in around 9,800, but analysts say it needs to break above 10,500 to enter a bull market.

The 10,500-10,800 range has provided strong support and resistance in the past, most notably in late 2003 to 2004, and is also significant because 10,800 is a 50 percent retracement from last year's closing high of 14,489 to the March closing trough of 7,054.

Data showed Japan's economy contracted a revised 3.8 percent in the first three months of this year, better than economists' median forecast, though the market largely shrugged this off. [ID:nT193265]

The mood on the streets of Tokyo remained bleak, despite the Nikkei's brief rise above 10,000.

Yukari Tani, a 32-year-old cosmetics sales clerk, who was in Tokyo for business, shrugged off the Nikkei's spike.

"There's nothing around me that makes me feel the economy is turning around," Tani said.

"A lot of my friends are switching jobs lately and I heard many of their companies were offering early retirement."

STEEL SOLID, BUT PROFIT-TAKING WEIGHS

Steel stocks held onto gains made after Morgan Stanley lifted its rating on the sector. The brokerage also raised its rating on Nippon Steel to "overweight" from "equal-weight" and hiked the company's target price to 480 yen from 270 yen.

Nippon Steel jumped 5.7 percent to 393 yen, while JFE Holdings Inc (5411.T) climbed 3.7 percent to 3,350 yen and Kobe Steel Ltd (5406.T) advanced 4.9 percent to 193 yen.

Olympus Corp (7733.T) soared 12.7 percent to 2,355 yen after Deutsche Securities doubled its target price for the maker of digital cameras and medical devices to 3,230 yen on cost cuts and brisk endoscope sales.

Shares of electronics group Toshiba (6502.T) shot up 6.2 percent to 377 yen after Nomura Securities lifted its rating on the stock to "buy" from "neutral," and raised its target price to 560 yen from 320 yen.

Nomura said that investor focus on the company will likely shift to its global growth potential.

But selling among a broad swathe of shares, including index heavyweights such as Honda Motor Corp (7267.T) and other exporters, weighed on the Nikkei average as profit-taking emerged after recent gains and amid worries about U.S. interest rates.

Honda lost 1.4 percent to 2,845 yen, while TDK Corp (6762.T) fell 1.4 percent to 4,380 yen and Sony Corp (6758.T) shed 0.7 percent to 2,680 yen.

NKorea bans ships off port from Wednesday

2009-06-09T15:12:00.000+09:00

North Korea is warning ships to stay out of waters off its eastern port of Wonsan for three weeks from Wednesday, the Japan Coast Guard said, raising concerns Pyongyang is planning more missile tests.

North Korea is alerting vessels by radio not to enter an area that measures 100 by 263 kilometres (60 by 165 miles) at its widest points from June 10 to 30 between 8:00 am and 8:00 pm, a coast guard spokesman said Monday.

"We have acknowledged the information and soon afterward issued the same warning to those who may travel in this region," the spokesman said.

The news came amid increasing speculation that North Korea is preparing to test-fire several medium-range missiles from its southeast coast.

At least three missiles are apparently being prepared for launch from a missile base in Anbyon County, near Wonsan, a port city about 100 kilometres northeast of Seoul, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported Tuesday.

The report said that several vehicles mounted with mobile launch pads were spotted at the base.

The Japan Coast Guard picked up a similar warning in May, only days before Pyongyang conducted its second nuclear test and also launched a series of short-range missiles.

"We can't deny the possibility that North Korea is moving toward launching missiles, including ballistic missiles, in response to developments related to a UN Security Council resolution," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura.

"We are doing everything to secure the peace and security of Japan and its people, while collecting and analysing information."

South Korean and US forces on the peninsula are on heightened alert after the North threatened a possible attack in response to Seoul's decision to join a US-led initiative to halt the trade in weapons of mass destruction.

The North has also warned of "self-defence measures" in response to any tougher international sanctions.

Relatives of Aso mine's British laborers demand apology and compensation

2009-05-21T16:31:00.000+09:00

Campaigners are calling on Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso to apologize and offer compensation to the families of British men who were forced to work at a mine owned by Aso’s father during World War II. They are also urging the prime minister to resign because they feel he failed to acknowledge for several years his family firm’s role in the use of slave labor, despite evidence to the contrary in the United States.

James McAnulty, from Glasgow, Scotland, was shocked when he learned a few months ago that the mine in which his father toiled was owned by Aso Mining Co.

McAnulty’s father, who passed away in 1971, spent long hours at the Fukuoka Prefecture mine shoveling up coal and pushing wagons.

He was there between June and September 1945 when he was liberated. The former POW told his son many tales about his time at the mine and the nearby camp where they lived.

McAnulty said his father received beatings by the guards for being unable to correctly recite his prisoner number in Japanese and also witnessed one Australian POW ‘‘disappear’’ after getting the upper hand over the guards who would practice their judo throws on the POWs, according to his son.

McAnulty, 62, told Kyodo News, ‘‘He (my father) said there was a lack of food and the sleeping quarters were terrible, but sleep was welcome because it was like he was forgetting the pain.’’

In January, Aso effectively admitted his family firm used forced labor during World War II after government documents emerged in Japan in December which confirmed earlier material from the United States.

When those U.S. media reports first surfaced in 2006—confirming the link between forced labor and the mine—it is understood that Aso, then foreign minister, ordered his officials to publicly rubbish the news.

The Japanese government documents revealed in December show that 300 Allied POWs—101 Britons, two Dutch and 197 Australians—were based at camp No. 26 which was assigned to the Aso mine. Around 150 of the men worked at the mine, with the rest working on farmland.

On Aso, McAnulty said, ‘‘I would love him to admit the truth and apologize to the survivors or their relatives. They were not paid and were not looked after well and were treated with disdain. If he has any conscience, he would apologize.’’

He recognizes that Aso was a child when these events took place and therefore cannot be held directly responsible. However, McAnulty feels that a man in his position should take the lead and do the honorable thing.

Since the discovery, McAnulty has decided to write to the prime minister’s office, although he is not optimistic about getting a reply.

‘‘I definitely think that the Aso company should compensate the survivors or their relatives. But I definitely know that it isn’t going to happen.’’

He continued, ‘‘They made immense profits and part of that was off my father’s back. My father should be paid for the years he worked there, and compensated for the cruelty imposed on him and the psychological damage.’’

McAnulty’s father, also called James, was an engine stoker on board HMS Exeter which was sunk by Japanese ships in the Java Sea in 1942.

He was moved to Camp No. 26 in Keisen, Fukuoka, from where prisoners were forced to work each day at the Yoshikuma pit belonging to Aso Mining Co., now the Aso Group. The prime minister headed the company between 1973 and 1979 before entering politics.

Aso’s spokesman said it is difficult to comment at this stage because no letter had yet been received.

Thomas Jowett, who has researched the history of HMS Exeter and its personnel, said that of the 101 British men, 88 were either from HMS Exeter or HMS Encounter, which was also sunk at the same time.

As far as he is aware there is only one Exeter survivor who worked in the mine and is still alive.

Jowett said, ‘‘It is very disconcerting that it has taken the publication of Japanese government records for Prime Minister Aso to accept that slave labor took place at this family-run mine.

‘‘The Japanese government—through Aso—should issue a more fulsome and sincere apology for the atrocities committed by Japan both before and during World War II.

‘‘I doubt that compensation will be offered by Aso and, in any event, it is too late because there are very few survivors. This, I believe, is due to the ill-treatment and malnourishment suffered by the POWs.’’

Yukihisa Fujita, an opposition parliamentarian in Japan who has been instrumental in bringing this issue to the attention of the public, told Kyodo News Aso should apologize to the British relatives ‘‘for having kept, for so long, denying’’ the family firm’s use of slave labor.

Fujita says the men should have been paid for their work at the mine and is now demanding that the firm make a ‘‘consolation’’ payment to the families.

The Japanese government has consistently expressed regret for the inhumane treatment inflicted upon POWs during World War II, but some claim that the apology did not go far enough and should have been more sincere.

Tokyo has always said that it settled all compensation claims with Allied POWs when it made payments to them through the San Francisco Peace Treaty in 1951. Critics claim this was a derisory sum and the Allied powers should not have settled for such a measly figure. This treaty has meant that any subsequent private lawsuits have been unsuccessful.

Although such treatment of POWs contravened the 1929 Geneva Convention, Japan had not ratified the convention at the time.

Aso says having children an 'obligation,' but later retracts remark

2009-05-08T17:38:00.001+09:00

Gaffe-prone Prime Minister Taro Aso said Thursday that he has fulfilled an ‘‘obligation’’ because he has two children, but he later retracted the remark made during a parliamentary debate about Japan’s declining birthrate.

‘‘I may well have fulfilled an obligation because I have had two children since getting married at 43,’’ Aso told the House of Representatives Budget Committee in a debate with Chinami Nishimura, a lawmaker of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan.

‘‘I do not hear people say in this country that it is good to have a child or it is fun (to have child). I keep hearing that it (having a child) is tough,’’ Aso said, noting he enjoys seeing his children, who are 20 and 23.

But he later retracted the remark, saying there are various reasons for not having a child.

‘‘I think that the word ‘obligation’ was inappropriate,’’ Aso said. ‘‘There are people who cannot have a child even though they want to, and there are people who are unable to give birth for physical reasons. There are various reasons.’’

The 68-year-old premier, who took office last September, has seen a decline in the support rate for his cabinet in the past following a series of verbal gaffes on political, financial and social issues.

Miyako Odori 2009

2009-04-25T21:00:00.001+09:00

This dance is performed by the maiko and geiko of Gion Kobu. The first performance in 1872 was promoted as part of the Exhibition for the Promotion of Domestic Industry, as a measure to promote prosperity in Kyoto after the city's decline as a result of the capital having been moved to Tokyo in 1869. Infusion of new ideas into this annual event has made it very popular. It is now one of the main events in Kyoto.
Miyako odori

5,000 elementary students planted to welcome IOC evaluation team

2009-04-23T11:50:00.000+09:00

More than 5,000 public elementary school students in Tokyo’s Koto Ward were assembled at a park when an evaluation team from the International Olympic Committee visited last week without being told that the team would go there, officials of the Koto Ward said Wednesday.

The ward explained that the students “happened to” go to the Yumenoshima (Dream Island) park for a field trip on the same day of the IOC visit, but a group against Tokyo’s bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics said the move was apparently aimed at “mobilizing” students to use them as plants to welcome the IOC.

’’Worried about being criticized, the ward probably insisted that it was a field trip and did not explain (about the IOC team visit) to the students,’’ a member of the group said.

On Friday’s visit to the park, which would be used for archery under Tokyo’s Olympics venue plan, the IOC team was seen to be welcomed by the students and Tokyo’s Bid Committee told a press conference that the team was ‘‘welcomed by smiling children and people at the places they went.’’

jappone

Gov't apologizes for mistakenly reporting launch of N Korean rocket

2009-04-04T22:52:00.000+09:00

The Japanese government provided erroneous information that North Korea had launched a rocket Saturday, mostly because the Air Self-Defense Force was confused about radar information, a Defense Ministry official said.

‘‘We caused a great deal of trouble to the Japanese people. This was a mistake in the transmission of information by the Defense Ministry and the Self-Defense Forces,’’ Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters. ‘‘I want to apologize to the people from my heart.’’

The government released information that ‘‘North Korea appears to have launched a projectile’’ at 12:16 p.m. via its email-based Em-Net emergency information system, but retracted it five minutes later, saying it was a ‘‘detection failure.’’

By then, media organizations at home and abroad had reported the rocket launch as breaking news based on the false information.

The confusion occurred after the North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported earlier in the day that the rocket ‘‘will be launched soon.’’ North Korea has said the launch is for a communications satellite but Japan, South Korea and the United States suspect the launch is a cover for a long-range ballistic missile test.

According to the Defense Ministry, the ground-based FPS-5 radar at the ministry’s Iioka research and development site in Asahi, Chiba Prefecture, picked up a trace over the Sea of Japan on the radar screen.

The information was immediately conveyed to the ASDF’s Air Defense Command in the suburbs of Tokyo, but the person who received it mistook the information for satellite early warning information provided by the U.S. military.

The satellite early warning information is based on data sent by the U.S. Air Force’s Defense Support Program satellite orbiting the Earth. Equipped with an infrared telescope, it is normally the quickest means to detect ballistic missile launches.

The erroneous information then got passed onto the SDF’s Central Command Post at the Defense Ministry headquarters, from which it was conveyed to the crisis management center at the prime minister’s office, according to the ministry.

The prime minister’s office sent an emergency e-mail message to local governments across the country and media organizations based on the false information.

One minute after the Central Command Post received the launch information, it was notified that the trace had disappeared from the radar screen and that no satellite early warning information had actually been received, the ministry said.

‘‘They should have confirmed on computer terminals that satellite early warning information had been received. The mistake could have been avoided if they had done so,’’ a ministry official said.

The official said he does not know why the airman at the Air Defense Command mixed up the radar and satellite early warning information.

A misstep was also reported at the local level in Japan’s northern areas, over which part of the rocket is set to pass if it flies according to the plan announced by North Korea.

Before the central government’s false report, the Akita prefectural government issued an erroneous report to all municipal governments in the prefecture that North Korea had ‘‘fired a missile,’’ and one of the municipal offices communicated the report to all households through a radio transmission for disaster management.

According to prefectural officials, a SDF member at the prefectural government’s disaster preparedness headquarters received a communication from the Defense Ministry that the rocket was ‘‘launched at 10:48 a.m.’’

The SDF member verbally communicated the message to a prefectural government official, who then passed on the information to relevant officials of all the municipalities through mobile phone text messages six minutes later, the officials said.

Sixteen of the 25 municipalities in the prefecture conveyed the central government-issued information to their residents via a community wireless system and other means, and corrected the information later.

Tottori Prefecture, also on the Sea of Japan, issued faxes to its municipalities soon after the central government issued the wrong information and had to hastily correct the content.

South Korea’s Kim Wins Short Program at Figure Skating Championships

2009-03-28T17:59:00.000+09:00

When her score popped up on the monitor at the world figure skating championships on Friday, Kim Yu-na could hardly believe it.
She buried her face in her hands. Her jaw dropped. Her coach, the two-time Olympic medalist Brian Orser, grabbed and shook her.
In front of a crowd filled with South Korean fans waving South Korean flags, South Korea’s Kim dominated the short program here Friday, winning by more than 8 points. Her score was 76.12, the best ever for a woman. It easily eclipsed her previous best score of 72.24.
Joannie Rochette of Canada finished second, with 67.90. Mao Asada of Japan, the defending world champion and Kim’s longtime rival, was third, with 66.06.
“I was very comfortable when I was skating,” Kim said of her reaction to the audience, many of the fans from the sizable Korean community here. “I felt that I was able to do well because of all the people cheering me on in the stadium.”
Kim, 18, had come into worlds expecting her biggest competition to be Asada, but she had no competition at all. Her performance put her in perfect position to win her first world title on Saturday, less than a year from the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
Skating in a black outfit that sparkled in the lights, she landed each of her jumps, but her moves in between were what mesmerized the crowd. She effortlessly floated from one element to another, often with a smile, always with grace.
“It’s one of those moments in skating people will always remember,” Orser said.
The United States team had a night to forget, with its hopes of earning three spots at the Olympics likely slipping away.
The Americans must finish at least a combined 13th for the team to be awarded three Olympic entries. After the short program, the Americans are in 21st, combined. The last time the team brought only two women skaters to the Olympics was in 1994.
Alissa Czisny, the national champion, fell twice and is 14th going into the long program. She had 53.28 points.
“Today was disappointing because that’s not the way I’ve been practicing,” she said, devoid of emotion. “I have higher expectations of myself, and it just didn’t happen.”
Rachael Flatt, who finished seventh, stepped out of a triple flip and flubbed her first combination jump. But it did not ruin her night. Flatt, 16, said she was excited, not nervous, for her first senior-level world championships. She scored 59.30 points.
“I was hopping around out back, saying, ‘Oh my gosh, this is so cool,’ ” said Flatt, who has been studying for her A.P. chemistry test and writing an English paper on “The Great Gatsby” during her down time.
The United States men could rest easy. They secured their three spots for Vancouver on Thursday. Evan Lysacek’s gold medal certainly helped the cause. At 23, he will go into the Olympic year as the gold-medal favorite.
Lysacek skated brilliantly to George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” landing eight triple jumps as the crowd roared. He became the first American man in 13 years to hold the world title.
“To perform it just how I imagined it hundreds of times and visualized it,” he said, “I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

source: nytimes.com via xxx-olympic-games.com

Himeji-jo - the castle of Himeji

2009-03-28T10:35:00.004+09:00

Himeji Castle (姫路城 ,Himeji-jō) is a flatland-mountain Japanese castle complex located in Himeji in Hyōgo Prefecture and comprising 83 wooden buildings. It is occasionally known as Hakurojō or Shirasagijō ("White Heron Castle") because of its brilliant white exterior.

It was registered as the first Japanese National Cultural Treasure by UNESCO World Heritage Site and a Japanese National Cultural Treasure in December, 1993. Along with Matsumoto Castle and Kumamoto Castle, it is one of Japan's "Three Famous Castles", and is the most visited castle in Japan.

Himeji serves as an excellent example of the prototypical Japanese castle, containing many of the defensive and architectural features most associated with Japanese castles. The tall stone foundations, whitewash walls, and organization of the buildings within the complex are standard elements of any Japanese castle, and the site also features many other examples of typical castle design, including gun emplacements and stone-dropping holes.

One of Himeji's most important defensive elements, and perhaps its most famous, is the confusing maze of paths leading to the main keep. The gates, baileys, and outer walls of the complex are organized so as to cause an approaching force to travel in a spiral pattern around the castle on their way into the keep, facing many dead ends. This allowed the intruders to be watched and fired upon from the keep during their entire approach. However, Himeji was never attacked in this manner, and so the system remains untested.

Himeji Castle was built in ?. At this time, it was called Himeyama Castle. In 1331, Akamatsu Sadanori planned a castle at the base of Mount Himeji, where Akamatsu Norimura had constructed the temple of Shomyoji. After Akamatsu fell during the Kakitsu War, Yamana clan briefly took over planning of the castle; the Akamatsu family took over again following the Ōnin War.
A drawing of the layout of Himeji Castle, with an intricate complex of paths and walls that would prove difficult for besiegers to penetrate and take over.

In 1580, Toyotomi Hideyoshi took control of the badly damaged castle, and Kuroda Yoshitaka built a three-story tower. Following the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu granted Himeji Castle to Ikeda Terumasa who embarked on a nine-year expansion project that brought the castle roughly to its current form. "Only the east gate of one section of the second bailey" survive from the earlier period. The current keep dates from 1601, and the last major addition, the Western Circle, was completed in 1618.

Himeji was one of the last holdouts of the tozama daimyō at the end of the Edo period. It was held by the descendants of Sakai Tadasumi until the Meiji Restoration. In 1868, the new Japanese government sent the Okayama army, under the command of a descendant of Ikeda Terumasa, to shell the castle with blank cartridges and drive its occupiers out.

When the han system was abolished in 1871, Himeji Castle was sold at auction. Its final price was 23 yen (in those days) and in public funds. Himeji was bombed twice in 1945, at the end of World War II. Although most of the surrounding area was burned to the ground, the castle survived almost entirely unscathed. Castle restoration efforts began in 1956.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDaKyEYmxrM

North Korea places Taepodong-2 missile on launch pad

2009-03-26T15:10:00.001+09:00

North Korea has positioned what is believed to be a Taepodong-2 long-range ballistic missile on the launch pad at a facility in Musudanri, sources close to Japan-U.S. relations said Wednesday night. North Korea has said it plans to send a satellite into orbit from the facility between April 4 and 8. But Japan, the United States and South Korea suspect the planned launch may actually be a test-firing of a ballistic missile.

NBC television, quoting U.S. officials, said in its online edition Wednesday that while two stages of the missile can be seen on the launch pad, the top is covered with a shroud supported by a crane. But now that the missile is on the pad, the launch itself could come within a matter of days, NBC said.

