Blackman's mother shocked at ruling; blames husband for taking 'blood money'

The mother of slain British woman Lucie Blackman said Tuesday she was in "complete shock" following the acquittal of Japanese businessman Joji Obara on all charges involving the death of her daughter. Jane Steare also criticized her former husband and Lucie's father, Tim Blackman, for accepting a 100 million yen condolence payment from Obara last September, which she called "blood money." She said Japanese prosecutors warned her and her ex-husband that it could affect the ruling.

The Tokyo District Court sentenced Obara to life in prison Tuesday for drugging and raping nine women, which included the subsequent death of Australian Carita Ridgway, but acquitted him of all charges related to Blackman due to lack of evidence.

Tim Blackman told a press conference in Tokyo that crucial evidence was not presented by the prosecution at Obara's trial and that he wanted the prosecutors to appeal against the district court's decision.

Speaking to Sky News, Steare, who stayed in Britain for the verdict, said, "I'm in complete shock. I never thought he would get acquitted."

"I'm pleased for Carita Ridgway's mother, Annette, that justice has been served for her and the other victims. I don't know whether he will stay in prison for life, though," Steare said.

She said she did not know why Obara had been found not guilty of raping and fatally drugging Lucie, aged 21, in 2000, as well as mutilating and abandoning her body.

Regarding the condolence payment, Steare told the TV station, "I don't know how you could take money from someone who has been convicted as being a rapist...I just don't understand it."

The court handed Obara, 54, the life sentence, as sought by the prosecution, in the cases of five foreign and four Japanese women. Of these, Ridgway died and two others suffered injuries.

Obara has already appealed the life sentence.

Explaining the ruling, presiding Judge Tsutomu Tochigi said there was no evidence to directly link Obara to the dismembering and abandonment of Blackman's body.

On the charge of raping Blackman resulting in death, Tochigi said that, unlike with other victims, there was no video recording of the rape and no evidence to prove the suspect administered any drugs to her or assaulted her.

The judge said although there were similarities between Blackman's case and the other women's, supposition was not enough given that the cause of her death was unknown.

Speaking to Sky News after the verdict, Tim Blackman said he was jubilant when he heard the word life imprisonment in court. But when he found out it did not apply to his daughter, "in just a few moments the six years we have been pushing and struggling...just disappeared in a few words."

He said that following the ruling he learned in a meeting with prosecutors that important evidence — which he did not go into details about — was not presented by the prosecution.

"Now we have started to find out more about the background and potential holes in the prosecution, we are sort of thinking that she deserves better than that. She deserves to get the justice she should have," he said.

He said he had "no regrets" about taking the condolence money and his daughter and Lucie's sister, Sophie, said the judge had told the court that receipt of the money had had no bearing on the verdict or sentencing.

Blackman also took aim at his ex-wife, who has not only criticized the condolence payment but also claimed Monday that her former husband "was a serial adulterer who put his own needs before those of his children."

He said, "The most regrettable thing is that Sophie and I are here, doing what we are doing, and yet it has taken this opportunity to kick off some sort of 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned' against me on this matter, and it is wrong and just so inappropriate."

On the ruling, Sophie Blackman said, "I just felt distraught and shattered. I never anticipated acquittal. We are facing years and years of legal battles."

Obara pleaded not guilty to the charges against him in all 10 cases in the course of the trial, which lasted about six-and-a-half years.

On Blackman's case, the center of attention in the trial, the indictment said Obara made her drink a beverage laced with a drug before raping her at his condominium in Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture, in July 2000. She subsequently died, and Obara was accused of dismembering her corpse and abandoning it in a beachside cave nearby.

The dismembered body of Blackman, who worked as a hostess in Tokyo before she went missing in early July 2000 about two months after arriving in Japan, was found in the cave in Miura, Kanagawa Prefecture, in February 2001.

Protest over sex slaves planned during Abe's visit to Washington

A rally and march seeking that Japan apologize for its wartime sexual enslavement of civilian women from other Asian countries will be held Thursday near the White House when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrives for talks with U.S. President George W Bush, organizers said Tuesday.

About 500 people are expected to take part, with a speech planned by one of the surviving former sex slaves, according to an application filed with the police. Such protest events during a Japanese leader's visit are rare in the United States. The organizers include Amnesty International USA and other private groups who support a resolution submitted in Congress seeking that Tokyo officially acknowledge and apologize for forcing women to serve in military brothels during World War II.