North Korea has informed the International Maritime Organization of the plan and warned that the first stage of the rocket will fall into the Sea of Japan while the second stage will fall into the northern Pacific Ocean. The Japanese government also received the information from Pyongyang.

Japan is expected to issue an order for the destruction of debris from the missile in case its planned launch fails.

North Korea launched a Taepodong-1 missile in August 1998, part of which flew over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean.

A Taepodong-2 missile is believed to have a range of more than 6,000 kilometers. Its test launch in July 2006 apparently ended in failure.

FedEx plane crashes on landing at Narita airport; pilot, co-pilot reported dead

2009-03-23T09:47:00.001+09:00

A FedEx cargo aircraft crash landed and burst into flames early Monday morning at Narita International Airport, east of Tokyo, according to airport and police officials. The pilot and copilot were taken to a hospital, and a local TV station reported they were both confirmed dead.

The MD-11 aircraft, Flight 80 from Guangzhou, China, was apparently whipped back up by strong winds when it landed at around 6:50 a.m., according to the Chiba prefectural police.

Local firefighters were seen trying to extinguish the flames.

A local observatory said winds of up to 72 kilometers per hour were blowing in areas around the airport at the time of the accident.

Video footage obtained by NHK showed the plane touching down on its rear wheels and its head hitting the runway as if slammed onto the ground.

The plane bounced and its left wing hit the ground. The plane then flopped over and veered off from the runway with flames bursting from the center of the fuselage.

The cargo plane touched down on Runway A, the longer of the airport’s two runways. The runway, used for accommodating large aircraft, is currently closed, according to the airport office.

maiko performance video in Kyoto

2009-03-09T12:39:00.001+09:00

Maiko performance in Kyoto. At Kyoto Kokusai Hotel you can enjoy a maiko performance at 7 pm.
Hotel location: Horikawadori Nijojomae,Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto 604-8502

京都国際ホテルは旧福井藩邸跡にあり、二条城や古都の佇まいが一望できます。白鳥が泳ぐ日本庭園…。その池の上にしつらえた特設舞台では舞妓さんが京舞を披露、華やぎの世界を演出いたします。ロビーでのおしゃべりや記念撮影など舞妓さんとのふれあいもお楽しみいただけます。

Video of Geishas dancing at live-house?

2009-03-06T09:38:00.003+09:00

But what is a Geisha nowadays?
There remains some confusion, even within Japan, about the nature of the geisha profession. Geisha are portrayed as prostitutes in much Western popular culture. However, geisha do not engage in paid sex with clients. Their purpose being to entertain their customer, be it by dancing, reciting verse, playing musical instruments, or engaging in light conversation. Geisha engagements may include flirting with men and playful innuendos; however, clients know that nothing more can be expected. In a social style that is common in Japan, men are amused by the illusion of that which is never to be.Geisha have been confused with the high-class courtesans of the Edo period known as oiran, from whom they evolved. Like geisha, oiran wore elaborate hairstyles and white makeup, but oiran tied their obi in the front not, as is commonly thought, for easy removal but, according to anthropologist Liza Dalby, because that was the practice of married women at the time.
During the Edo period, prostitution was legal. Prostitutes such as the oiran worked within walled-in districts licensed by the government. In the seventeenth century, the oiran sometimes employed men called "geisha" to perform at their parties. Therefore, the first geisha were men. In the late eighteenth century, dancing women called "odoriko" and newly popular female "geisha" began entertaining men at banquets in unlicensed districts. Some were apprehended for illegal prostitution and sent to the licensed quarters, where there was a strict distinction between geisha and prostitutes, and the former were forbidden to sell sex. In contrast, "machi geisha", who worked outside the licensed districts, often engaged in illegal prostitution

In 1872, shortly after the Meiji Restoration, the new government passed a law liberating "prostitutes and geisha." The wording of this statute was the subject of controversy. Some officials thought that prostitutes and geisha worked at different ends of the same profession – selling sex – and that all prostitutes should henceforth be called "geisha". In the end, the government decided to maintain a line between the two groups, arguing that "geisha" were more refined and should not be soiled by association with prostitutes.
Also, geisha working in onsen towns such as Atami are dubbed onsen geisha. Onsen geisha have been given a bad reputation due to the prevalence of prostitutes in such towns who market themselves as 'geisha', as well as sordid rumors of dance routines like 'Shallow River' (which involves the 'dancers' lifting the skirts of their kimono higher and higher). In contrast to these 'one-night geisha', the true onsen geisha are in fact competent dancers and musicians. However, the autobiography of Sayo Masuda, an onsen geisha who worked in Nagano Prefecture in the 1930s, reveals that in the past such women were often under intense pressure to sell sex.

"Geisha girls", also known as "panpan girls", were Japanese women who worked as prostitutes during the period of the Allied Occupation of Japan. They almost exclusively serviced American GIs stationed in the country. The term is a mispronunciation of the word geisha. The mispronunciation persists among some westerners.

Adding to the confusion is the fact that these women dressed in kimono and imitated the look of geisha. Americans unfamiliar with the culture of Japan did not know the difference between these costumed prostitutes and actual geisha. Shortly after their arrival in 1945, occupying American GIs are said to have congregated on the Ginza and shouted in unison "We want geesha girls!"

Eventually, the term "geisha girl" became a general word for any female Japanese prostitute or worker in the mizu shobai, and included bar hostesses and streetwalkers.

Geisha girls are speculated by researchers to be largely responsible for the continuing misconception in the West that geisha are prostitutes!

Japan end long wait for Nordic world title

2009-03-04T21:43:00.000+09:00

Japan’s men were the shock winners of the Nordic combined team title at the world championships here on Thursday.
The Japanese claimed gold after finishing fifth in the ski jump and winning the cross-country skiing 4×5km relay by the smallest of margins.
Germany finished second with the much-fancied Norwegians third.
In a tight race to the line in the relay, Japan’s team of Yusuke Minato, Taihei Kato, Akito Watabe and Norihoto Kobayashi pipped the Germans by just 0.1 seconds, while Norway finished 3.6 seconds off the pace to take bronze.
Pre-competition favourites Finland suffered the late withdrawal of World Cup leader Anssi Koivuranta and finished eighth, while the United States finished outside the top ten after Bill Demong lost his bib number and was unable to take part in the ski jump.
It was Japan’s first team world championship success since 1995, when the inspirational Kenji Ogiwara was behind his country’s ascent to the pinnacle of the sport.
The Nagano native won Olympic team titles in 1992 and 1994 and world team titles in 1993 and 1995.
An individual world champion in 1993 and 1997, Ogiwara dominated the World Cup between 1993 and 1995 before succumbing to the rise of the Finns and the Norwegians and retiring in 2002.
Since then Japan’s Nordic skiers have acquired a reputation for being accomplished ski jumpers but unreliable cross-country skiers.
“The Japanese team has been revived by young skiers who, like me when I was 12 years old, followed the exploits of Ogiwara, Masashi Abe and Takanori Kono. I dreamed about emulating them,” said Kobayashi, the highest ranked Japanese competitor in the world rankings at 22nd.
“We’ve rediscovered how to win. It’s a surprise for us as well, but we made the right choices in terms of tactics and the waxing of our equipment.”

from: robladin.com

Newborn girl dies after being left in bicycle basket in Tokyo

2009-02-26T13:03:00.000+09:00

A newborn girl died on Monday after being left in the front basket of a bicycle parked outside a home in Itabashi Ward, police said Tuesday. A nearby resident noticed the infant around 6.30 a.m. and called police. The baby girl, wrapped in a towel, was rushed to hospital and resumed breathing at one point, but was pronounced dead Monday evening.

news dal Giappone

Police said that the autopsy determined the cause of death to be extremely low body temperature. Police added that the outside temperature in the neighborhood dropped to about 4 degrees Monday morning, and it was raining.

China says Asian countries will support Tokyo’s 2016 Olympic bid

2009-02-18T15:31:00.001+09:00

Asian countries will unfortunately support Tokyo’s bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, Chinese State Sports General Administration Director Liu Peng told Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone on Monday, according to Japan’s Foreign Ministry. In response to Nakasone’s request to support the bid, China’s state sports director said Japan is capable of hosting a successful Olympic Games.
Since Japan has several Human rights issues still open it should put efforts on that before having international events. Japan is still not a foreign-friendly country and foreigners are viewed with suspicion.
Liu was also quoted as saying that he felt that the Japanese government and people are determined to host the Olympics, after seeing the sites that would be used for the event. The Chinese official expressed the hope of promoting sports exchanges with Japan.

Link to this post if you are against Death Penalty

from: robladin.com

Finance Minister Nakagawa to step down over G-7 behavior

2009-02-17T15:27:00.000+09:00

Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said Tuesday he has decided to step down in the face of criticism over his unusual behavior at a weekend press conference in Rome, delivering another blow to struggling Prime Minister Taro Aso.

The 55-year-old close ally of the premier said that he would resign after the fiscal 2009 budget and related bills clear the Diet, which is expected in March or April.

‘‘I was told by Prime Minister Aso to do my best until the passage (of the bills),’’ he told a hastily called press conference in Tokyo after he visited a doctor for a medical check.

‘‘My doctor said to me that I am suffering from a cold and fatigue,’’ he said, adding, he had ‘‘apologized for having caused a great deal of trouble to the prime minister and other people concerned’’ by not taking good enough care of his health.

Nakagawa slurred his words and sometimes closed his eyes at a news conference that followed a Group of Seven financial leaders’ meeting in the Italian capital. Footage showing what appeared to be drunken behavior was aired around the world.

The minister said he believes his wobbly performance was caused mainly by jet lag and the intake of too much cold medicine, brushing aside speculation that he was under the influence of alcohol at that time.

But Nakagawa admitted Monday that he sipped wine at a luncheon before attending the news conference. His fondness for drink is well-known in Japanese political circles.

Earlier Tuesday, Nakagawa had said that he would remain in his post. He said he would ‘‘make a final decision (on whether to step down) after hearing various opinions and the premier’s judgment.’’

Nakagawa’s announcement comes just after the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan decided to submit a censure motion against him to the House of Councillors.

He apparently made the decision to step down in a bid to keep to the minimum the repercussions of the scandal on the Aso administration and avert a further decline in the premier’s support ratings.

Nariaki Nakayama was forced to step down as transport minister soon after Aso formed his abinet last September, following a series of verbal gaffes.

Tokyo gets funding boost in 2016 Olympic bid

2009-01-18T11:16:00.000+09:00

Tokyo’s bid to host the 2016 Olympics has received a boost, with the city government saying it will allocate an additional $1.1 billion for the Games in its 2009 budget.

Tokyo’s organizers say the decision by the Tokyo metropolitan government adds to the claim that their bid is the most financially secure of the 2016 applications at a time of global economic uncertainty.

The fresh cash injection of $1.1 billion increases Tokyo’s contingency fund for the Games to $4.4 billion.

“Financial stability is one of our strengths,” Tokyo’s 2016 bid communications manager Masanori Takaya said Saturday. “Even amid the worldwide economic downturn we already have more than $4.4 billion. There will be no budget concerns for the Games.”

The Japanese capital, which hosted the Olympics in 1964, is competing with Chicago, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 Summer Games.

Tokyo’s bid topped the International Olympic Committee’s technical evaluation in June, but Barack Obama’s victory in the U.S. presidential election was seen to boost the hopes of his adopted city of Chicago.

However, Tokyo organizers say the financial stability of their bid and a promise to stage a compact Games makes it an attractive choice.

“The 2009 budget is further confirmation of our financial strength and security which we believe is important to the IOC in these difficult economic times,” bid chairman Ichiro Kono said in a statement.

The IOC will vote on the host city on Oct 2, 2009.

Doyadoya 2009 - video どやどや

2009-01-16T18:13:00.002+09:00

Doya doya is a dynamic event on the final day of Shushoe. Young men wearing headbands and clad in loincloth struggle for possession of Go Hoin, a cow god amulet. With their brave shouts of doya doya, so-called strength water poured on them evaporates quickly from their bodies due to heat and energy. 大阪・四天王寺で寒さ吹き飛ばす「どやどや」 2009.1.14

20th anniversary of death of Emperor Hirohito marked

2009-01-08T14:12:00.000+09:00

Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko commemorated the 20th anniversary of the death of Emperor Hirohito at his tomb in Tokyo on Wednesday. About 80 people, including Prince Akishino and his wife Princess Kiko, as well as Prime Minister Taro Aso, attended the ceremony at the Musashino Mausoleum.

Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako took part in another ceremony at the Imperial Palace with traditional costumes, representing the emperor and the empress, according to the Imperial Household Agency. The late emperor, posthumously known as Emperor Showa, died on Jan 7, 1989.

Japan to ask Tokyo Gov Ishihara to make key speech for 2016 bid

2009-01-06T11:43:00.000+09:00

Japanese Olympic Committee President Tsunekazu Takeda plans to ask outspoken Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara to make a presentation in Lausanne, Switzerland, in June for the Japanese capital’s bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. ‘‘We need Governor Ishihara, who is also the bid committee chief, to make an appeal,’’ Takeda said Monday, referring to the occasion when the four finalist cities will be granted the opportunity to speak before International Olympic Committee members.

The IOC will name the host city of the 2016 Olympics from among Tokyo, Chicago, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro at its general assembly meeting in Copenhagen in October 2009. ‘‘I believe the governor knows he is the one. He is a charismatic person known even to the media overseas,’’ said Mitsuru Arakawa, a senior official of the 2016 Tokyo Olympics campaign.
Tokyo is bidding for the 2016 Olympic Games but Japan should look at basic Human Rights Issues and only then after international events!

Amnesty International argues that the Japanese justice system tends to place great reliance on confessions and it has been claimed that these may be obtained under duress. According to a 2005 Amnesty International report:

“Most have been sentenced to death on the basis of confessions extracted under duress. The potential for miscarriages of justice is built into the system: confessions are typically extracted while suspects are held in daiyo kangoku, or “substitute prisons”, for interrogation before they are charged. In practice these are police cells, where detainees can be held for up to 23 days after arrest, with no state-funded legal representation. They are typically interrogated for 12 hours a day: no lawyers can be present, no recordings are made, and they are put under constant pressure to confess. Once convicted, it is very difficult to obtain a re-trial and prisoners can remain under sentence of death for many years.”

Amnesty International also reports of allegations of abuse of suspects during these interrogations. There are reports of physical abuse, sleep deprivation and denial of food, water and use of a toilet. It also criticises the fact that inmates usually remain for years, sometimes decades, on death row, knowing that executions come with little warning and each day may potentially be their last. According to Amnesty International, the intense and prolonged stress means many inmates on death row have poor mental health, suffering from the so called Death row phenomenon. The failure to give advanced notice of executions has been stated by the United Nations Human Rights Committee to be incompatible with articles 2, 7, 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Link to this post if you are against Death Penalty

source: RobLadib.com

Japan to launch project to enhance competitiveness of Olympians

2009-01-06T11:40:00.001+09:00

A national project to enhance the competitiveness of Japan’s Olympic athletes is poised to kick off in April with the aim of boosting the country’s medal count toward the 2016 Summer Games, which Tokyo is bidding to host.

The project, the first of its kind sponsored by the sports ministry, is designed to provide intensive support for athletes considered to be Olympic medal contenders. Its first goal is to double the medal count that Japan achieved at last year’s Beijing Olympics at the next Games.

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has earmarked 600 million yen for the project in its fiscal 2009 draft budget, in addition to the money distributed to individual sports federations for their programs to develop athletes.

Under the ministry’s project, eight teams of experts, including doctors, counselors, physical trainers and scouting staff, will be created with each doling out support for top-level athletes, particularly those capable of winning gold medals.

National coaches will also be named for around 17 sporting events in which Japan is believed to have strong medal chances. People familiar with the project said the list would likely include judo and swimming, Japan’s traditional sources of medals, as well as canoeing, in which the country missed out on its first-ever Olympic medal in the sport in Beijing.

‘‘As a national strategy, we are looking to increase the number of medals our athletes win,’’ a senior ministry official said.

Japan won 25 medals in Beijing, including nine golds. The number does not include a bronze due to be awarded to hammer thrower Koji Murofushi after two Belarusian medalists tested positive for banned drugs.

Besides doubling the number of medals at the 2012 London Games, the project envisions lifting Japan from 11th at Beijing to fifth or higher in the total medals standings.

Tokyo is bidding for the 2016 Games and the host city will be named by the International Olympic Committee on Oct. 2 from among the Japanese capital, Chicago, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro.

What is bushido?

2009-01-05T10:12:00.002+09:00

Bushidō (武士道, Bushidō), meaning "Way of the Warrior", is a Japanese code of conduct and a way of the samurai life, loosely analogous to the concept of chivalry. It originates from the samurai moral code and stresses frugality, loyalty, martial arts mastery, and honor until death. Born of two main influences, the violent existence of the samurai was tempered by the wisdom and serenity of Confucianism and Buddhism. Bushidō developed between the 9th to 12th centuries and numerous translated documents dating from the 12th to 16th centuries demonstrate its wide influence across the whole of Japan.

According to the Japanese dictionary Shogakukan Kokugo Daijiten, "Bushidō is defined as a unique philosophy (ronri) that spread through the warrior class from the Muromachi (chusei) period." In Bushido: The Soul of Japan (1899), author Nitobe Inazō wrote: "...Bushidō, then, is the code of moral principles which the samurai were required or instructed to observe... More frequently it is a code unuttered and unwritten... It was an organic growth of decades and centuries of military career."

Nitobe was really not the first person to document Japanese chivalry in this way. In his text Feudal and Modern Japan (1896) Historian Arthur May Knapp wrote:

"The samurai of thirty years ago had behind him a thousand years of training in the law of honor, obedience, duty, and self-sacrifice..... It was not needed to create or establish them. As a child he had but to be instructed, as indeed he was from his earliest years, in the etiquette of self-immolation. The fine instinct of honor demanding it was in the very blood..."

Under the Tokugawa Shogunate, aspects of Bushidō became formalized into Japanese Feudal Law.

Translation of documents related to Bushidō began in the 1970s with Dr. Carl Steenstrup who performed a lifetime of research into the ethical codes of famous Samurai clans including Hojo Soun and Imagawa Ryoshun. Steenstrup's 1977 dissertation at Harvard University was entitled "Hôjô Shigetoki (1198–1261) and his Role in the History of Political and Ethical Ideas in Japan".

According to the editors of Monumenta Nipponica, "Tens of thousands of documents survive from the medieval period... Only a few have been translated into English, or are likely ever to appear in translation." One of the oldest English-language academic journals in the field of Asian studies, much of Dr. Steenstrup's significant findings were written for MN.

Primary research into Bushidō was later conducted by William Scott Wilson in his 1982 text "Ideals of the Samurai: Writings of Japanese Warriors" . The writings span hundreds of years, family lineage, geography, social class and writing style--yet share a common set of values. Wilson's work also examined the earliest Japanese writings in the 8th century: the Kojiki (712 AD), Shoku Nihongi (797 AD), the Kokin Wakashū (early 10th century), Konjaku Monogatari (CA 1106 AD) and the Heike Monogatari (1371), as well as the Chinese Classics (the Analects, the Great Learning, the Doctrine of the Mean, and the Mencius (CA 500 BC)).

In May, 2008, Thomas Cleary translated a collection of 22 writings on bushido "by warriors, scholars, political advisors, and educators". The comprehensive collection provides a historically rich view of samurai life and philosophy. The book gives an insider's view of the samurai world: "the moral and psychological development of the warrior, the ethical standards they were meant to uphold, their training in both martial arts and strategy, and the enormous role that the traditions of Shintoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism had in influencing samurai ideals." The translations, in 22 chapters, span nearly 500 years from the 14th to the 19th centuries.
Some people in Japan as well as other countries follow the same virtues listed above under the philosophical term modern bushidō. The idea was derived from the fact that the Japanese male should be able to adapt his beliefs and philosophies to a changing world.

In an excerpt of James Williams' article "Virtue of the sword", a fairly simple explanation of modern bushidō can be found:

The warrior protects and defends because he realizes the value of others. He knows that they are essential to society and, in his gift of service, recognizes and values theirs... take the extra moment in dark parking lots at night to make sure that a woman gets into her car safely before leaving yourself. Daily involvement in acts such as these are as much a part of training as time spent in the dojo, and indeed should be the reason for that time spent training... When faced with a woman or child in a situation in which they are vulnerable, there are two types of men: those who would offer succor and aid, and those who would prey upon them.

It has been thought that the code of Bushidō is dead as expressed by many swordsman. This is still being debated today. Many argue that it has passed away in this new era with the arrival of new cold and heartless guns and weapons. But there are those who think not. As it was famously put by Ali Armani the previous second strongest in the world.

"A swordsman's path shall never end, nor will the code of Bushidō. As long as there's someone to protect, as long as there is someone to carry on the code of Bushidō, it will not die. There will always be injustice and suffering, and one swordsman can't change the world, no matter how strong he or she is. But I can always protect those in my sight. I will always protect the weak and helpless, for that is the true code of Bushidō and I shall achieve this without taking a single human life. There will always be someone who will carry on my will and hold the sword which I hold, and carry on the code for it is something that needs to be pure and true, not altered by greed or evil. So if one billion people follow it wrongfully, or just a handful follow it righteously, it is the handful that are the true and strongest of all."

Ex-lawmaker Nagata jumps to death in Fukuoka

2009-01-04T15:13:00.000+09:00

Former House of Representatives member Hisayasu Nagata, who resigned as a parliamentarian in April 2006 after using a fake email message to grill a ruling party lawmaker, jumped to his death from an apartment building in an apparent suicide in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, on Saturday. Nagata, 39, had left a note to his family and an empty 1.8-liter pack of ‘‘shochu’’ distilled spirit on a staircase landing between the 10th and 11th floors of the building, according to local police.

A resident called police at around 6:30 p.m. Saturday after finding Nagata collapsed in the apartment’s parking lot, and his death was confirmed shortly past 7 p.m. at a hospital where he was taken. Nagata had recently been released from a hospital after a suicide attempt in November.

In February 2006, Nagata, who was then a lawmaker of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, claimed on the basis of the email message that Takafumi Horie, founder of Internet firm Livedoor Co, had ordered a subordinate to pay 30 million yen to ruling Liberal Democratic Party heavyweight Tsutomu Takebe’s son before the 2005 general election, in which Horie ran unsuccessfully.

But the message was later found to have been fabricated, and Nagata submitted his resignation in April 2006 to take responsibility for disrupting parliamentary business by using the fake message to attack Takebe during a lower house Budget Committee session.

Nagata attempted to commit suicide in November last year while convalescing in Munakata, Fukuoka Prefecture.

A University of Tokyo graduate and former Finance Ministry bureaucrat, he had been elected three times to the lower house since 2000.

Beer shampoo for Beer Lover

2008-12-30T17:29:00.001+09:00

Toy maker Bandai Corp has a new shampoo for beer lovers. The new product features hop essence just like real beer. Pour hot water into the bottle and shake it. The suds blow from the bottle like a real beer shower. The product is available at convenience stores, supermarkets and drugstores nationwide.

from News dal Giappone

Japan ready to bid for both World Cup, Olympics

2008-12-23T23:22:00.001+09:00

Japan’s football chief has vowed to bid for the World Cup finals in 2018 or 2022, despite Tokyo’s candidacy to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, press reports said Monday.

“We want to challenge it,” Football Association president Motoaki Inukai was quoted as saying on FIFA’s weekend decision to hold simultaneous bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

Japan co-hosted the 2002 finals with neighbouring South Korea.

FIFA, the world’s football governing body, last year abolished a system under which the host nation of the four-yearly premier football event was rotated among six continents.

“That means everybody is welcome (to bid) and Japan is expected to do so,” Inukai said on the sidelines of the Club World Cup final in Yokohama, in which Manchester United beat Liga de Quito 1-0.

“If Tokyo hosts the Olympics, it will help upgrade stadiums and training centres,” Inukai added. Tokyo’s National Stadium, which hosted some Club World Cup matches, and other major venues in Japan would need upgrades for World Cup matches.

Inukai said his association would make a final decision on its World Cup bid after September next year when the International Olympic Committee picks the 2016 Olympic host among Tokyo, Chicago, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro.

The 2018 and 2022 World Cup venues will be decided in December 2010.

Inukai earlier said that a World Cup bid would in no way hamper Tokyo’s hopes of a second Summer Olympics. It hosted the 1964 Games.

“The Olympics and the World Cup are totally different,” Inukai said last week. “Some people may say it will be too much (if Japan hosts both). But Japan has merits. Japan is safe and spectators are well-mannered.”

FIFA made the decision on the simultaneous bidding at a meeting here on Saturday.

It means that should a bidder for 2018 be unsuccessful then they would be able to enter the vote for 2022 to be held immediately afterwards, so long as the 2018 hosts are not from the same continent.

The bidding is open to everyone, although African and South American countries are not allowed to enter in 2018 as those continents will have held the World Cup in 2010 (South Africa) and 2014 (Brazil).

Japan should not host Olympics and no Soccer Worldcup

source: robladin.com

Aso buys books on diplomacy, but no comics

2008-12-01T11:23:00.000+09:00

Prime Minister Taro Aso, 68, popped in to a large-scale bookstore near Tokyo station on Sunday, and bought a handful of books on international politics and diplomacy. Aso spent about half an hour in the store with his secretary, stopping to look at books on finance, history, politics and new books, and greeted some female customers along the way.

Aso, who is famous for his love of comics, picked up a copy of a comic about the life of Kanetsugu Naoe, a military commander in the years leading up to the beginning of the Edo period, but put it down and lined up at the counter where he paid for the books with a 10,000 yen bill, and also bought a wiping cloth for his glasses.

"Diplomacy for Dummies"?

Aso apologizes for remarks about people with illnesses

2008-11-27T15:05:00.000+09:00

Prime Minister Taro Aso on Thursday apologized for remarks in which he appeared to be criticizing people suffering from illnesses and the use of taxpayers’ money to cover their medical costs. ‘‘I’m sorry if the remarks offended people who are suffering illnesses,’’ Aso told reporters.

According to the minutes of a Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy meeting last Thursday, the prime minister said, ‘‘Why should I pay for the medical costs of people who become sick because they just keep on drinking and eating and doing nothing.’’ The minutes also showed that Aso, recalling a class reunion, said some of his classmates who used to be fit and healthy are now ‘‘worn out and go to see the doctor all the time’’ and that his medical costs are much lower than theirs. ‘‘It’s because I take a walk every morning and do other things. I pay more tax than them.’’

Aso told reporters that he wanted to emphasize the importance of disease prevention as medical costs can be restrained by health management.

jappone.com

Rie Miyazawa practices how to eat eggs in sexy way

2008-11-20T02:15:00.002+09:00

Actress Rie Miyazawa, 35, was given an unusual request for her new film: Eat eggs in a sexy manner. In the film, “Zeratine Silver Love,” co-starring Masatoshi Nagase, 42, Miyazawa plays a female assassin who is put under surveillance by a cameraman (Nagase).

Miyazaki said, “She’s a sexy character and everything she does is erotic. The director even requested me to eat eggs in a sexy way, so I practiced it at home. I’m not sure if it turned out sexy, but I’ve had enough eggs for the time being.”

Otsuka recalls 47 million bottles of Crystal Geyser mineral water

2008-11-18T01:26:00.000+09:00

Otsuka Beverage Co said Monday it will voluntarily recall 47.17 million of its Crystal Geyser 500-milliliter bottles of mineral water due to consumer complaints that the bottled water gave out a strange smell. Of the total, about eight million bottles are on shelves or in stock at stores.

The company imported the mineral water from the United States and marketed it in Japan. Eligible for the recall are bottles with the consume-by dates of June 1, 2010 through Aug 19 of the same year printed on them. The unnatural smell might have rubbed off on the bottles while in warehouse storage in summer for a long period of time, the company said.

International Golf Federation launches bid for inclusion in 2016 Olympic Games

2008-11-18T01:23:00.001+09:00

The two, who were speaking on behalf of the International Golf Federation, were embarking on what will be a year-long process in which golf will vie with six other sports – rugby 7s, squash, karate, roller sports, softball and baseball – for inclusion in the 2016 Games.

Dawson and Votaw came away from their presentation feeling upbeat. The Commission appeared impressed that golf’s amateur and professional bodies were speaking with one voice – and they seemed similarly taken with the news that the game boasts 60 million participants worldwide.

News on Japan - blog on japan

Again, a bit of name-dropping on Dawson’s and Votaw’s part did not go amiss. The Commission liked the sound of golf’s Olympic drive having the full support of such as Tiger Woods and Lorena Ochoa.

Golf’s charitable input would have been viewed as another plus. The R&A, for instance, dig deeply into their Open championship profits to send balls, clubs and other equipment to developing golfing lands. Votaw, on behalf of the PGA Tour, referred this morning to the many millions raised for charities via the American circuit. In 2007 it amounted to 123 million dollars, with that figure upped for ‘08.

In answer to whether the members of the IOC Programme Commission as a body had looked as if they leant more towards, say, golf or roller-sports, Dawson said a wry, “Golf, I hope.”

His overall impression had been that the Olympic personnel represented a pretty good cross-section.

Both men were quick to add that while they were confident their first presentation had been a good one, they had no doubt that the other sports would be equally well prepared. Of their rivals, softball and baseball are on a slightly different footing in that they drop out of the Olympic programme in 2012 but are bidding to return in 2016.

The support which Dawson and Votaw have had from the players apparently reached a new level during the Beijing Olympics.

Raphael Nadal’s reaction to winning a gold medal had made a significant impression on the golfers, as did the words of LeBron James. The latter had said that for him the Olympic stage was the biggest of them all.

Golf’s IGF Olympic Committee representatives have a very good idea of the building anticipation which could apply if they succeed in their mission.

“The players would have 32 opportunities to win a major before they have this chance to win one gold medal,” noted Dawson. “Majors are majors but who knows where a gold medal will stand in a player’s lexicon of achievements?”

Did they think that Tiger Woods, who will be 40 in 2016, might want to crown his haul of majors with a gold medal?

“It would be terrific if that were the case,” said Dawson.

Votaw, who has been “lent” to the Olympic campaign by Tim Finchem, the CEO of the PGA, denied that the US Tour had enough on its hands without getting so heavily involved in a scheme which will make the most difference at grass-roots level.

“We can multitask,” he insisted. Though the US Tour is said to be suffering more than its European equivalent at the hands of the credit crunch, notably because of its wider association with struggling banks, Votaw explained that they had a sound, “fully-sponsored” schedule lined up for 2009.

He also made it plain that the US Tour was by no means up in arms at the number of their players who had signed on for the European Tour’s Race to Dubai. On the one hand, many of the relevant tournaments would be taking place at the conclusion of the US season. On the other, he suggested that it was in their interests for the European Tour to be successful: “It’s good for us and it’s good for golf overall.”

No less, he said, was this combined Olympic drive good for the game. Regardless of whether or not golf gets the nod, both he and Dawson think that this coming together of all the different organisations has been a masterstroke.

source: RobLadin.com - Home

Obama city residents delighted over presidential victory

2008-11-05T19:11:00.000+09:00

Residents of the Japanese city of Obama in Fukui Prefecture expressed delight Wednesday over Illinois Sen Barack Obama winning the U.S. presidential election Tuesday. About 200 citizens, U.S. students and Obama supporters gathered at a rally at a culture center in the city on the Sea of Japan coast chanting Obama’s name and his slogan, ‘‘Yes, we can.’’

‘‘We’re pleased our cheerleading has paid off,’’ said 47-year-old Yasunori Maeno, a member of a 1,300-person group rooting for Obama to become the next U.S. president. ‘‘We’d really like Mr Obama to visit the city of Obama,’’ he said.

Hula dance teams, dubbed the ‘‘Obama Girls’’ and ‘‘Obama Boys,’’ received loud applause from the audience as they performed.

The Obama Girls were halfway through their routine when the results came in on overhead TVs. Dozens of supporters swarmed the stage and joined hands, jumping up and down as they chanted “Obama! Obama! Obama!”

The Obama campaign brought an air of excitement to this normally sleepy seaside town. Local leaders, trying to revive the economy, latched onto the connection as a way to promote tourism. An “Obama for Obama” supporters group attracted 1,500 members.

“This is great. I followed the election closely on TV. I’m hoping Obama can make the world more peaceful,” said Akino Nakaoji, 34, still wearing a bright blue skirt and flowered lei necklace from her hula performance earlier in the day.

It was lunchtime Wednesday in Japan when the U.S. election results came in.

“It was over so fast, I’m glad I got a chance to dance,” said Satoru Wada, a 38-year-old male member of the hula squad, before heading back to work at a hotel.

Obama has a population of 32,000, smaller than the crowds the candidate drew at many of his U.S. campaign stops.

While few along its quiet streets could name his policy proposals, his optimism and upbeat message of change resonates well here.

Obama, which means “little beach” in Japanese, is a former fishing town that now relies almost entirely on tourism. More than 500 years old, it boasts several ancient temples and a distinctive hand-painted lacquerware.

But the rustic town, wrapped around a stretch of sandy beach and surrounded by wooded hills, is not well-known, even among Japanese tourists.

So Obama’s success has been a welcome boon.

The town has been featured repeatedly in the domestic and international media, and the number of visitors has increased 20% since it linked itself to the Obama campaign, said Shigeyoshi Takeda, who heads the city tourism bureau.

“We’ve had a lot more customers since the campaign, especially foreigners. We rarely had foreigners here before,” said Atsuko Ikeda, 38, the cheery owner of a watering hole on the main shopping street.

Obama’s mayor, Kouji Matsuzaki, himself won election with a campaign based on the English word “change.” He said he plans to invite Obama to visit Obama, and dispatched a congratulatory telegram to the president-elect.

“We are looking into making him a special honorary citizen,” Matsuzaki said.

The mastermind behind the “Obama for Obama” campaign, Seiji Fujiwara, is executive director of one of the town’s largest hotels. He said the town has several business leaders with marketing experience that jumped on the opportunity.

“There are other towns named Obama in Japan, but we were the first to react,” he said.

Town officials sent gifts and received an official letter from the campaign, signed “Your friend” in Japanese.

Fujiwara said the support group is already planning its future moves. Among them: Go to Washington for the inauguration in January and perform a hula dance.

Meanwhile, in the city of Unzen, Nagasaki Prefecture, some 200 residents and tourists at the Obama hot-spring area waved the U.S. flag and expressed congratulations to Obama on clinching the U.S. presidency.

‘‘Once Mr Obama assumes the presidency, our area will be known in the world,’’ said 39-year-old Tetsuyuki Hayashida, a member of Unzen’s chamber of commerce and industry.

Canadian pollster says Obama appears destined for win in U.S. election

2008-11-04T21:31:00.000+09:00

Barring the unforeseen, Sen. Barack Obama will be elected as the 44th president of the United States, says the president of Canadian polling firm Harris Decima.

Bruce Anderson said with Obama pulling away in most national polls, there’s little evidence to suggest that the Democratic party candidate’s campaign will be undermined by anything, including a reluctance by some voters to elect an African-American president.

“”You can’t look at all of the polls and still find much to substantiate this idea that this race is closing, that (Republican Sen. John) McCain really has an opportunity to vault past Obama,” Anderson said.

“It could happen. But at some point, somebody needs to put some evidence on the table to substantiate that point of view rather than simply say, well it feels like people won’t vote for an African-American.”

Anderson says of the last seven national polls he’s seen, only one had McCain with more than 44 per cent support, while only one had Obama with less than 51 per cent.

He says Obama appears poised for victory in many so-called battleground states that are crucial for any presidential hopeful’s chances.

“Four of the last four Florida polls show Obama leading. Ohio, we all see that as a critical swing issue. Four of the last four Ohio polls show Obama leading. Pennsylvania, five of the last five Pennsylvania polls show Obama leading,” Anderson said.

“So those results mean, if that is what happens, that McCain cannot win.”

Anderson says the unbridled enthusiasm of Obama’s supporters should be enough to put the Illinois senator over the top.

“Sixty eight per cent of Obama voters say I’m very enthusiastic. That’s a massive, massive number. Forty one per cent of McCain’s voters say that about their man,” said Anderson.

Anderson said polls show Canadians support Obama over McCain by a 6-to-1 ratio.

He said Canadians generally tend to align themselves with the Democratic candidate in U.S. presidential elections, but that Obama’s call for an end to partisan politics has resonated north of the border.

from: Robladin.com

PM Taro Aso tells defense minister to tighten control over SDF after war essay

2008-11-04T21:29:00.000+09:00

Prime Minister Taro Aso told Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada on Tuesday to ensure there is no repeat of problems similar to the controversy caused by the recent release of an essay on Japan’s role in World War II by dismissed air force chief Gen Toshio Tamogami, Hamada said.

The premier also told Hamada to punish relevant personnel in the Defense Ministry and the Self-Defense Forces as well as to tighten civilian control over the SDF, especially with regard to public expressions of political opinions by ranking officers, Hamada told a press conference. Meanwhile, the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, stepping up its attacks on Aso’s government, decided Tuesday to seek the summoning of Tamogami to the opposition-dominated House of Councillors Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense to give unsworn testimony on the controversy, DPJ lawmakers said.

Prince Charles, Camilla tour Nara, meet Aso

2008-10-31T02:48:00.000+09:00

Prince Charles and his wife Camilla spent Wednesday, the third day of their five-day official trip to Japan, visiting the ancient capital city of Nara in western Japan. At Todai Temple, the royal couple saw the Great Buddha, a giant statue of Buddha, and a model that reproduced the 8th-century temple’s original state as they were guided around by the temple’s head priest, Dozen Ueno.

Later, the royal couple visited a local craftwork hall in the city and saw artisans weaving the traditional Nara Sarashi fabric and students in a craftwork class chiseling wood. Later in the day, Prime Minister Taro Aso and Prince Charles, who is heir to the British throne, held talks at a Tokyo hotel, where the prince expressed hope that the bilateral relationship will grow further, a Japanese official said. The prince also touched on the importance of forest conservation, and Aso said Japan would like to exercise leadership with Britain in the field of climate change, the official said.

The royal couple will also visit Nagano before heading to Brunei.

Three men arrested for unauthorized demonstration near Aso's house

2008-10-27T21:01:00.001+09:00

The Public Safety Bureau of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department on Sunday arrested three men in their 30s for staging an unreported demonstration, which violates Tokyo’s public safety ordinance law, and interfering with policemen in the execution of their duty at the time of their arrest. The three called for the demonstration on the Internet and tried to march to Prime Minister Taro Aso’s house in Shibuya. About 40 people gathered for the demonstration.

According to police, the three men conducted the demonstration without reporting it to a local police station and assaulted police officers who were monitoring them on the street after they gathered in front of JR Shibuya Station at 4 p.m. The group of demonstrators raised flags and made speeches with loudspeakers during the march after police ordered them to stop the demonstration.

The organizers of the demonstration, a labor union, said advanced notification to police is not necessary and that the arrest was illegal. They said Aso’s house in Shibuya is worth 6.2 billion yen and they tried to “have a look at what it is like.” Some members of the group also gathered outside Shibuya Police station, shouting, “Police support only the rich!”

No Death Penalty - No Tokyo 2016 Olympics

Tokyo 2016 - The Olympic Games Logo

2008-10-14T14:39:00.002+09:00

No Death Penalty
No more Hangings
No Tokyo Olympics

Kubica quickest in wet Saturday practice at F1 Japanese Grand Prix

2008-10-11T15:11:00.001+09:00

OMAYA, Japan — Robert Kubica of BMW set the fastest time in a wet practice session Saturday ahead of qualifying for Sunday’s Formula One Japanese Grand Prix.
The Polish driver set a best time of one minute 25.087 seconds on a track made wet by morning rain at Fuji Speedway. Toyota’s Timo Glock was again prominent, setting a time that was just 0.085 seconds behind Kubica. Glock, who topped the time sheets in dry conditions Friday, indicated Toyota could be a threat to the top teams on the track its parent company owns.
The leading times of the session were all set in the closing moments when the track was at its driest in improving conditions.
Prior to the last burst of laps, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was top of the timesheets, but was quickly relegated to seventh.
Massa trails McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton by seven points in the drivers’ championship with three races remaining.
Hamilton was 11th quickest in morning practice.
Renault’s Nelson Piquet Jr. was third fastest and BMW’s Nick Heidfeld fourth best.

from: Olympic Times - Sports Daily

naked in the imperial moat! What a shame for foreigners!