Abe urges early passage of Iraq bill

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called Tuesday for early passage of a government-proposed bill aimed at extending for two years the deployment of Japanese air troops in the Persian Gulf to provide airlift support for U.N. and multinational forces operating in Iraq.

"Iraq's stability and reconstruction are an important theme for the entire international community and directly linked with Japan's national interests," Abe said at the day's plenary session of the House of Representatives as the lower chamber launched debate on both the government bill and an opposition-sponsored bill designed to terminate Japan's airlift support activities in Iraq.

Obara gets life for drugging, raping 9 women; acquitted in death of Lucie Blackman

The Tokyo District Court sentenced Joji Obara, who was indicted for drugging and raping 10 women including Briton Lucie Blackman, to life in prison Tuesday, but acquitted him of charges related to Blackman's death.

The court handed Obara, 54, the life sentence in connection with the rape and drugging of nine of the women, including Australian Carita Ridgeway who died.

But the court found Obara not guilty of the charges involving Blackman, who was 21 at the time of her death, including raping and fatally drugging her and mutilating and abandoning her body.

Obara was indicted on charges of drugging or raping the women, two of whom died and two were injured, between February 1992 and July 2000.

He pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

Gangster apologizes to nation, but not to family of murdered Nagasaki mayor

The gangster who allegedly shot former Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito to death last week made an apology on Monday, saying, "I caused trouble to the people of Nagasaki and the entire nation," his lawyer said. There was no apology to the late mayor's family, however, the lawyer said.

Tetsuya Shiroo, 59, said trouble with the city had triggered the murder, according to the lawyer, who met him earlier in the day for one hour at Nagasaki Police Station. Shiroo claims he shot Ito because no compensation was given for a car damaged by a pothole at a road-works site on a city road.

Shiroo also said a company connected to him could not secure a loan from the city, according to the lawyer. "I was financially struggling," he was quoted as saying.

The lawyer said Shiroo told him that on April 17 he arrived at the scene of the shooting, near the Japan Railways Nagasaki Station, "on foot, alone." "I did it without consulting with anyone else," he said, according to the lawyer.

It was reported that a suspicious car had been spotted near the shooting site around the time of the incident, raising the possibility that Shiroo had at least one accomplice.

"The car has nothing to do with the shooting," Shiroo said Monday, according to his lawyer.

Shiroo had until recently turned down interviews with his lawyer. He had done so because he was "not feeling well," according to the lawyer.

Ito, who was campaigning for a fourth four-year term as Nagasaki mayor, was shot twice in the back in front of his election campaign office, and died from loss of blood in a hospital early Wednesday.

Shiroo, a member of a gang affiliated with Japan's biggest organized crime syndicate, the Yamaguchi-gumi, was arrested on the spot on suspicion of attempted murder.

DPJ wins Fukushima upper-house seat; LDP gains Okinawa

The opposition Democratic Party of Japan captured an upper-house seat in Fukushima, one of the two prefectures where by-elections were held Sunday, while the governing coalition secured a seat in the other prefecture, Okinawa, election returns showed.

The outcomes of the two by-elections could have a major impact on the upper-house election this summer where the governing coalition led by the Liberal Democratic Party is hoping to retain a majority, while opposition forces such as the DPJ will be seeking to outnumber the coalition.

Teruhiko Mashiko, 59, running on the DPJ ticket and backed by the opposition New People's Party, won the House of Councillors seat in Fukushima, beating candidates on the LDP and Japanese Communist Party tickets.

In Okinawa, former Naha city assembly member Aiko Shimajiri, 42, backed by the LDP and its ruling coalition ally, the New Komeito party, defeated Yoshimasa Karimata, 57, who was backed by the DPJ and other opposition parties.

"The victory in Okinawa is significant," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who doubles as LDP president, was quoted by party lawmakers as saying in a phone conversation with Hidenao Nakagawa, the party's secretary general.

Voter turnout in Okinawa was 47.81%, down from a record low 54.24% marked in the previous election. In Fukushima, it stood at 56.72%, down 3.62 percentage points from the July 2004 upper-house election.

Underscoring the importance of the by-elections, the LDP and DPJ both sent heavyweight politicians to drum up support in Fukushima and Okinawa, including Abe and DPJ leader Ichiro Ozawa.