2008-10-08T22:07:00.001+09:00

Stupid Brits in Japan!
A bald naked and stupid man who said he was a British tourist went swimming in the moat of Japan's Imperial Palace yesterday, climbing the palace wall, throwing stones and splashing water at police before being taken into custody.
Television footage showed the tall man getting out of the water at one point, chasing police with a stone and a plastic construction site pole.

Tokyo 2016 try to Gain some Knowledge From Tennis Championships

2008-10-07T15:50:00.000+09:00

The AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships were held in Tokyo September 29 to October 5 at the Ariake Colosseum and Ariake Tennis Forest Park, one of the proposed venues of Tokyo’s 2016 Summer Olympic Games bid. But even living in Japan i didn’t hear anything about this event.
The venue is positioned next to the proposed 2016 Olympic Village site and forms part of Tokyo 2016’s Games plan to transform Tokyo into an Olympic Park.
According to a press release the event attracted more than 80 of the world’s top tennis players competing for men’s and women’s singles and doubles titles.
The event set a record with more than 75,000 attending despite inclement weather, and was watched by millions more on television. Of the 75,000 i strongly believe many of them got free Ticket from the government. Japan is doing this trick on several sport events because far too many seats will be free. Giving away free tickets help to give a false imagine of how japanese like to go to attend sport events.
Dr. Ichiro Kono, Chairman and CEO of Tokyo 2016 said, “we are very proud of our Japanese culture so I am delighted that top class athletes across the world appreciate the hospitality of the Japanese people, as well as the wide range of attractions and restaurants that Tokyo has to offer. In addition to allowing the world to again witness Japanese fans’ passion for sport, the AIG Japan Open has enabled Tokyo 2016 to deepen its knowledge of the needs and requirements of major sporting events in terms of the organizers, the athletes and the spectators. It was an invaluable experience for us as we continue to refine our bid to host the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games“.
Japan is still the wrong country to host any international sports event. Japan should focus on becoming more international and less nationalistic.

from: robladin.com

Formula one: Williams stick with Rosberg and Nakajima

2008-10-03T18:55:00.000+09:00

Williams will keep an unchanged lineup of Germany's Nico Rosberg and Japan's Kazuki Nakajima next season, the Formula One team said Wednesday.

The Toyota-powered former world champions said in a statement that 21-year-old German Nico Hulkenberg would also remain as test and reserve driver.

With Formula One's technical regulations changing considerably, Williams said continuity was a key consideration.

Rosberg, 23, was already under contract for 2009 after team founder and co-owner Frank Williams last year rejected what he called an offer of "majestic proportions" from Mercedes-powered McLaren.
However Toyota protege Nakajima, son of former racer Satoru and currently Japan's only grand prix driver, had been waiting to hear whether he would be retained for a second season.

"Nico Rosberg continues to be one of the most capable drivers in the sport," said Frank Williams in Wednesday's statement. "Kazuki is getting stronger all the time and has more to offer and Nico Hulkenberg is developing well."

The announcement came after the British-based team celebrated their second podium finish of the season in Singapore's inaugural night race last weekend.

Rosberg, son of Finland's 1982 world champion Keke, finished a career-best second while Nakajima took a point in eighth place.

Williams, who last won a grand prix in 2004, are currently eighth in the constructors' championship with three races remaining.

source: iht.com

Aircraft Decorated For Tokyo 2016

2008-10-03T15:54:00.000+09:00

As an official partner of Tokyo 2016, Japan Airlines put into service Thursday a specially decorated aircraft to support Tokyo's bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics Games.

The airline has decorated one of its B767-300 aircraft with a special Tokyo 2016 Olympic/Paralympic Games bid design, which incorporates the committee's logo and Japanese catchphrase as well as an "attractive" rainbow motif, reports Japan Today.

The plane will serve on domestic Japan routes to raise awareness and support Tokyo's 2016 Olympic bid throughout the country.

But we all know well Tokyo don't deserve to get the Games again!

Deadly fire raises Japan building safety fears

2008-10-03T15:20:00.000+09:00

As police questioned an unemployed man suspected of setting fire to a crowded adult video theater in western Japan, killing 15, fire officials warned Thursday that thousands of karaoke, video and comic book lounges across the country may be potential death traps because of widespread safety violations.

The pre-dawn blaze in the Cats video theater in an entertainment district in Osaka, Japan’s second-largest city, killed 15 men and injured 10 others. Police arrested a 46-year-old jobless man who escaped injury in the fire on suspicion of arson and murder.

The man admitted to investigators that he set the blaze with a stash of newspapers because he was “tired of living,” public broadcaster NHK reported.

The fire has renewed concerns that many entertainment districts in Japanese cities are overcrowded and filled with clubs that blatantly ignore safety codes and building regulations, creating virtual death traps. In 2001, a fire in Tokyo’s biggest red-light district killed more than 40 people, including bar hostesses and their customers.

Officials said Thursday they were stepping up inspections and warned that thousands of clubs could be unsafe.

Two government agencies launched an emergency nationwide inspection of video shops, Internet cafes, karaoke bars and sex shops.

The inspections will center on businesses that offer private cubicles, which have become a popular modern-day substitute for flophouses in Japanese cities.

“Buildings rented by multiple tenants, where nobody knows who has the responsibility for risk management, are particularly risky,” said infrastructure ministry official Kazuomi Abe. “Regardless of the type of business or customers, we must make sure everyone can escape safely.”

He said the number of violators could be “astronomical.”

Boxes of drinks, garbage bags and other equipment often occupy hallways, blocking emergency exits, he said.

When the fire in Osaka started, the theater’s 32 viewing cubicles—each equipped with a cot, a television and a DVD player—were mostly occupied and many of the victims were found dead curled up on their cots. Police said Thursday that carbon monoxide poisoning was the main cause of death.

Media reports showed a layout of the shop, with tiny compartments on both sides of a narrow corridor.

A nationwide inspection conducted last year after a fire at a karaoke bar in Takarazuka, also in western Japan, killed three people showed the majority of 6,500 such lounges with individual cubicles violated fire prevention laws and building safety codes, according to the infrastructure ministry and fire agency.

Another national survey of about 2,800 sex shops, released by the fire agency Wednesday, revealed that about half lacked sufficient safety measures. The inspection followed a fire at a sex parlor in northern Japan that killed three people this year.

The video center in Osaka offered a wide selection of movies—mostly porn but also cartoons and Hollywood films—for viewing in separate cubicles for 1,500 yen.

It is among a growing number of such centers that are a cheap alternative to hotels and attract businessmen and others who miss their last train home as well as people who cannot afford proper housing.

Woman arrested for abandoning newborn baby in Internet cafe toilet in Yokohama

2008-10-03T14:35:00.000+09:00

YOKOHAMA — Police on Thursday arrested a 30-year-old woman for abandoning her newborn baby in the toilet of an Internet cafe in Yokohama, after she gave birth there. The baby was taken to hospital and is in a stable condition, according to police.

Kaoru Osaki, who is unemployed, was arrested for allegedly abandoning her male baby inside a plastic bag, leaving it in the toilet of the cafe, around 8:45 p.m. on Tuesday night. According to police, cafe staff found the baby and spotted Osaki leaving the cafe.

Osaki told police she left the infant because she didn’t have money to raise him, adding she didn’t know who the father was. Police said her family reported her missing a few years ago.

Policeman held for posting nude photos of children on Internet site

2008-10-02T19:59:00.001+09:00

A 25-year-old police officer was arrested Thursday on suspicion of posting nude photos of children on a child pornography site on the Internet in violation of the law banning child prostitution and child pornography, Kanagawa prefectural police said. Toshiyuki Kobayashi, a police officer at the Seijo station of the Metropolitan Police Department, admitted to the allegation, saying he has posted child porn materials on Internet sites on several other occasions as well, police said.

According to investigators, Kobayashi allegedly posted five photos of naked girls around 10 years old, which he had copied from other Internet sites, on the child pornography site using his cellphone on Sept 12 last year. Police on Wednesday arrested the operator of the site in question, which was accessed tens of thousands of times a day, on suspicion of violating the same law. An official of the personnel division of the MPD said, ‘‘It’s very regrettable that one of our officers was arrested. We will handle this matter strictly after investigations by the Kanagawa police are completed.’’

GSDF member arrested over sexual relationship with 14-year-old girl in Sendai

2008-10-02T10:50:00.001+09:00

Police on Wednesday arrested a 29-year-old member of the Ground Self-Defense Force for allegedly having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl in Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture.

Shunsuke Kamata, who had been arrested for having a sexual relationship with a 12-year-old girl in September and was released on Tuesday, was arrested for allegedly having sex with the 14-year-old at a hotel on June 1 after they contacted each other through an online dating service for mobile phones.

Police said Kamata admits the allegations

Japan to allow female sailors to serve aboard destroyers

2008-09-24T12:50:00.000+09:00

The Defense Ministry decided Monday to allow female members of the Maritime Self-Defense Force to serve aboard destroyers from fiscal 2009, lifting a restriction that had been in place since the force’s establishment in 1954, ministry officials said. The MSDF hopes the decision, which will also apply to minesweeper tenders and antisubmarine helicopters in the fiscal year starting April 2009, will help alleviate the chronic personnel shortages that most units of the force face, the officials said.

The MSDF has some 45,000 members, 2,000 of whom are women, the officials said. Details of the measure have yet to be decided, but the ministry envisages an unspecified number of female MSDF members will serve aboard the new destroyer Hyuga, which will be commissioned next spring, they said. The Hyuga has separate quarters for women.

Investigators try to track last 30 minutes of murdered girl in Chiba

2008-09-24T12:47:00.001+09:00

A 5-year-old girl, who died after being found unconscious and naked on a roadside in Togane, Chiba Prefecture, on Sunday afternoon, was spotted by several people around the crime scene prior to her death, police said Tuesday.

Yukimaro Narita, 5, was found on the street around 12:26 p.m. She was naked and her clothes were found at a car park about 100 meters from the crime scene.

According to police investigations, Yukimaro went missing after she left her mother’s workplace, a hospital, for her friend’s home Sunday morning around 10:30. Her mother had taken Yukimaro to the hospital on Saturday as she was on the night shift, police said. She was seen walking along the street near the hospital shortly after 10:30, but police said she never visited her friend who wasn’t at home that morning.

Yukimaro came back to the hospital around 11 a.m., asking a hospital staff member when her mother would finish work. She was last seen leaving the hospital around noon, according to police.

The next time Yukimaro was seen was when her body was found on the street about 300 meters from the hospital.

Police said that Yukimaro was strangled and that she had a bruise on her arm, indicating that she may have been held in a tight grip. Police believe she may have been grabbed by somebody, forced into a car and taken away before being brought back.

Police are appealing to the public for any information and on Tuesday released photos of Yukimaro and the clothes she was wearing.

According to police, there have been several reports about suspicious individuals in the area so far. A naked man was spotted at a nearby park in April, while another man chased female staff leaving a dental clinic.

Sony unveils world's slimmest LCD TV

2008-08-29T23:25:00.000+09:00

Sony Corp said Thursday it will launch the world’s thinnest and lightest 40-inch liquid crystal display (LCD) television, seeking to trump its rivals ahead of the key year-end shopping season. The new ZX1 model, part of the firm’s popular Bravia series, is just 9.9 millimeters thick at its slimmest section

Weighing 12.2 kilograms, it can be hung on a wall like a framed painting. Equipped with a fast wireless connection, the screen display is separated from the tuner so it does not need signal cables. The ZX1 series will be put on the market on Nov 10 with an estimated price tag of about 490,000 yen.

Sony also announced three other new series of Bravia LCD televisions with screen sizes ranging from 40 to 55 inches. They will be sold in Japan from Oct 10. Of them, the W1 series can project images moving four times faster than conventional models.

Japan like to bribe to get things rolling - Olympic Games 2016

2008-08-29T23:08:00.001+09:00

Just found a really interesting article at RobLadin.com. It’s all about Olympics, of course. Japan and bribery, nothing new at all.
Read this article, it’s a really good post.

Japan is well known for bribery in getting international events. If they can’t do it then they will try to bribe someone to get things going. For the Beijing Olympic Games in Beijing it wasn’t all that clear what was going on.
Keirin is a cycling sport popular in Japan. However, it is virually unknown outside that country. The organisers of keirin wanted to make it more popular. How to do that? By making it an Olympic sport. And how to persuade the Olympic Games to adopt the sport? Maybe a $3 million bribe helped:

Documents given to the BBC suggest that $3m (£1.5m) was paid by organizers of a Japanese cycling event to the UCI - the world cycling body. The payments were allegedly made in the 1990s. The sport, called the keirin, was supported for inclusion into the Games by the UCI, and admitted in 1996.

For the Nagano olympics:

Meanwhile, the mayor of Nagano said that the city’s Olympic bidding committee’s decision to destroy its expense books had been proper and merely “the Japanese way of doing things.” Mayor Tasuku Tsukada said he left the decision on how to destroy the expense books to other officials. He explained that the expenses were approved at the committee’s general meeting and that meant, as a matter of course, that the records could be destroyed. “In Japan, that means it’s all done and finished,” he said. Some IOC officials inspecting Nagano as a possible site for the 1998 Winter Games were entertained by geisha, an official admitted yesterday. But he denied they were prostitutes. “We couldn’t very well have had the governor pour drinks,” Sumikazu Yamaguchi, a member of the bidding committee, said. “All they did was pour drinks and dance.”

from Wikipedia:

the 1998 Games went to Nagano, Japan in a 46-to-42 vote. Many felt the reason was because the US had recently been awarded the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta, Georgia. Others, including Welch, believed it was because Nagano had better wined and dined the officials.

In 2006, a report ordered by the Nagano region’s governor said the Japanese city provided millions of dollars in an “illegitimate and excessive level of hospitality” to IOC members, including $4.4 million spent on entertainment alone.

And read this one: (source: findarticles.com)

A new report on Nagano’s successful bid for the 1998 Winter Games, ordered by the regional government, found that an “illegitimate and excessive level of hospitality” was handed out by the Japanese city.
The Nagano Prefecture Investigation Group Report comes more than 14 years after the International Olympic Committee chose Nagano over Salt Lake City in a close vote, even though the Utah capital was widely seen as better qualified to host the Olympics.
Salt Lake City went on to be awarded the 2002 Winter Games but sparked a worldwide scandal eight years ago when Utah bidders were accused of buying IOC votes with more than $1 million in cash, gifts, trips, scholarships and even medical treatments.
There were always similar concerns about Nagano’s bid but no proof because records had been burned. Now, according to an abstract in English of the investigation group’s report, dated Nov. 22, 2005, new problems with the Nagano bid have been documented, including:
– Nearly $544,000 (all dollar figures are calculated at current conversion rates from Japanese yen) in souvenirs were given out during the bid, an average of about $5,700 per IOC member. The gift limit at the time under IOC rules was $200.
– More than $4.4 million was spent to entertain IOC members during the bid, an average of about $46,500 per IOC member.
– There was no accounting of how approximately $776,000 was used during the 1991 IOC session in Birmingham, England, where the host city for the 1998 WinterGames was selected.

One government official told the investigation group that the money was used for “lobbying and promotional activities, and simply there were no receipts. Therefore, a phrase like ‘unaccounted for’ is not right, because it sounds like somebody stole it.”

– The total price tag for promoting Nagano’s Olympic bid was more than $24 million, almost five times as much as Salt Lake City’s bid for the 1998 Winter Games reportedly cost.
– The previously revealed destruction of 90 boxes of bid records — possibly, the report stated, at the request of the then- prefectural governor — “should still be viewed as a criminal act,” because the records were supposed to have been maintained for five years.

A bid committee member told the investigation group that the records “probably included a great deal of IOC-related secrets and personal information — it might lead to trouble if the documents were kept.”

The investigation group concluded the reason was because during the bid “illegitimate and excessive levels of hospitality were offered” that had to be hidden from Nagano citizens.

– A signature was forged on a document required to take a ceremonial sword, reportedly valued at $13,000, out of Japan to be presented to then-IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch. The report suggests whoever forged the signature might be guilty of a criminal offense.

The report appears to confirm the suspicions many had after Salt Lake City became the subject of local, national and international investigations. Rumors had started shortly after Nagano’s victory about IOC members having been provided with geishas and expensive artwork and electronics.
One story frequently told was that the Nagano bid committee reportedly gave members of the IOC expensive video cameras just before the IOC vote, while Salt Lake City’s bid team handed out disposable cameras.
Among the critics was Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who blamed Salt Lake City’s loss to Nagano on “corruption,” later claiming “Japanese leadership just basically bought the Olympics. . . . We were swindled out of it.”
But soon after the Salt Lake scandal surfaced, it was revealed that Nagano had set fire to its bid records. That appeared to make it impossible to verify allegations that theJapanese city violated IOC rules.
The Nagano investigation group, however, was able to piece together information at least about how much money was spent, by combing through a pile of documents that weren’t destroyed and interviewingJapanese bid and Olympic officials. Their report does not include details of what the Nagano bid actually purchased for IOC members.
But even though the report “revealed new findings, including how much public money has been misused,” there has been little reaction to it, according to journalist Tatsuya Iwase, one of five members appointed to the group created by Nagano Gov. Yasuo Tanaka in February 2004.
Despite the lack of interest, though, Iwase said in an e-mail that the advisory group is continuing to look at the impact of the Olympics on the finances of Nagano, a relatively rural mountain region known as the “Roof of Japan.”
Anti-Olympic activists in Nagano have long questioned the amount of money invested in the 1998 Winter Games, complaining that residents have been left with little more than debt.
Tanaka’s successful campaign to lead the prefecture, an entity similar to a state, focused on the need to investigate the Olympic bid further.
Repeated attempts by the Deseret Morning News to contact Tanaka about the report were unsuccessful.
Canadian IOC member Dick Pound, who headed the Switzerland-based organization’s investigation in the Salt Lake scandal that resulted in the ouster of some members, said Friday he had not even heard about the Nagano report.
“It might be of interest,” Pound said, even though the IOC investigative commission he led has long been “out of business.” He was surprised at the size of some of the expenditures listed in the Nagano report.
“That sounds high to me,” Pound said of the amounts the Nagano report said was spent on IOC members for gifts and entertainment. “But then some of my colleagues are higher maintenance than I am.”
It was Salt Lake City’s meticulous record-keeping that helped land its bid in trouble. The scandal started with a letter from an IOC member’s daughter about the financial assistance she was receiving from bid officials.
The records even led to the two top leaders of the Salt Lake bid, Tom Welch and Dave Johnson, being prosecuted by the federal government on numerous felony charges related to the scandal, but the case was thrown out midtrial by a Utah judge in 2003.
Welch could not immediately be reached for comment about the Nagano report.

How much will they try to pay to each IOC member this time?
IOC: don’t be a fool again! Slap the japanese bribers!

read more articles about the bribes of the japanese:
- 1999: Olympic officials face bribery charges

Bribes in Japan are just normal practice to have things rolling.

What do you think about this article’ Feel free to comment!
You think Japan should be banned from hosting future Olympic Games?

source: download-agloco.com

Japan’s medal-winning Olympic wrestlers back Tokyo 2016 - with bribes from the japanese goverment?

2008-08-29T22:06:00.001+09:00

As support for Tokyo 2016 continues to rise across all sections of Japanese society, the country’s Beijing 2008 Olympic medal-winning wrestlers today threw their considerable strength behind Japan’s Bid to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
At an official meeting with Tokyo Governor and President of Tokyo 2016, extremist right-wing Shintaro Ishihara, and Tokyo 2016 Chairman and CEO, Dr Ichiro Kono, the Olympians endorsed the Bid’s vision to host the most compact Games in Olympic history around iconic urban features at the heart of Japan’s vibrant capital city.
Gold medalists, Saori Yoshida and Kaori Icho, silver medallists, Chiharu Icho and Tomohiro Matsunaga, and bronze medallists, Kyoko Hamaguchi and Kenichi Yumoto, were keen to pass on insights from their recent experience to help Tokyo 2016 enhance a Games plan that places the needs of elite athletes at its very core.
Ms Saori Yoshida, 2008 Olympic champion wrestler and member of the Tokyo 2016 Athletes’ Commission said:”The Beijing Games was an unforgettable experience. I want to help share this indescribable experience with the people of Japan, who are long-term supporters of the Olympic Games. I look forward to sharing Tokyo¡¯s unique culture and passion for sports with the world and to winning a medal in all classes of competition when the Games come to Tokyo in 2016.”
Ms Kyoko Hamaguchi, 2008 Olympic bronze medallist and Tokyo 2016 athlete ambassador said: “As athletes, the Olympic Games experience is the pinnacle of our dreams, hopes and aspirations. The chance to competing again in my home nation is would be more incredible still, and I am sure that Tokyo 2016’s uniquely compact, sustainable concept would make it a memorable Games for all of the athletes involved.”
Unfortunately Japan is not a country that welcomes foreigners. There was exceptional police and security personnel at the Soccer world Cup in 2002 and media warned Japanese citizen to be cautious of the foreigners coming to see the soccer games.

Dr Ichiro Kono, Chairman and CEO of Tokyo 2016, said: “We would like to thank the Japanese wrestling team for their committed support for Tokyo 2016 and congratulate them on their success in Beijing, where they inspired millions of people in Japan and across the world. Hosting the Games at the heart of Tokyo would lead to an incredible sporting, environmental and infrastructural legacy for the city, and set a precedent for urban evolution for the benefit of cities across the globe.”

Japan in it’s Human Rights problem is far behind any civilized country and should definitively not host any international sport event! Olympics should bring Olympic spirit and Japan is not at this time rife to go along international law.
To the IOC i like to advise not to do the same mistake as was made to China: award the Olympic games under promises. China didn’t go along with the promised it did. If Japan want to host the Games then, and only then, it should go along some basic rules and international laws. Only when past promises from Japan in the international scheme where fulfilled and new promises to safeguard human rights will be recognized should a candidacy be taken into consideration.

IOC: don’t take bribes from the Japanese and Tokyo government!

They will try to bribe you as in the past with the Nagano winter games! Let the sporting world have some credibility!

source: RobLadin - Olympic Games

S Korea to complain over use of 'Sea of Japan' in Olympic closing ceremony

2008-08-26T00:51:00.000+09:00

South Korea said Monday it plans to complain to China over the use of the name ‘‘Sea of Japan’’ to refer to the body of water between the Korean Peninsula and Japan in the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics instead of ‘‘East Sea’’ as it is known to South Koreans. ‘‘The government plans to point out to the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee the invalidity of describing the East Sea as only ‘Sea of Japan’ and request ‘East Sea’ be used as well,’’ Foreign Ministry spokesman Moon Tae Young said in a regular press briefing.

South Korea will continue its efforts for ‘‘East Sea’’ to be used in naming the sea through international agencies, governments of other countries and manufacturers of private world maps, Moon added. Moon’s remarks followed critical reaction in South Korea over the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee’s display of a world map that used ‘‘Sea of Japan’’ during the prelude to the Olympic closing ceremony broadcast live across the world on Sunday. South Korean scholars and citizens argue that ‘‘East Sea’’ should be adopted as the historically and geographically appropriate name for the sea, which Japan began to refer to as ‘‘Sea of Japan’’ after its colonial occupation of the Korean Peninsula in 1910, according to Yonhap News Agency.

Each Aug 15, Yasukuni area turns into riot zone

2008-08-18T01:29:00.000+09:00

With his broad shoulders rippling beneath his dark blue jumpsuit, Shinichi Kamijo has taken a sidewalk position on Yasukuni Dori, not far from Jimbocho station in Chiyoda Ward.

It is 2 p.m. and, given that he is about to engage in battle, Kamijo is surprisingly calm. “We must stop them from advancing to the shrine,” implores the 38-year-old member of Gishin Gokoku-kai, an “uyoku dantai” (right-wing group) that he founded when he was 26.

Kamijo’s target is the Anti-Emperor Activities Network, a “sayoku” (left-wing) organization that is about to begin a protest march through Kudanshita and toward Yasukuni Shrine, the controversial Shinto monument that effectively serves as a symbol of Japan’s wartime past. The group of 150 members is assembling at nearby Nishi Kanda Park, a small concrete and gravel square about a kilometer east of the shrine. Before the protest begins, the leader announces that the group’s battles with the uyoku are a usual occurrence. “But we are doing this for the people of Japan,” he says.

As Kamijo waits, convoys of his brethren in black trucks descend upon the area, their presence reinforced by the imposing grilles welded to their fronts, the gold-painted chrysanthemum crests upon their sides and, of course, the unmistakable nationalist jingles booming from their sound systems.

Thirty minutes later, hundreds of riot police officers materialize on the streets. Each trooper is outfitted with a shield, heavy black boots, shin guards and a helmet — the equipment needed to oppose the throng of rightists now stationed on the pavement.

“I want to show the strength of the uyoku power,” Kamijo says, readying his stance, “but we are under the control of the police.”

The above scene unfolded just prior to last year’s pacifist demonstration in Kudanshita on August 15, the anniversary of the end of World War II. The protest, which will be repeated this week and preceded by various other marches near the shrine, highlights the one day of the year where downtown Tokyo could nearly be confused for Pakistan or Tibet during times of political unrest — the city literally turns into a riot zone as right- and left-wing groups stand off against one another.

Yasukuni like a spark in a tinderbox

Perhaps Japan’s most notorious rallying point for nationalist sentiment, Yasukuni confounds its left-leaning detractors and inspires patriots due to its honoring of roughly 2.5 million military men, many of whom were encouraged by the belief that their spirit would be enshrined should they die in battle fighting heroically for the emperor. For South Korea and China, two countries that suffered most heavily at the hands of Japan’s military over a half-century ago, a crucial point of criticism is the enshrinement of 14 Class-A war criminals, including wartime Prime Minister Hideki Tojo. A heated debate on an average day, Yasukuni and its surrounding area is like a spark landing in a tinderbox on the anniversary.

Last year, the morning saw a separate one-hour demonstration in the streets west of the shrine’s grounds led by the Anti-War Joint Action Committee, which assembled in front of Hosei University in Ichigaya.

“On the anniversary, the uyoku begin working from early in the morning,” says the committee’s 64-year-old representative, Misumi Tadashi. “Not only around Yasukuni, but all throughout Tokyo, they blast their messages from speakers mounted atop their trucks. This is the most appropriate day of the year for them to appeal their existence to the public. The police cannot control them, and we cannot let them continue with these harsh activities. We have to do something.”

The Anti-War Joint Action Committee, which is funded through the sale of publications and plans on marching again this year, was established in 1992 to oppose the dispatch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces to Cambodia. Today, the war in Iraq is one of the group’s raisons d’etre.

The procession left the Hosei campus and moved up towards Iidabashi and back down Sotobori Dori to Sotobori Park, near Yotsuya. All through the route, police officers walked pace for pace with the over 100 protesters as uyoku members attempted to physically disrupt the march.

“It seems like the police are trying to stop them, but in reality it is very easy for the uyoku to break through,” believes Tadashi. “We can’t rely on the police, and the uyoku know that we have the skills and power to fight back — so that is why they don’t attack so aggressively.”

The proceedings were decidedly more subdued inside the shrine’s compound. Kamijo, the right-winger, paid his respects at Yasukuni just before noon. As he faced the memorial’s imposing façade, a hinomaru flag proudly stitched on the back of his clothes, beads of sweat poured down from his shaven skinhead on this mercilessly muggy day. He performed a few bows, tossed some coins, and clasped his hands in remembrance of Japan’s fallen soldiers.

Behind him, veterans sporting camouflage military uniforms and tourists, cameras in hand, emptied from tour buses onto the baking concrete.

Afterwards, as the burly Kamijo made his way back to a few rows of shaded tables filled with members of other right-wing groups, he explained that he founded Gishin Gokoku-kai because of the way Japan’s neighbors view the country.

“China and South Korea educate their children to hate Japan. They don’t want the younger generation to stop being angry and want to continue receiving money from the Japanese government,” he says of the Official Development Assistance program, whose work has included a subway project in Seoul and programs to improve the environment and public health in China. “I am tired of their complaints. They do not appreciate our efforts.”

By midday, most of the right-wingers had, like Kamijo, completed their patriotic duties at the shrine and returned to their fortress-like vehicles for the eventual move down the road to Kudanshita for the clash with the pacifists.

In Kudanshita, the tension is increasing. Cordons of police officers are now lined up face-to-face with the uniformed rightists. Kamijo, however, won’t be intimidated.

“Japanese have been way too quiet,” he explains. “And since we don’t have a nuclear weapon, they [China and South Korea] can be aggressive.”

Kamijo admits that he’s not in top form since having dropped 11kg following an illness, but there is little doubt that he means business. As a warning to foreigners, the word “DEATH” is tattooed on the back of his neck, as is the numeral 4, whose kanji (pronounced “shi”) has the same morbid meaning. Appearing on his meishi are the lyrics to “Kimigayo,” Japan’s national anthem.

History of brawling with mobsters, foreigners

A carpenter by trade, Kamijo says that his history of brawling with mobsters and foreigners in Roppongi while a member of a “bosozoku” motorbike gang is so extensive that he suggests we have a separate meeting so he can convey all the gory details. Certainly, on this day, his actions make such claims seem extremely plausible.

Carrying large red balloons, colorful flags, and painted banners — including one featuring the image of Che Guevara — the Anti-Emperor Activities Network makes the turn toward Kamijo’s corner. Their chants are loud and clear: “We are completely against all the people who go to Yasukuni!”

As if rushing a quarterback, Kamijo tries to wedge his massive frame between a pair of police shields to get at his enemies. When rebuffed by the officers, he stabs his right index finger to the sky and screams.

Unbowed, Kamijo quickly follows the crowd down the street with one of his cohorts. Together, they leap over a flower bed yet find themselves pushed back by a flurry of helmets and forearms. Amid the chaos, Kamijo winds up getting flipped onto his back, with planters being dumped and their contents spilled. Advertising flags fall to the sidewalk.

Reports of uyoku-sayoku clashes commonly claim that the police firmly side with the right. But on this day, the sayoku are generally being protected. As the procession moves along, right-wingers with portable loudspeakers blast their righteous messages as their bolder brothers continue to make attempts at breaking the police lines. Each time, however, the protester is tackled, dragged off or pushed away by Tokyo’s finest.

Confused onlookers stand by as the sidewalks and the center of the street become a swirling display of swaying flags, mashing bodies and deafening noise.

In spite of Kamijo’s claims of wanting to display the spirit of the uyoku, much of the violent activity appears staged, which matches with the observations of Tadashi from the Ichigaya demonstration. Though visually surreal, many of the punches seem feigned, and the multiple clenched fists merely come across as elaborate street theater. Further, given the clear planning on the part of the police, it is clear that the protest route, starting time and participants have been coordinated well in advance.

The opposition continues to show relentless zeal, yet the chants from the marchers do not stop: “We are not going to forgive the government at all! No more war! No more Yasukuni!”

In the surrounding area, right-wing groups have parked their trucks at police barricades established at many of the large intersections. The cops hold their ground as the members stand by and scowl outside their vehicles, whose sound systems are still smothering the area with the military anthems at ear-splitting volume.

By the time the mob comes within view of Yasukuni’s gates, an atmosphere of hatred permeates the entire scene. Standing outside of shops and offices, a few salarymen and older women have decided to join in and verbally condemn the lefties for their presence.

The march then turns up Mejiro Dori — not onwards toward the shrine — which most certainly was the plan all along. The protesters file into a small brick smoking area that includes a bathroom. Many right-wingers surround the premises and continue their screaming and pushing routines.

Down narrow side streets, a few overly aggressive rightists can be seen getting hauled away by small groups of police. It is now clear that the ranks are thinning, and when a caravan of right-wing trucks breaches one of the police blockades and makes a final sonic blitz past the assembled protesters, it almost signals a last gasp.

The atmosphere should be no less heated on the anniversary this year. This spring anger raged over the release of “Yasukuni,” a documentary by Chinese director Li Ying that multiple theaters in Japan refused to screen following threats from right-wing groups, who saw the film as being “anti-Japan.”

Kamijo, who was not arrested last year, expects a similar scene in Kudanshita, and once again he is excited. “We have to stop them,” he says bluntly. “We must force them to cancel the demonstration.”

The Anti-War Joint Action Committee, too, sees the scene unfolding much as it did 12 months earlier, and promises to be ready. “We have confidence to fight back,” Tadashi says. “We have guts and pride, and I am sure they will be coming after us.”

The Kundanshita demonstration will get underway along Yasukuni Dori on Aug 15, just after 2:30 p.m. Access via Jimbocho station (exit A1 or A2) or Kudanshita station (exit 5 or 6). The Ichigaya demonstration will start from Hosei University at 9 a.m. Nearest stn: JR Ichigaya. Due to police activity, routes and times may change without notice.

A panel of journalists and other interested parties will be holding a meeting about the Yasukuni issue at Sendagaya Kumin Kaikan on Aug 15 at 5:45 p.m. 1-10-1 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku. Tel: 03-3402-7854. Nearest stn: Harajuku or Meiji-Jingumae.

Yoshida retains Olympic title in women's 55kg wrestling

2008-08-16T21:07:00.002+09:00

Saori Yoshida retained her Olympic gold medal in the women's 55kg freestyle wrestling on Saturday after defeating host wrestler Xu Li in the final.
Yoshida dominated the final, giving her opponent no chance and winning the two bouts 2-0, 5-0.
The 25-year-old Yoshida was also the winner of the last five world championships from 2002 to 2007 besides her triumph in Athens four years ago when women's wrestling made its Olympic debut.
Yoshida had a undefeated record of 119 matches, which ended by American Marcie van Dusen in the World Cup in Taiyuan, China in March this year.
"This gold really means lots to me," said Yoshida. "I can't forget the loss to van Dusen. That's the only one in my career life."
"That loss left shadow in my heart and it forced me to keep training. I came here only for the gold."
"I never wasted any practise chance since 2004 and I kept on improving myself." added Yoshida.
Yoshida thought high of her opponent in final. She thought Xu Li was quite a strong opponent.
"Xu Li is very young and strong. It is difficult to beat her."
"From now on, I will begin to start all opponents' weakness to win more." said Yoshida.
She became the first female wrestler to retain the Olympic champion.
Xu Li failed to earn China the first wrestling gold at Beijing Olympics. The silver was Chinese second as Chang Yongxiang placed second men's Greco-Roman 74kg class. Xu would have been the youngest Olympic wrestling gold medalist in any discipline.
Xu Li, 19, said she didn't expect to go into the final as her first target was just to be in the top eight.
"So silver is all right to me," said Xu. "I fought with Yoshida twice and I lost both. She was really a strong rival to defeat."
"Anyway, I don't think I was performing my best. I will work hard in the future." added Xu.
Jackline Renteria of Colombia defeated Ana Paval of Romania with a victory by fall, to earn Colombia the second medal at the Beijing Olympics.
Another bronze medal went to Tonya Verbeek of Canada. She took the second medal for Canada following teammate Carol Huynh's gold win in the women's 48kg category.

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Police charge Russian man in spying case

2008-08-15T08:27:00.000+09:00

The Public Safety Bureau of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department on Wednesday filed charges against a Russian man of Asian origin for spying and the illegal use of a missing Japanese national’s passport.

The Metropolitan Police Department took the action after judging that it is unlikely the man, whose real name is unknown, will reenter Japan because the passport he renewed outside the country in 1997 expired in June last year, they said.

The man, believed to be currently in his seventies, has been on the international wanted list since 1997. In furthering their investigations police have decided to bring charges against him for allegedly applying for a passport under the name of dental engineer Ichiro Kuroba (who was declared missing in Koriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture in 1965), at the Japanese embassy in Austria in 1997.

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Police said the suspect had worked at an international trade company in Tokyo for 30 years, collecting military and political information for the Russian Intelligence Agency (the former KGB) through business trips to Western countries and his dealings with Japanese Self-Defense Force personnel, politicians and Russian embassy officials in Japan.

Police said the suspect is married to a Japanese woman, who currently living in Japan, and that she has communicated with him by radio since he left the country in 1995. She is quoted by police as saying, “I was sometimes concerned as to his real identity but I always trusted him.”

Men’s 100m Breaststroke: Kitajima Kosuke takes gold in world record

2008-08-12T05:10:00.000+09:00

Kitajima Kosuke of Japan defended his Olympic title in the Men’s 100m Breaststroke in fine style on Monday, August 11, breaking Brendan Hansen’s (USA) world record in a time of 58.91.

Norway’s Alexander Dale Oen won the silver medal in a time of 59.20. Oen swam consistently fast through heats and semifinals and went into the final the fastest qualifier after setting an Olympic record of 59.16 in the semifinals.

Hugues Duboscq of France collected the bronze in a time of 59.37, relegating one of the event favorites, Brendan Hansen (USA) to fourth.

Hansen, the world record holder coming into the event, looked sluggish through the heats and semifinals. His fourth place time was 59.57.

Hansen only had one individual race to contest at these Games, after failing to qualify for the 200m Breaststroke at US Olympic trials in July.

from: Beijing Olympic Games 2008

Japanese Olympians to bring dust masks to Beijing

2008-08-02T19:13:00.000+09:00

Japan’s Olympic delegation will carry 500 dust masks for industrial use to guard against the notorious air pollution in Beijing, a corporate official said Monday.

Koken, a major Japanese maker of respirators, gas masks and air purifiers, has provided the masks for free to the Japanese Olympic Committee for possible use in training at the Beijing Games.

“These are not the kind of masks that are sold at drug stores to protect yourself from flu or hay fever,” said Kohei Kubo, an official at Koken’s life safety division.

“They are used at dusty factories and other industrial sites, as well as hospitals, where they are used to prevent infections,” he said.

The masks can cut by more than 95 percent the number of small particles that the athletes would inhale, he said.

They are equipped with superlight filters, each weighing 11 grammes (one third of an ounce), and an exhaust valve.

The company recommended the products to the national Olympic committee last year as international concern grew about Beijing’s air pollution, Kubo said.

“We provided the products to the committee in mid-July and they are bringing them as a precaution,” he said.

Poor air quality in Beijing has prompted International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge to warn it could result in the suspension of some events, particularly endurance races such as the marathon.

Beijing has closed many of the most polluting factories around the city and banned more than one million cars from the roads every day.

Despite the measures, visibility in the city remained poor on Monday, and officials have warned they may need to take more drastic steps to clear the skies ahead of the Games, which begin August 8.

from: beijing olympic games 2008

Japanese keirin officials deny bribery report

2008-07-29T23:20:00.002+09:00

Japanese officials on Tuesday denied a report that the track cycling sport of keirin may have bribed its way into the Olympic Games.
The BBC said an investigation had uncovered documents outlining payments of $3 million from the Japan Keirin Association (JKA) to cycling’s world governing body the UCI.
But a senior Japanese official insisted there had been no wrongdoing before keirin first entered the Olympics at the 2000 Games in Sydney.
“The JKA has been co-operating with the UCI for many years to develop keirin and we have been involved in various activities to improve the sport,” the JKA’s Akihiro Matsukawa said.
“I have not been able to verify the documents the BBC say they have but the JKA denies the claims (of bribery).”
Keirin, which involves riders following a motorbike for several laps before a sprint finish, is big business in Japan, its country of origin, generating huge gambling revenues.
Hein Verbruggen, president of the UCI from 1991 to 2005, also protested his innocence.
“It has been done in total transparency,” Verbruggen, currently the International Olympic Committee’s chief inspector, told the BBC.
“This was done for the development of track cycling around the world.”
Britain’s Chris Hoy won keirin gold at this year’s world championships in Manchester and will start as favorite in Beijing.

from: Beijing Olympic Games 2008

Japan Olympians pack builder face masks for Beijing

2008-07-29T18:27:00.001+09:00

Japanese athletes may don masks made for construction workers to cope with air pollution during the Beijing Olympics, a doctor affiliated with the Japanese Olympic Committee said on Tuesday.

More and more athletes from around the world are considering wearing face masks for the Games, despite official promises of clearer skies in Beijing and warnings that pictures of masked competitors could embarrass host China.

“Our previous research shows the amount of dust in the air is high in Beijing, and that may affect some of the Japanese athletes,” Takao Akama, the committee’s medical adviser, told Reuters.

Marathon runners and bicyclists might not be the only ones who opt to use the masks during competition.

“Some athletes are sensitive, so we have decided to have those pollution masks ready for any member of the Japanese Olympic team who would like to use one,” said Akama, a physician at Waseda University in Tokyo.

Koken Ltd, the company that makes the mask, has supplied the committee with 500 industrial-strength masks, designed for use on construction sites. Japan’s team has almost 600 members.

Beijing’s air pollution, a sometimes acrid mix of construction dust, vehicle exhaust and factory and power plant fumes, has been one of the biggest worries for Games organizers.

On Tuesday, state media quoted Beijing authorities as saying sauna-like weather trapping hazy pollution in the Olympic host city would not last throughout the games in August. Chinese officials have repeatedly said there is no need for foreign athletes to bring masks. Beijing is also considering additional pollution controls if the air stays too dirty.

from: Beijing Olympic Games

Japanese PM hopes to see finest performance of Japanese athletes at Beijing Olympics

2008-07-29T01:08:00.000+09:00

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said Monday that he hopes to see the finest performance of Japanese athletes at the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games.

The Olympics, which is of lofty value, will inspirit every Japanese national to cheer for their team, said Fukuda in a send-off ceremony held for the Japanese Olympic delegation.

He expressed the hope that the athletes will recognize the value of the Olympics and put in their finest-ever performance.

He also expected the athletes to make their respective effort to present a vigorous Japan to the audience.

As Japan won a record 37 medals, including 16 golds, at the Athens Olympic Games four years ago, Fukuda said his expectation is that every Japanese athlete will be awarded a medal at the Beijing Olympics.

The Japanese Olympic delegation, composed of 339 athletes and 237 officials, is Japan's largest deputation to participate in an Olympics held outside the country.

The delegation is headed by senior Japanese Olympic Committee official Tomiaki Fukuda, who said that the goal for the Japanese Olympic team is to win double digit golds and at least a total 30 medals.

Present at the ceremony was 19-year-old table tennis player Ai Fukuhara, who will lead the delegation as the flag-bearer during the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics on August 8.

Earlier Monday, the Japanese Olympic Committee announced the inauguration of the 576-strong Japanese Olympic delegation, which will head for Beijing in separate batches.

Japanese have tight hold on judo

2008-07-26T02:16:00.000+09:00

Once upon a time it was customary for the host nation to be able to add a sport to the Olympic program.

So when the Games were in Tokyo in 1964, judo came on board. And it is easy to see why since the Japanese usually dominate the sport.

In the 14 weight classes (seven for men and seven for women) at the Athens Olympics, Japan placed a competitor in 10 gold medal matches. The Japanese won eight of the 10.

The participants in each weight class are divided into two direct-elimination pools and the winner of the two pools meet for the gold medal.

This is also a sport where it pays to cheer for the person who beat you in an early round. All those who lose to the eventual pool champion make up two second-chance pools and the winners of those each get a bronze medal.

Judo is one of only two sports in the Olympics, boxing being the other, where two bronze medals are awarded.

from: upi.com

Japanese girl returns to Florence to atone for graffiti

2008-07-13T23:06:00.000+09:00

A Japanese teenager who was caught on video daubing graffiti on the Duomo in Florence flew back to the Renaissance city at her own expense to apologize, Italian media report.

The 19-year-old fashion student from Japan’s Gifu University also offered 600 euros, television and news agency reports said.

“We accept the apologies and we accept the money exceptionally for the gesture’s great sense of civility,” said the Duomo’s chief curator Anna Mitrano, flanked by the university’s visiting rector, Yukitoshi Matsuda.

The incident, which took place in February and was captured on film, was one of several involving Japanese visitors in recent months.

Mitrano noted that 2008 marked the 30th year of a friendship pact between Florence and Gifu.

French president to attend opening of Beijing Olympics

2008-07-09T17:34:00.001+09:00

TOYAKO - French President Nicolas Sarkozy will attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, representing his own country and the European Union, his office said on Wednesday.
Sarkozy met Chinese President Hu Jintao on the sidelines of a summit of world leaders in nothern Japan on Wednesday.
“The President of the Republic has confimed to the Chinese president his intention of travelling to Beijing on August 8 to take part in the opening ceremony of the 29th Olympic Games,” the French presidency’s office said in a statement.
As well as France, Sarkozy would represent the EU because France holds the rotating presidency of the 27-nation bloc, the office said.

from: www.robladin.com

2008-07-01T15:50:00.000+09:00

Japan’s Kei Nishikori and Kevin Anderson of South Africa, both surprise winners on the tour in 2008, were on Monday handed wildcards into the Olympics.
Defending Olympic champion Nicolas Massu of Chile has been successful in his campaign to take part in the tournament despite his world ranking have slumped to 93.
Swedish veteran Jonas Bjorkman, 35, who will retire at the end of the year, Belarus’s Max Mirnyi and well as China’s Peng Sun were also handed wildcards.
Japanese teenager Nishikori won the title in Delray Beach while Anderson was the Las Vegas winner.
In the women’s singles, the invitaations went to Alicia Molik of Australia, Maria Koryttseva of Ukraine, Taiwan’s Yung-Jan Chan, Japan’s Ayumi Morita, Nuria Llagostera-Vives of Spain and Tunisia’s Selima Sfar.
“Each of the players who have been awarded an ITF Place brings special qualities to the field for the 2008 Olympic Tennis Event,” said ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti.
“Some of the players are young competitors from under-represented parts of the world while others are former medallists or long-standing participants in their country’s Davis Cup and Fed Cup efforts.”
Molik was thrilled by her inclusion in the field.
“This is probably the best news I’ve had since 2004,” said Molik.
“I have played in two Olympics and I have to say they’re the absolute highlight of my career. Nothing comes close to playing in the Olympics, representing your country. It is the most amazing experience any individual can have. It was always a childhood dream of mine.”

from: www.robladin.com

College student warned for graffiti on historical Italian cathedral

2008-07-01T12:58:00.000+09:00

Gifu City Women's College has handed a strict warning to a student who drew graffiti on the Cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, Italy, during an overseas study tour, college officials said.

The historic center of Florence, including the cathedral, is inscribed on the U.N. Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization's World Heritage List.

The church said it would not demand payment for restoration if it received an apology, so the student and a college department chairman both sent apologies in English.

College officials said that the a first-year student in the college's Department of Design for Contemporary Life wrote the date, her name, and the names of five friends with an oil-based marker on the marble wall of a lookout at the cathedral on Feb. 18. The student also reportedly wrote an abbreviation of the name of the college.

The incident was uncovered after a Japanese tourist contacted the college on March 12 via e-mail. The college president reportedly issued a strict verbal warning to the student on March 14.

Customs say officers have planted drugs in unwitting travelers' bags 160 times for training

2008-06-30T20:34:00.001+09:00

Three customs officers have planted packages of cannabis resin in the luggage of travelers arriving at Narita International Airport outside Tokyo without notice a total of 160 times since last September to train drug sniffer dogs, Tokyo Customs said Monday.

Disciplinary actions have been taken against the three officers and nine senior customs officials as such acts are banned under Tokyo Customs’ in-house rules.

Among the three was a 38-year-old customs officer who planted cannabis resin in the luggage of a traveler from Hong Kong earlier this year.

The officer failed to retrieve the resin before the traveler got his luggage and left the airport on May 25. The following day, Tokyo Customs recovered the 120 grams of resin at a Tokyo hotel where the traveler was staying.

The officer, who has been found to have planted drugs in travelers’ bags 90 times, has been suspended from duty for three months in a disciplinary action.

A 10% salary cut for three months has been imposed on two other customs officers who also planted packages of cannabis resin in travelers’ luggage 10 and some 60 times, respectively.

The head of Tokyo Customs was among the nine senior officials who were also given pay cuts and warnings.

Tokyo Customs said it has banned its officers from putting drugs in travelers’ luggage without notice for the training of sniffer dogs.

Taiwan recalls top Japan rep as tensions rise over ship collision

2008-06-15T22:24:00.001+09:00

A festering tiff between Taiwan and Japan over a ship collision in disputed waters dramatically worsened Saturday, when Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry announced the recall of the island’s top representative in Japan and plans to scrap a special ministry committee that handles ties with Tokyo. “We absolutely cannot accept Japan’s report on the incident,” said Foreign Minister Francisco Ou in a Taipei press conference. He was referring to a recent investigation findings report by Tokyo that found the Taiwanese fishing boat captain partially at fault for the incident.

Taipei will recall its de facto ambassador in Japan, Koh Se-kai, and terminate the ministry’s Committee on Japanese Affairs to protest the report, Ou added. According to the report, the Taiwanese captain was partially at fault for a collision between his boat, aboard which were 16 people, and a Japan Coast Guard vessel during an encounter near a group of Japanese-administered islets in the East China Sea known in Japan as the ‘‘Senkaku Islands,’’ in Taiwan as ‘‘Tiaoyutai’’ and in China as ‘‘Diaoyu.’’

6 dead, 13 missing after magnitude 7 hits northeast Japan

2008-06-15T22:22:00.001+09:00

A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.2 jolted extensive areas of northeastern Japan on Saturday morning, leaving at least six people dead, 13 people missing and nearly 200 others injured, authorities said.

The 8:43 a.m. quake, followed by a series of aftershocks of lesser intensity, hit mainly mountainous areas in Miyagi, Akita and Iwate prefectures, scarring hills, tearing up roads and even knocking down a 95-meter bridge, they said.

The quake left about 400 people including tourists stranded in various areas due to severed roads, temporarily blacked out nearly 30,000 households and disrupted transport and telecommunications infrastructure.

The quake measured upper 6 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in Miyagi’s Kurihara, around 350 kilometers north of Tokyo, and Iwate’s Oshu, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

No tsunami alert was issued after the initial inland quake that originated around 8 km underground in southern Iwate Prefecture, the agency said.

The Self-Defense Forces, the Japan Coast Guard and other authorities flew helicopters to rescue stranded people in remote mountainous areas that suffered serious damage.

The authorities suspended their search and rescue operations at night, saying they will be resumed Sunday morning.

Nuclear power plants in Miyagi and neighboring Fukushima Prefecture are operating normally, according to Tohoku Electric Power Co. and Tokyo Electric Power Co.

‘‘I felt a shock as I was pushed up’’ from the ground, tourist Katsuko Momma, 60, said, describing the fear she felt as she traveled in a car driven by her husband near the epicenter.

Momma, from the town of Misato, Miyagi Prefecture, said she saw a section of a hill collapse with a roar as the couple walked after leaving the car as the road had many cracks. ‘‘I’m worried about what’s happened to our house,’’ she said.

‘‘I feel scared at night because I live by myself,’’ said Tokiko Suzuki, 79, who runs a barber shop in Oshu.

In Kurihara, seven people were trapped in rubble at the Komanoyu hot spring resort inn, police said. The trapped people include two tourists and relatives of the inn’s owner.

Local officials said that three foreign nationals and one Japanese person on a camping trip in the resort, who had gone missing earlier, have been accounted for.

The Kurihara city government said four other people are still missing.

The Ground Self-Defense Force dispatched a disaster relief unit at the request of the Iwate and Miyagi prefectural governments, and 197 relief teams from Tokyo and 13 other prefectures comprising of a total of 773 members were sent to quake-hit areas.

The authorities said about 220 people remained stranded in the area around Mt. Kurikoma on the Iwate-Miyagi prefectural border and 200 others in the Sukawa and Kurikoma hot spring areas in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures.

Tomozo Chiba, 60, of Iwate’s Ichinoseki, was killed after being hit by a truck as he jumped onto a road following the quake, and Michitaka Ishii, 55, of Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, died in a landslide while fishing on the seashore, police and firefighters said.

Masahiko Chiba, 48, was killed by falling rocks at a dam construction site in Oshu, Iwate.

Three construction workers were also trapped in a landslide in Kurihara. Two of them, Masami Igarashi, 54, and Yoshitomi Kadowaki, 53, were rescued but later pronounced dead. The other is still missing.

A bus was hit by a landslide in Oshu with about 20 people temporarily trapped inside, and six children and a teacher at a nursery school in the city were injured, police said. All the bus passengers were later rescued.

Twenty-three people on another bus heading for Sendai airport were injured in the city of Natori in Miyagi as the bus bounced due to the quake, firefighters said.

A total of 119 telephone lines were disconnected in Kurihara as cables were cut. Subscribers of three major mobile phone carriers experienced difficulties using their handsets in the quake-hit areas.

East Japan Railway Co, a major train operator in the region, said it had to suspend or slow down many trains on the Akita, Tohoku and Yamagata Shinkansen bullet train lines as well as conventional train services, affecting about 117,000 passengers.

The central government set up an office at the prime minister’s office to handle the post-quake situation and sent a team headed by National Public Safety Commission Chairman Shinya Izumi, who also serves as minister in charge of disaster preparedness measures, to assess the quake damage.

U.S. hospital provided liver transplants to 4 Japanese gang figures, including gang boss

2008-05-31T11:58:00.000+09:00

A Los Angeles hospital provided liver transplants to four Japanese gang figures, including one of Japan’s most powerful gang bosses, over a period when several hundred area patients died while awaiting transplants, according to a published report.

The surgeries were performed at UCLA Medical Center by world-renowned liver surgeon Dr. Ronald W Busuttil, executive chairman of UCLA’s surgery department, the Los Angeles Times reported in a story posted on its website. The Times cited a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The surgeries were performed between 2000 and 2004, and in each of those years more than 100 patients died awaiting liver transplants in the greater Los Angeles region, according to the Times.

There is no indication UCLA or Busuttil knew any of the patients had ties to Japanese gangs, known as yakuza, the Times reported. The school and Busuttil said in statements they don’t make moral judgments about patients, but treat them according to medical need.

U.S. transplant rules do not prohibit hospitals from performing transplants on foreign patients or those with criminal histories.

Tadamasa Goto, who had been barred from entering the United States because of his criminal history, was the most prominent transplant recipient. He leads a gang called the Goto-gumi, according to the Times.

With help from the FBI, Goto obtained a visa to enter America in 2001 in exchange for leads on potentially illegal activity in this country by Japanese criminal gangs, Jim Stern, retired chief of the FBI’s Asian criminal enterprise unit in Washington, told the Times. The FBI did not help Goto arrange his surgery with UCLA.

The FBI didn’t get much out of Goto, Stern said.

“I don’t think Goto gave the bureau anything of significance,” Stern said. Goto “came to the States and got a liver and was laughing back to where he came from. ... It defies logic.”

Stern said he was not involved with the deal, and learned of it when he became unit chief in 2004. He said he continues to be troubled by it.

After the transplant, Goto was again barred from re-entering the U.S., the Times said, citing a law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and requested anonymity.

Busuttil performed liver transplants at UCLA on three other men now barred from entering the U.S. because of their criminal records or suspected affiliation with Japanese organized crime groups, the Times said, citing a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Times said it was not naming those three transplant recipients because neither they nor their lawyers could be reached.

Goto underwent a successful transplant in July 2001. He received the liver of a young man who died in a traffic accident, said Goto’s Tokyo-based lawyer, Yoshiyuki Maki.

“Goto is over 60 now, but his liver is young,” Maki said.

Goto continued to receive medical care from Busuttil in Japan. Busuttil traveled there and examined Goto more than once, Maki said. Busuttil also evaluated Goto while he was in custody in 2006, Maki said.

In May 2006, Goto was arrested in Japan on suspicion of real estate fraud. He was acquitted of the charges in March of this year.

It is unclear when Goto joined UCLA’s waiting list, but he had been in the U.S. two months when he received a new liver, the Times reported. Overall, 34 percent of the patients added to UCLA’s liver waiting list between January 1999 and December 2001 received a new liver within three years of being listed, the Times reported, citing national transplant statistics.

In a statement, the UCLA Health System said privacy laws prevented it from commenting on specific cases.

Busuttil, a former president of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons who has testified before Congress on who should receive priority for transplants, released a statement this week.

“As a surgeon, it is not my role to pass moral judgment on the patients who seek my care,” read the statement, which didn’t directly address the Japanese patients. “If one of my patients, domestic or international, were in a situation that could be life-threatening, of course I would do everything in my power to assure that they would receive proper care.”

It could not be determined how much UCLA and Busuttil were paid for the Japanese transplants, the Times reported.

Amnesty Int'l discouraged by increased executions in Japan

2008-05-28T17:00:00.001+09:00

Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Khan expressed disappointment Tuesday that Japan not only continues to use the death penalty but that executions have actually increased, totaling seven since this January alone. At the launch of the human rights organization’s annual report in central London, an Amnesty Asia spokesperson expanded on Khan’s disappointment, saying, ‘‘We have been very discouraged by the increase in the number of executions in Japan over the past six months.’’

‘‘We will continue, both through our membership in Japan itself and internationally, to press the Japanese government to backtrack on this very alarming trend,’’ the spokesperson said, confirming there had been no response from the Japanese government to an open letter Amnesty sent it in April urging a cessation of executions.

The extensive 150-country report also raised ‘‘serious concern’’ that the daiyo-kangoku system of pre-trial detention does not comply with international standards and held Japan to account for its lack of action to resolve the justice issue surrounding the survivors of Japan’s World War II military sexual slavery system despite international pressure.

Japan was far from the only country to come under fire, with Khan remarking there has been 60 years of human rights failure around the world since the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Khan challenged world leaders to recommit themselves to delivering concrete improvements to the global human rights situation.

‘‘2008 presents an unprecedented opportunity for new leaders coming to power and countries emerging on the world stage to set a new direction and reject the myopic policies and practices that in recent years have made the world a more dangerous and divided place,’’ Khan said, referencing the United States in particular as a country where ‘‘the most powerful must lead by example.’’

Liu Xiang eases to men’s 110m hurdles top podium in Osaka

2008-05-10T22:21:00.000+09:00

World record holder and Athens Olympic champion Liu Xiang breezed to win the 110 meters hurdles in 13.19 seconds in the wet and cold weather at the Japan Grand Prix here on Saturday.
It was the sixth time for the Chinese athletics legend to win in Osaka. It is the second leg of the 14-round Grand Prix series.
Liu's compatriot Shi Dongpeng finished the distant second in 13.63 and Maurice Wignall from Jamaica took the bronze in 13.84.
"I'm very happy with 13.19 in this weather and more importantly to have avoided injury," Liu told reporters. "When it's rainy and cold there is always a risk.
"I've always started my season strongly in Osaka so I hope this will be a good omen."

from: robladin.com

Ambassador: Olympic torch relay to strengthen China-Japan friendship

2008-04-23T09:01:00.000+09:00

The upcoming Olympic torch relay in the Japanese city of Nagano will further expand the traditional friendship between the Chinese and Japanese people, Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai said on Tuesday.

In an interview with Xinhua and other Chinese media, Cui said the torch relay would provide a fresh opportunity to further enhance the amicable sentiment between the two peoples.

Describing Japan as one of the most important neighbors of China and a country sharing long-lasting, extensive and profound cultural and historical links with China, Cui said the torch relay is to exhibit Chinese people's expectation and passion for the Olympic Games.

People in Nagano and throughout Japan are standing with the Olympic spirits as Japan is the first Asian country to host the Olympic Games and Nagano was the host of the 1998 Winter Olympics, Cui said, adding that local Japanese people's ardor and fervor for the torch has been witnessed.

"As the Olympic torch embodies the Olympic spirits and is a symbol of peace, friendship and progress, we will be pleased to see the union of people around the globe under the light of the flame, transcending differences between states, races and ideologies, for gorgeous pictures and harmonious melodies of the earth," Cui added.

Concerning the preparation for the torch relay, Cui spoke highly of the tangible and fruitful efforts made by the Japanese Olympic Committee and the Nagano municipal government.

The ambassador especially thanked Japanese high-level government officials, including Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, for their repeated pledges for safety and support for the torch relay, as well as the Japanese parliament for establishing a union, headed by Lower House Speaker Yohei Kono, to provide material and spiritual support for the event.

A lot of Japanese celebrities from all circles, including athletes, singers and comedians, have actively applied to be torch bearers, Cui said, adding that the Chinese people were inspired by their enthusiasm.

The ambassador also expressed his extraordinary honor and proud of being one of the three Chinese torch bearers in the Japanese stop.

"I fully understand the significance of the torch and will take every step wholeheartedly. I am to properly fulfill my mission and contribute to the success of the entire torch relay," Cui said.

from: RobLadin.com

Chinese students in Japan collect signatures supporting Beijing Olympics

2008-04-20T20:33:00.001+09:00

Hundreds of Chinese students in Japan signed their names on three flags on Saturday to extend their support for the Beijing Olympic Games.
The campaign, initiated by the Chinese Students in Japan Friendship Association, plans to collect over 10,000 signatures of Chinese students and scholars in Japan.
At the opening ceremony of the campaign held in the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, the Chinese students set up banners promoting Olympic spirits and the Beijing Olympics slogans such as "One World, One Dream."
"Through the campaign, we want to spread the Olympic spirits and the notion of peace, and to call on the people who support the Beijing Olympics to join together," said Zhang Bi, secretary general of the Chinese Students Association in Japan.
"We also want to tell Japanese students that the Olympic Games is not only for China, but the whole world and the entire humankind," Zhang told Xinhua.
During the Olympic torch relay in Japan's Nagano city on April 26, the three flags, with the color of red, yellow and blue respectively, will be extended to spectators for their signatures.
The flags will then be presented to the Organizing Committee of the Beijing Olympic Games, said Li Guangzhe, chairman of the association.

from: RobLadin.com

China hopes Japan understands importance of aiding Olympic torch escort’s work

2008-04-18T22:21:00.000+09:00

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said on Thursday China hoped “relevant country” would understand and aid the work of the Beijing Olympic torch escort.
Jiang made the remarks when asked to comment on Japan’s refusal of the torch escort from China in the relay in Nagano, on April 26.
She told a press conference that the convention of arranging the escort in the relay has been approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
She said the escorts, all volunteers, protected the torch with their bodies from the seizure by “Tibetan independence” supporters.
“This kind of spirit should be praised and understood, while the mob which disrupts should receive universal condemnation,” she said, adding China hoped “relevant country” would have a clear understanding of the task and provide active coordination and assistance for the relay.
Jiang praised the torch relay in Pakistan, saying China noticed that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani have both attended the ceremonies of the torch relay which was a great success in Islamabad.
“Through the relay, we have seen the colorful culture of Pakistan and the great enthusiasm of the Pakistani people toward the Olympics,” said Jiang.
On the torch relay in India, scheduled for Thursday, Jiang said the Indian people hoped to use the opportunity to show India’s ancient culture and modern development achievements, and China believed the Indian government would take effective measures to ensure a smooth and safe torch relay in New Delhi.

from: robladin.com

Germany book Beijing hockey spot with Japan win

2008-04-13T22:07:00.000+09:00

TOKYO - World champions Germany secured the final spot in this year's Beijing Olympics men's hockey tournament after overpowering hosts Japan 4-0 on Sunday.
The world's top-ranked side won all six of their matches in the final Olympic qualifying tournament in Gifu, scoring 34 goals without conceding one.
Christopher Zeller scored twice for the Germans, who had defeated Japan by the same scoreline in midweek. They also racked up an 8-0 win over Italy and pummelled Switzerland 10-0.
Japan, bidding to reach their first Olympic tournament since the 1968 Mexico Games, had their chances but were guilty of poor finishing, in contrast to the clinical Germans.
Florian Keller smashed in Germany's opening goal after 15 minutes before Zeller doubled their lead moments into the second half.
Zeller added another goal in the 47th minute and Sebastian Draguhn completed a comfortable victory for Germany with a smart finish two minutes from time.

from: robladin.com

Japan’s ’silver shadow’ defies age barrier

2008-04-12T23:52:00.000+09:00

Rising at the crack of dawn and crunching 50 sit-ups before breakfast, record-breaking Japanese Olympian Hiroshi Hoketsu bristles when asked about his age.
But the equestrian rider, who at the age of 67 will become Japan's oldest Olympic representative at the Beijing Games in August, has grudgingly begun to accept his new-found fame.
"Initially I was a little reluctant about having my age splashed across the news," Hoketsu told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.
"I didn't see why my age should be such a big thing. It wasn't relevant. I wasn't selected for the Olympics because I'm 67."
Hoketsu last took part in an Olympics 44 years ago at the 1964 Tokyo Games, finishing 40th in the show jumping competition.
He switched to the less physically demanding dressage in his mid-30s and was selected for Japan's team for the Seoul Olympics 20 years ago.
"I didn't take part in Seoul because there were quarantine problems with my horse," said the German-based Hoketsu. "It's not like I disappeared for 44 years.
"At the Tokyo Olympics I was still a kid -- I was 22 years old and in a dream world. Just being selected was my biggest goal then. Taking part was a bit of a fluke."
Hoketsu is set to eclipse the previous record age for a Japanese Olympian set by fellow equestrian Kikuko Inoue, who was 63 when she rode at the Seoul Games in 1988.
The oldest Olympian was Swedish shooter Oscar Swahn, who bagged his sixth Olympic medal at the 1920 Antwerp Games at the grand age of 72 years and 280 days.

MEDIA STORM
"I was back in Germany when the Japanese media started kicking up a fuss about me so I hadn't experienced the storm first hand until now," said Hoketsu.
"It's not as if I'm going to win a medal at the Olympics so obviously the reason for the interest is my age. I'm beginning to feel my age with all the fuss but I want to show that I'm actually getting better as I get older."
Hoketsu insists he has no secret formula for appearing to have defied the ageing process, beyond waking up before sunrise and riding his horse across dew-wet fields.
"I haven't smoked for 30 years but I used to smoke and drink so it's not like I'm that stoic," he smiled. "I always woke up at 5 a.m. and go for a ride before going to the office.
"After I retired, my wife let me go to Germany. Before the Athens Olympics in 2004 I went over to look for a horse and began thinking about trying to make an Olympic comeback."
Hoketsu found his current horse 'Whisper' in Germany and settled in the city of Aachen, along the country's border with Belgium and the Netherlands.
"I thought about quitting and coming back to Japan many times," he said. "But I'm stubborn. I have improved technically, not just experience-wise, and feel I can get even better."

MAJOR TEST
Hoketsu admitted the stifling humidity forecast for the Olympic period, as well as fears over equine influenza and bird flu, will prove a major test for both horse and rider.
"Hong Kong will more than likely be more humid than a Japanese summer -- maybe 80 percent humidity and over 30 degrees celsius, which is stressful for the horse," he said.
"We've been told the stables will be air-conditioned but we'll have to take care not to over-work the horse in practice, in order to keep her fresh."
Hoketsu is adamant he will not ride off into the sunset post-Beijing.
"In dressage my age is a plus," he said. "I have experience but I'm also in the best form of my life. I don't know if this is my big chance or my last chance.
"But I started riding when I was 12 and if anything I'm more passionate about it than ever."

from: robladin.com

21 cinemas to screen documentary 'Yasukuni'

2008-04-05T16:01:00.001+09:00

Twenty-one movie theaters across Japan including Tokyo plan to screen a documentary film on the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine in May or later, a company distributing the film said Friday. However, an official of Argo Pictures said it is not able to announce a detailed schedule or the names of cinemas that have decided to hold screenings because the cinemas do not want to suffer further harassment or pressure from groups opposed to the film.

Ten theaters including Cinema Taurus in Tomakomai, Hokkaido, Kyoto Cinema in Kyoto, Cinewind in Niigata and Salon Cinema in Hiroshima have already declared that they will screen the documentary. A theater in Okinawa, the southernmost prefecture, has joined the list of cinemas willing to screen the controversial documentary. Each of the movie theaters has received inquiries about screening dates for the film, ‘‘Yasukuni,’’ by Chinese director Li Ying.

Yokohama to hold 'Relieve Africa's Hunger' event

2008-03-14T09:55:00.001+09:00

The city of Yokohama will hold a "Relieve Africa's Hunger" campaign to enable residents to make a direct contribution in their local communities. The campaign will run mainly in May, 2008. As the host city of the 4th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV, May 28-30, 2008) and in the context of a rising interest in Africa within Yokohama, the city will provide opportunities that will enable citizens and corporations to make a direct contribution in their immediate communities to achieve support for Africa.
The campaign will feature African dishes that use ingredients from Africa, along with goods that are labeled as providing support to Africa, in food outlets such as restaurants and convenience stores. Those corporations that endorse the appeal will donate a proportion of the proceeds to Africa utilizing the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) school meal program.
Yokohama will also implement "Walk the World for Africa," a walking event aimed at eradicating hunger, "Hamakko-Doshi for Africa," in which a proportion of the receipts from the goods sold by the Yokohama Waterworks Bureau will be donated, "Deliver to Africa! Fund-Raising for a Green Environment," which appeals for donations from residents, and other initiatives.
The funds collected through these events and campaigns will be donated through WFP and JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) for school meals and other support for Africa, providing an opportunity for residents to support Africa.

University student, girlfriend face charges over false groping claim on subway

2008-03-13T22:41:00.000+09:00

Police on Wednesday arrested a student at Konan University and his girlfriend on suspicion of setting up a male passenger with a false groping claim on the subway in February. Police allege that Fumiyuki Makita, 24, and his 31-year-old girlfriend conspired to frame a passenger on the Midosuji subway line in Osaka about 8:30 p.m. on Feb 1.

According to police, the woman yelled at a 58-year-old company employee, accusing him of touching her. Makita then approached the man to "help" the woman. The company employee was taken into custody by station staff and handed over to police. Makita told police he had never met the woman before and said that he had seen the man touching her hips. The man told police he could not have touched her because his hands were in his pocket.

Earlier this week, police said the woman had decided to drop the charges if the man was willing to pay compensation. Upon further questioning, she admitted that the charge was a fabrication and that the man who came to her aid was her boyfriend. She said he had conspired with her to set soneone up on the train so they could get money.

Police are continuing their investigation to see if the couple have done the same thing before to other passengers.

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Hospitals rejected emergency patients in 24,089 cases in 2007

2008-03-11T11:44:00.000+09:00

Medical facilities in Japan rejected individual emergency patients in 24,089 cases nationwide last year, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said Tuesday. Of these, 8,618 cases involved patients younger than 15, and 1,084 cases involved pregnant women, according to the agency's first-ever such survey. Rejections of seriously ill patients, meanwhile, accounted for 14,387 cases, the agency said.

According to the survey, children were rejected mostly because no pediatricians worked at the facilities, while treatment difficulties were cited in the rejection of pregnant women and other patients in serious condition. As for patients under 15, 220 emergency transfer cases were rejected more than 10 times in 15 prefectures including Tokyo, Osaka and Saitama, with one case in Tokyo rejected 34 times.

In 16 child transfer cases, patients had to wait more than two hours before finally being hospitalized, according to the agency. In five of the cases, the patients had to wait more than two and a half hours.

In 53 emergency transfer cases involving pregnant women, the patients were rejected more than 10 times, with one patient in Chiba Prefecture rejected 42 times, the agency said.

Other patients in serious condition were rejected more than 10 times in 1,074 cases, it said.

The rejections were seen mainly in large metropolitan areas, such as Tokyo and Osaka.

"Medical facility staff probably think other facilities will accept the emergency patients as there are many institutions there," said one agency official.

School principal arrested for sending threatening emails to former student

2008-03-09T22:58:00.000+09:00

Saitama police on Sunday searched the office of a high school principal and confiscated two computers after he was arrested for allegedly sending threatening messages by email to a former student. The suspect, Kazuo Ichikawa, 56, was arrested during Saturday's graduation ceremony.
Ichikawa began an acquaintance with her around January 2002, when he served as the assistant principal of another high school. She was a student there, according to police.
In March last year, she proposed to end the relationship, and he is suspected of sending more than 10 threatening emails to her between late November and mid-December in order to persuade her to continue their relationship, they said.
He noted in them, "I don't care about what will happen to you. I can kill somebody in cold blood," and in another one stating, "I will expose your private life," according to the police.
He has denied the charges, telling investigators, "I didn't intend to threaten her," according to police.
Police launched an investigation into the case after receiving reports from the woman's family.

Ken Terauchi to take plunge in record fourth Games

2008-03-06T10:33:00.000+09:00

Japan's Ken Terauchi will represent his country for a record fourth Olympic Games in Beijing this year, Japanese officials said on Tuesday.
The 27-year-old will become the first Japanese to appear in four consecutive Olympics in aquatic competition when he steps on to the three-metre springboard in August.
Terauchi, whose best Olympic performance to date was fifth place in the platform diving at the 2000 Sydney Games, qualified for the springboard event in Beijing after finishing fourth at last year's world championships.
Mai Nakagawa was selected for the women's platform diving, securing the 20-year-old her first Olympic appearance.

Japan owes London more than 1 mil pounds in fines, road charges

2008-03-06T10:28:00.001+09:00

The Japanese Embassy in London has racked up more than 1 million pounds worth of unpaid road charges and penalty fines in a diplomatic dispute with city chiefs. Transport for London, the body which controls the capital's public transportation network, revealed recently that the embassy owes it a total of 1,003,300 pounds (approximately $2 million).
The embassy is refusing to pay the central London "charge" because it believes that it is, in fact, a tax which diplomats are immune from paying under the 1961 Vienna Convention which governs diplomatic relations. Several other missions have also stopped paying the 8 pounds daily congestion charge when they enter and drive in central London.
The biggest debtor is the United States which owes over 2 million pounds and Japan is currently in second place. More than 10 million pounds is owed by 20 embassies, according to Transport for London. A spokesman for the Japanese Embassy in London said the Japanese government had assessed the relevant laws in August 2006 and came to the conclusion its diplomatic staff should not pay. This is because they could not see that a specific service was being provided by the charge and that it is merely another tax, to which diplomats and their families are exempt.

Today is Hina Matsuri

2008-03-03T17:01:00.001+09:00

The Hina Matsuri or Doll Festival or Girl's Festival is celebrated on March 3. On this day, families with girls wish their daughters a successful and happy life. Dolls are displayed in the house together with peach blossoms. The doll festival has its origin in a Chinese custom in which bad fortune is transferred to dolls and then removed by abandoning the doll on a river. On Hina Matsuri, sweet sake is drunken and chirashi sushi is eaten.

Osaki out to earn ticket to Beijing

2008-03-03T16:57:00.001+09:00

Satoshi Osaki certainly sympathizes with Arata Fujiwara. But when it comes to making the Olympic team, all's fair in love and marathons.
Four years after being passed over for an Olympic spot, Osaki will attempt to earn a place on Japan's team to Beijing with a strong showing at today's Lake Biwa Marathon.

"Getting a ticket to Beijing is the main objective," Osaki said a press conference here Saturday for the last of the three domestic qualifiers for Japanese runners. "To get that, I'm not thinking about the time. I'm looking to win, or at worst be the top Japanese."
Among those expected to press Osaki, the 2006 Asian Games bronze medalist, for the top spot among the Japanese will be Tomoyuki Sato and Kensuke Takahashi, along with general-entry runners Kenji Noguchi, Takashi Horiguchi, Masakazu Fujiwara and Ryoji Matsushita.
While winning the race would all but clinch an Olympic berth, that might be too tall a task for this group.
One of the strongest foreign contingents in years includes Kenyan-born Qatari Mubarak Hassan Shami and Eritrea's Yared Asmeron, the silver medalist and fourth-place finishers from last summer's IAAF world championships in Osaka, respectively.
The Osaka race has been Shami's lone loss in six career marathons that includes the 2006 Asiad. He ran a career-best 2 hours 7 minutes 19 seconds in winning Paris last year and said he was aiming for a time in the 2:06s "if the weather conditions are good."
Spain's Jose Rios, a former two-time Lake Biwa winner, and 2005 Fukuoka Marathon champion Dmytro Baranovsky of Ukraine add to the luster of the race around the southern tip of Japan's largest lake.
Rios and Baranovsky also have personal bests under 2:08, while Osaki has the top time among the Japanese with the 2:08:46 he ran in 2004.
That was when he came from nowhere to finish second in Tokyo and throw a wrench into the selection process for the Athens Olympics. Citing a lack of experience, Osaki was left off the Japan squad.
Now Fujiwara finds himself in almost the exact same boat at Osaki.
Unheralded going into last month's Tokyo Marathon, Fujiwara placed second as the top Japanese with a near-identical time--2:08:40--which has become the standard that today's field will be trying to top.
With three spots available, Atsushi Sato all but clinched one by clocking 2:07:13 in finishing third last December in Fukuoka. Another berth is expected to go to 2005 world bronze medalist Tsuyoshi Ogata, the highest-finishing Japanese at the Osaka worlds in fifth.
Osaki, who finished one place back in sixth, acknowledged a sense of relief when Fujiwara emerged as the top Japanese in Tokyo.
"Four years ago I ran in Tokyo and I wasn't picked," Osaki said. "Now I have four years of experience under my belt and I don't want to lose out to Fujiwara."
Rios, who finished a disappointing 16th at the Osaka worlds, said the race will be serving his qualifier for the Spanish team to Beijing.
"As the field is very strong, that means that times will be fast and that's what I want," said Rios, who set his career-best of 2:07:42 in winning in 2004. "First is to win, and second is a personal best."

more about the Beijing Olympics at RobLadin.com

Ishiba admits false account of destroyer crew interrogation

2008-02-28T09:23:00.000+09:00

Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba admitted Wednesday that his ministry gave a false explanation regarding its interrogation of the chief navigator of the Aegis destroyer Atago shortly after it collided with a fishing boat on Feb 19, describing the fiasco as "inappropriate." Ishiba told a subcommittee meeting of the House of Representatives Budget Committee that his ministry had not gained approval from the Japan Coast Guard, which is investigating the collision, when it questioned the chief navigator, correcting a statement from Maritime Staff Office chief Adm. Eiji Yoshikawa on Tuesday that the ministry had gained prior approval.
"It was not appropriate," Ishiba told the parliamentary meeting. He added, however, that the ministry did so "in order to secure information about the accident as soon as possible and to explain it externally."
Vice Defense Minister Kohei Masuda also admitted that the ministry has yet to confirm there was a phone call from the MSO to the coast guard notifying it of the MSO's plan to question the Atago navigator, telling a press conference Wednesday night, "The MSO chief should have made a confirmation more carefully."

Masuda also said the ministry did not record what the chief navigator said during its interrogation.
Meanwhile, the 3rd Regional Coast Guard Headquarters in Yokohama said late Wednesday it was told by the Defense Ministry on the afternoon of Feb 19 that the chief navigator had already got off the destroyer when it requested that the Atago's crew not get on or off the vessel.
Ishiba's remarks fueled criticism from opposition party lawmakers, with main opposition Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama saying the ministry deserves to be criticized for engaging in a "coverup." He also said, "It is inevitable that such action will make the public suspicious."

From the ruling side, Kazuo Kitagawa, secretary general of the New Komeito party, the junior partner of the Liberal Democratic Party in the ruling coalition, also criticized the ministry for questioning the Atago navigator without consulting the coast guard, telling a press conference, "I must say there was a problem."
In an apparent effort to play down such criticism, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told reporters that it is normal for "the minister in charge to examine by himself what has happened and it is within the scope of the minister's responsibilities."
"Considering the situation, there may have been things that cannot be helped," Fukuda said. But he also added that "it would have been better" if the ministry had contacted the Japan Coast Guard.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura also said that the ministry should have conducted the questioning after consulting the coast guard, but denied that a coverup had occurred.

The 7,750-ton Atago collided with the 7.3-ton Seitoku Maru, from a fisheries cooperative in Katsuura, Chiba Prefecture, on Feb 19, leaving the fishing vessel's two crew members — Haruo Kichisei, 58, and his 23-year-old son Tetsuhiro — missing.

U.S. Marine held on counterfeiting charge in Okinawa

2008-02-19T20:09:00.001+09:00

Another U.S. Marine is suspected of committing a crime in Okinawa Prefecture as Japan is stepping up calls for the United States to toughen discipline on its military personnel stationed there, Japanese investigative sources said Tuesday.
U.S. military authorities have detained the Marine in his 20s who is suspected of counterfeiting dozens of $20 notes and passing some of them in Okinawa, the sources said.
Under the Japan-U.S. Status-of-Forces agreement, Japanese authorities will take over custody of the Marine after Japanese prosecutors file an indictment against him. Local police plan to soon send papers on him to prosecutors.
The suspect allegedly used a personal computer and a printer to copy the dollar notes and passed some of the counterfeit ones in Uruma, southern Okinawa Island.
Meanwhile, the municipal assembly in Nago in the central part of the main Okinawa island, where the Marine Corps' Camp Schwab is located, will adopt two resolutions protesting the alleged rape of a Japanese junior high school girl by a 38-year-old Marine staff sergeant and the alleged trespassing into a private residence by another Marine.
In the alleged rape case, Japanese police arrested the Marine based at Camp Courtney on Feb 11 on suspicion of raping the girl in Chatan, southern Okinawa Island. The suspect has denied the allegation.
On Monday, another Marine, aged 21, was arrested on suspicion of trespassing after he was found passed out on a sofa at a private residence in Nago, central Okinawa Island.
Local police also arrested another Marine, 22, on Sunday for drunken driving in the city of Okinawa.
The Nago municipal assembly is expected to unanimously adopt the protest documents that will call on the Japanese and U.S. governments as well as U.S. forces to strengthen discipline of U.S. military personnel, and to consolidate and reduce the presence of the U.S. forces in Okinawa, assembly members said.
On Tuesday, five municipal assemblies in Okinawa Prefecture adopted resolutions of protest against U.S. forces.
Of the 41 municipalities in Okinawa, 28 assemblies will have passed such resolutions of protests, including Nago, which is scheduled to hold a vote Wednesday.
Meanwhile in Tokyo, State Minister Shinya Izumi, who overseas Japanese police forces as chairman of the National Public Safety Commission, urged the United States to assume responsibilities for its troops in Japan.
"I can't understand why a series of such incidents has taken place. I feel it's unpardonable," Izumi said.
At a separate news conference, Fumio Kishida, state minister for Okinawa and Northern Territories affairs, expressed displeasure with the United States, saying he does not think U.S. forces have taken full measures to toughen discipline and prevent a recurrence of misconduct by troops.

recensioni

Poor atmosphere for Olympics

2008-02-19T18:47:00.001+09:00

The Olympic Games are the arena for the world's athletes to give all that is in them for sport and their nations. The 29th Olympiad that is coming up next August in Beijing makes it extremely challenging if not impossible for them to do so.
The reason is the astonishing air pollution that remains the dominating ambience of China's capital, after years striving to reduce it, including more than $16 billion spent in preparation for the 2008 Games. Many observers credit this effort with notable results, but Beijing air is four or five times more contaminated than the level prescribed by the World Health Organization, and 40 times worse than Los Angeles, America's most polluted city.
Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, is confident that by the opening ceremonies, Beijing's air quality will be suitable for the competition.
However, he hedges his bet, saying some endurance events might have to be rescheduled. Athletes in the marathon and triathlon as well as cyclists, take in about 10 times more air with every breath, making them particularly susceptible to Beijing's fouled air.
Face masks, which are sure to forestall peak performances, are nevertheless being tried out.
Many participating nations don't share Rogge's optimism. Contrary to custom, they are training their contingents not in the host country, but in Japan or South Korea, or in Chinese cities distant from Beijing.
One may well ask why such a venue was selected in the first place when the choice was made in 2001. The answer is that it was as a gesture to a nation growing in stature and influence, with the pious hope that it would encourage China to improve its dismal human rights record. Indeed, the Chinese promised to do so and also committed themselves to cleaning up Beijing's air.
China has failed on both counts, although it did make enormous efforts to relocate polluting industrial plants, planted 300 million trees, rerouted an ever increasing volume of automobile traffic and expanded subway lines and constructed a light railway system.
As for human rights, Communist Chinese authorities are still locking up dissidents at home. Internationally, their continued reluctance to use their large trade ties with Sudan to mitigate the atrocities in Darfur last week resulted in Steven Spielberg, the American filmmaker, withdrawing from his advisory role for the Games.
The Chinese point to some minor steps they have taken with Sudan and stress that politics should not afflict the games. Indeed, the Olympic Charter commands "no kind of demonstration of political, religious or racial propaganda" by participants is permitted.
But Tibet is still an issue with legs and among the anticipated 550,000 visitors from abroad there are sure to be some determined to demonstrate. Some 20,000 foreign journalists will be present to report on how the authorities cope with any demonstrations.
Other problems bedevil the Beijing Games, but these are generally easier to deal with, though at some expense.
China does not have a good reputation when it comes to the quality of its food supply despite the global popularity enjoyed by its cuisine. Reports have revealed candy laced with carcinogens, fish contaminated by insecticides, unreliable grains and -- with particular relevance to athletes -- meat and fowl pumped up with steroids.

Olympic athletes are responsible for what they ingest, and if steroids show up in tests, they would suffer consequences.
The U.S., for one, has set up a secure food supply chain, and will ship adequate supplies of beef, chicken and pork as well as grains to feed its athletes and officials. Seafood and fruit are coming in from other countries.
The date set for the opening of the Olympics is the eighth day of the eighth month of the year 2008. In the Chinese view, all those eights will bring good luck. The Games certainly will require an unusually heavy dose of it.

source: timesunion.com

Aegis destroyer collides with fishing boat off Chiba; two missing

2008-02-19T16:22:00.000+09:00

Japanese destroyer collides with fishing boat off — A Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer with an advanced radar system collided with a small fishing boat early Tuesday morning in the Pacific off the coast of Chiba Prefecture, causing the boat to capsize and leaving its two crewmembers missing, the MSDF and the Japan Coast Guard said.
Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba said authorities are making all-out efforts to rescue the fishermen and that the MSDF has yet to determine the cause of the collision. It was the first serious accident involving an MSDF vessel and civilian ship since a submarine and a fishing boat collided in Tokyo Bay in 1988, killing 30.
The hull of the 15-meter-long tuna fishing boat Seitoku Maru split into its bow and stern parts following the collision with the 165 m-long Atago, which is equipped with the high-tech Aegis defense system, the MSDF said. The MSDF and the coast guard have dispatched boats and aircraft to conduct a search at the site, they said.
The coast guard said it tried unsuccessfully to find the missing men in searches of the two parts of the hull, which were still afloat.
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told the Defense Ministry and the coast guard to make all-out search-and-rescue efforts when he was notified of the 4:07 a.m. incident about two hours after it occurred.
Ishiba said his ministry has yet to determine what caused it, including how the high-tech radar was functioning at the time.
The Maritime Staff Office's Operations and Plans Department chief Katsutoshi Kawano apologized to people concerned as well as the public for the accident.
The collision took place in what Kawano described as relatively "calm" sea around 40 kilometers south-southwest of Nojimazaki Cape at the southernmost tip of the Boso Peninsula. The cape is about 85 kilometers south of Tokyo.
The fishing boat belongs to a fishery cooperative in Katsuura, Chiba Prefecture, and was carrying Haruo Kichisei, 58, and his 23-year-old son Tetsuhiro, from Katsuura city, the coast guard said.
It left port in Katsuura at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday together with several other fishing boats, according to the cooperative.
According to the coast guard, it was cloudy in the area when the accident occurred and the sea was relatively calm with good visibility of around 2 kilometers. Wind velocity was 25.2 kilometers per hour.
The MSDF said five vessels and four helicopters have been dispatched to the site to conduct a search. It has set up an accident investigation commission, while the government established an information liaison office within the crisis management center at the prime minister's office.
With regard to the handling of the accident, Fukuda questioned the crisis management system of the ministry and the Self-Defense Forces, saying the first accident report to Ishiba, which was at 5:38 a.m., was "late."
Ishiba said, "It even took 40 minutes for the information to reach me from the ministry's Internal Bureau...The lag should be shortened. The first report should have reached the minister much earlier."
In July 1988, the MSDF submarine Nadashio, now decommissioned, collided with a fishing boat off Yokosuka in Kanagawa Prefecture, killing 30 people including anglers.
Fukuda, Ishiba, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura and transport minister Tetsuzo Fuyushiba, who oversees the coast guard, met prior to the Cabinet meeting to be briefed on the accident and the latest search activities.
The Atago, which went into commission in March 2007, was heading for the port of Yokosuka after completing tests of its equipment related to Standard Missile-2 interceptors in Hawaii, according to the MSDF.
The 7,700-ton ship, under the command of Capt Ken Funato, 52, was supposed to arrive at Yokosuka port at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Kawano said.
The Atago destroyer is the latest version of destroyer equipped with the Aegis advanced defense system. It is based at the MSDF Maizuru base in Kyoto Prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast. It typically carries around 300 crew members.
An Aegis ship is designed to play a central role in Japan's missile defense shield. It is capable of dealing with more than 10 incoming missiles, aircraft and other enemy targets simultaneously.

JAL plane attempts takeoff without permission in Hokkaido

2008-02-17T13:46:00.000+09:00

A Japan Airlines jet carrying 446 passengers and crew members started heading down a runway without permission while another JAL aircraft was still running after landing at New Chitose Airport on Saturday morning but stopped on an order by an air traffic controller, airport and airline officials said.
According to Japan Airlines, the pilot in command of JAL flight 502, a Boeing 747 passenger jet bound for Tokyo's Haneda airport, misheard an instruction by an air traffic controller in English, or the controller may have used terminology that was misunderstood. The controller told the aircraft that it was expected to be cleared for takeoff soon but the pilot apparently misunderstood it as an order for an immediate takeoff, the airline said.

Kanagawa targets teachers who refuse to stand to sing national anthem

2008-02-05T09:46:00.000+09:00

The Kanagawa prefectural education board decided Monday to continue collecting the names of teachers who refuse to stand when attendants at school ceremonies sing the "Kimigayo" national anthem, despite a recommendation by a prefectural panel on protection of personal information not to do so, board officials said.
"It's undesirable there are such school staff members who don't stand to sing the anthem, as enrollment and graduation ceremonies are important events," said Takaichi Hikichi, head of the education board.
The education board has since March 2006 ordered the principals of prefecture-run high schools to report the names of teachers who refuse to stand and sing the anthem at school ceremonies.
The panel determined in January that the practice is inappropriate, saying it is not legitimate or necessary to touch on such information that falls under the category of personal beliefs and creeds.
A 58-year-old male teacher who is seeking nullification of the order said, "The education board doesn't understand the weight of the panel recommendation. We may resort to legal measures next."
Kanagawa Gov Shigefumi Matsuzawa, meanwhile, said of the education board's decision, "It's an international norm to respect the national anthem and flag. I expect teachers who refuse to stand and sing the anthem to consider their responsibility as a teacher," he said.

Japan and China to hold talks over food-poisoning outbreak

2008-02-04T10:50:00.000+09:00

A group of Chinese experts held a meeting with their Japanese counterparts Sunday over a food-poisoning outbreak allegedly triggered by Chinese-made frozen meat dumplings. The five-member team from China is led by Li Chunfeng, vice director of the Import and Export Food Safety Bureau in the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, the national quality control bureau.
At the outset of the meeting, Shigeru Hotta, senior official in the Cabinet Office, said, "We need to bring the issue under control immediately as it has become a big public concern in Japan. I hope the two countries will jointly work to clarify the cause." The first meeting concluded "as an opportunity for information sharing between the two sides," Masaki Ichikawa, another official in the Cabinet Office, told reporters. "We'll continue the meeting tomorrow and later."

3 death row inmates hanged in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka

2008-02-01T21:17:00.000+09:00

Japan executed three death row inmates Friday, less than two months after hanging three others in December, showing its determination to continue executions despite international calls for a moratorium on the death penalty.
Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama held a news conference Friday morning to announce the names of the three inmates and where they were executed. "Each of the three inmates was convicted of killing their victims out of selfish motives and in a cruel manner. After making careful studies, I ordered the inmates to be hanged," Hatoyama said.
The nonpartisan Japan Parliamentary League against the Death Penalty protested against the executions. Group member Nobuto Hosaka, a House of Representatives member of the Social Democratic Party, told a news conference, "Barely two months have passed since the previous executions. Is it the start of a mass execution period? We lodge a stern protest."
Six death row inmates have been hanged since Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda assumed office in September and all of the executions have been ordered by Hatoyama. More than 100 inmates are currently on death row in Japan.
The three executed Friday were Takashi Mochida, 65, who was hanged at the Tokyo Detention House, Masahiko Matsubara, 63, who was hanged at the Osaka Detention House, and Keishi Nago, 37, who was hanged at the Fukuoka Detention House.
According to court rulings, Mochida stabbed a 44-year-old woman to death in Tokyo in April 1997, two months after he was released from prison. He killed the woman out of revenge because she had filed a report with the police accusing him of rape. Mochida served a seven-year prison term for the rape.
Matsubara was convicted of strangling a 61-year-old woman in Tokushima Prefecture in April 1988 and a 44-year-old woman in Aichi Prefecture in June the same year.
Nago was convicted of killing his 40-year-old sister-in-law and her daughter, 17, and wounding her son on Tokunoshima Island, Kagoshima Prefecture, in August 2002.
Mochida spent three years and three months in prison after he was sentenced to death. Matsubara served 10 years and nine months in prison and Nago three years and five months.
On Thursday, the parliamentary league against the death penalty urged Hatoyama not to order the execution of death row inmates after the organization obtained information about imminent executions.
On Friday, Hosaka, the head of the league's secretariat, referred to the resolution calling for a moratorium on executions adopted by the U.N. General Assembly on Dec 18. "The Japanese government for its part is not supposed to take the resolution lightly but these executions are its reply. It is going against the world trend and information disclosure is insufficient."
Rights group Amnesty International Japan also issued a strong protest, saying that apart from the names of the executed, no other information has been disclosed and the executions were undertaken secretly as in the past.
Following a lapse of three years and four months, the Justice Ministry resumed executions of death row inmates in March 1993 under orders from then Justice Minister Masaharu Gotoda.
With the latest executions, the total number of inmates hanged since the resumption has reached 63.
There were no executions when Seiken Sugiura was justice minister between October 2005 and September 2006.
Hatoyama, the current justice minister, once proposed omitting the present requirement for the justice minister to sign an order for the execution of a death row inmate.
Hatoyama's predecessor, Jinen Nagase, who occupied the post between September 2006 and August 2007, ordered the executions of 10 inmates.
On Dec 7, Hatoyama announced the names of executed inmates and where they were executed for the first time.
At the time, Hatoyama said he announced the executions "in order to gain public understanding on the implementation of justice."
Previously, the Justice Ministry announced only the number of inmates executed without disclosing their names.

Gynecologist arrested for secretly taking photos of female patient at Chiba clinic

2008-01-31T12:33:00.001+09:00

Police on Thursday arrested a maternity clinic doctor in Funabashi for secretly taking photos of a female patient during a medical examination last April. The doctor, Hiroshi Shimizu, 50, had already been arrested once before, for taking photos up a woman's skirt at a train station with a mobile phone camera last August. After that incident, he was sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for three years.
Police said that Shimizu was arrested for allegedly taking photos of a female patient, 27, with a digital camera during a gynecologic examination on a table with a curtain between them. Police said that when they raided Shimizu's home, they found about 15,000 photos, including nine photos of patients taken at the clinic.
Shimuzu was quoted by police as saying: "I took the photos for medical research."

Australian anti-whaling activists call for boycott of Japanese firms

2008-01-30T13:49:00.001+09:00

Australian conservation groups have joined a global grassroots campaign to boycott Japanese products Friday in the latest bid to pressure Japan to stop whaling. Anti-whaling activists from Australia's east coast, the Byron Whale Action Group and Surfers for Cetaceans, hand-delivered a letter to the Japanese consulate in Brisbane, informing Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda of the boycott and demanding an end to whaling in the name of research.
The Brisbane offices of Sony Australia Ltd, Mitsubishi Motors Australia Ltd and Japan Airlines Corp also received similar messages from the groups.
Byron Whale Action Group spokesman Dean Jefferys said the Australian boycott is part of a global grassroots campaign that has been coordinated over Internet websites such as MySpace and YouTube.
Other conservation groups taking part include the U.S.-based Save the Whales and Britain's Cetacea Defence.
"What we have found is that the larger environmental groups like Greenpeace are not willing to call for a boycott because they are afraid of getting sued. But there has been a real movement of smaller conservation groups, getting together through the Internet and organizing this kind of action," Jeffreys said.
While stopping short of a boycott, Greenpeace has recently targeted Canon Inc over its high-profile advertising and sponsorship programs dedicated to wildlife and endangered species, by challenging the world's top digital camera maker to match word to deed by taking a stand against whaling.
Specifically, it has appealed by letter to Canon's CEO Fujio Mitarai to endorse a statement of opposition to Japanese whaling in Antarctic seas and the use of lethal research methods.
On Jan 22, however, the company declined, saying that while it recognizes "the importance of protecting endangered wildlife...scientific opinion about research whaling varies," according to Greenpeace, which is now asking Canon customers to urge the company to change its mind.
"Canon sells cameras by using the pictures of endangered species, including whales," Greenpeace Japan Whales Project Leader Junichi Sato said. "Greenpeace is amazed that Canon wouldn't condemn the killing of threatened species for fake research."
The Japanese whaling fleet is currently in the Antarctic, where it plans to kill 935 minke and 50 fin whales as part of its whaling program, as the taking of whales for scientific research is permitted under International Whaling Commission rules.
Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, will visit Tokyo next Thursday, where he will meet with his counterpart Masahiko Komura and attempt to smooth over bilateral relations following the whaling row.
Smith told Sky News on Friday whaling will not harm the bilateral relationship.
"Foreign Minister Komura and I, Australia and Japan have to date agreed to disagree about the issue, but that won't get in the fundamentals of the relationship," he said.

Fukuda to meet Bono, Microsoft chief over African development

2008-01-26T14:45:00.000+09:00

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda will hold talks Saturday with Irish rock singer Bono of the band U2, Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade to discuss spurring African development.
During the talks on the sidelines of an international forum here in Switzerland, Fukuda plans to seek their cooperation for the success of a meeting in May in Yokohama of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, a Japan-led African development initiative, Japanese Foreign Ministry officials said.
Bono, a well-known anti-poverty campaigner, and several other celebrities are expected to attend the Yokohama gathering, the fourth of its kind. Wade attended TICAD's third meeting in Tokyo in 2003.
Bono, Blair, Gates and Wade — all of whom have been actively involved in African development — are seen as telling Fukuda their expectations of the Group of Eight summit in July in Hokkaido, Japan, where African development is one of the four main agenda items, the officials said.
Fukuda will hold talks with the four on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, or the Davos forum, of world political and business leaders.
Japan plans to draw the heads of state and ministers from 53 African countries and representatives from western donor countries and multilateral institutions to the upcoming TICAD meeting.
As well as Bono, Japan has invited Gates and Wangari Maathai, the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize laureate from Kenya, to the meeting and is sounding out U.S. actress Angelina Jolie, a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, according to government sources.

2,240 police, 460 patrol cars, copter mobilized for car chase in Osaka

2008-01-24T22:06:00.000+09:00

Police on Thursday arrested a wanted man after a two-hour car chase that involved 2,240 officers, 460 police cars and one helicopter. Hirofumi Fukuda, 27, who had been wanted for assaulting police officers on Jan 21, was arrested after a chase through central Osaka. Around 11 a.m., police received an emergency call saying that a car was driving recklessly, ignoring traffic lights. When a patrol car approached the vehicle in question, it took off.
Police were mobilized throughout the area and a helicopter called in. The chase ended when Fukuda's car crashed into a bridge column. He sustained light injuries but no one else was injured in the chase.