Voters also cast ballots for mayoral elections in 77 cities, including Nagasaki, where the incumbent mayor was gunned down during campaigning, as well as 96 towns and villages, and 13 Tokyo wards. Also up for grabs were seats in local assemblies.

In the mayoral election in Toyo, Kochi Prefecture, Yasutaro Sawayama, a 63-year-old candidate opposed to a plan to host a nuclear dump site, defeated former Mayor Yasuoki Tashima, 64, who advocated the plan. It was a de facto referendum on whether people were willing to host a site for high-level radioactive waste from nuclear power stations.

In Nagasaki City, the mayoral election was overshadowed by the shooting death of incumbent Mayor Itcho Ito by a gangster during campaigning. Tomihisa Taue, 50, a former city government employee, defeated four other candidates including Makoto Yokoo, 40, a son-in-law of Ito.

Other municipalities also being closely watched in the second and last round of the unified regional elections include Yubari in the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, a city that is undergoing fiscal rehabilitation after running up huge debts. Seven candidates contested the mayoral post.

Hajime Fujikura, a 66-year-old former company president, was elected mayor in Yubari.

In eight cities, candidates associated with the governing coalition and those linked with the opposition camp locked horns. The governing bloc won in five, while the opposition won in three including the city of Ginowan in Okinawa Prefecture, which may have some impact on the course of a plan to relocate a U.S. air station from the city.

In Ginowan, incumbent Mayor Yoichi Iha, supported by the DPJ and other opposition parties, was reelected, defeating a candidate backed by the LDP and New Komeito.

He is opposed to the plan to relocate the U.S. Marines Corps Futemma Air Station to another site within the prefecture as envisaged under an agreement between Japan and the United States.

Ballots were counted the same day in most constituencies. A limited number of municipalities are planning to count ballots the following day.

In the first round of the April regional election on April 8, the LDP lost seats in the prefectural assembly elections, while the DPJ sharply increased its presence, chiefly in urban constituencies.

The first round also picked governors for 13 of the nation's 47 prefectures, including Shintaro Ishihara, who was reelected to the post of Tokyo governor for a third consecutive term.

Regional elections are held concurrently on designated dates every four years to increase administrative efficiency and voter turnout.

Blackman family arrives in Japan to hear verdict in Obara murder trial

The father and sister of Lucie Blackman, a British woman who was killed in Japan in 2000, arrived in Japan Sunday to hear Tuesday's verdict in the trial of the man accused of her death. Tim Blackman and Lucie's sister, Sophie, 26, will be in court when the verdict is read out for Joji Obara, who is charged with raping and fatally drugging Blackman, 21.

"It's been a very long seven years," Blackman said upon arrival at Narita airport. "It's been quite a strain on all of us, unfortunately, but hopefully this will be the end of it."

Before leaving London Saturday, Blackman told reporters he did not know what to expect. "It's a complicated situation and a complicated trial. I'm apprehensive about it because there is an awful lot of circumstantial evidence and he has denied all of the allegations," he was quoted as saying.

Obara, 54, has maintained his innocence throughout the trial, while prosecutors have demanded life imprisonment, arguing he committed "barbaric and extremely vicious and serious acts unprecedented in the history of sexual crimes."

Obara was indicted on charges of drugging or raping 10 women between February 1992 and July 2000, of whom two died, including Blackman.

According to the indictment, he made Blackman drink a beverage containing a drug before raping her at a condominium in Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture. She subsequently died.

During his testimony, Obara told the court that all the women had agreed to have sex with him as they had visited his condo.

Obara's defense team has said that the condolence money offered to Tim Blackman by their client last year may mitigate the sentence. Blackman father was criticized by his ex-wife Jane Steare (Lucie's mother) for accepting "blood money" of 100 million yen (450,000 pounds) from a businessman friend of Obara.

Under Japanese law, defendants can pay "condolence cash" to victims in return for leniency in sentencing. Blackman said at the time the money would be split between the Lucie Blackman Trust and to support the family in the future.

Osaka man arrested for raping woman aboard train last year

Police said Sunday they have arrested a 36-year-old man on suspicion of raping a woman aboard a train last year. Although there were many passengers on board at the time of the crime in August last year, none of them tried to stop it or report it to the train conductor as the suspect, Takamitsu Uezono, made threats to them, police said.

According to investigators, Uezono, a demolition worker from Shiga Prefecture, raped a 21-year-old woman aboard a Thunderbird express train bound for Osaka from Toyama on JR Hokuriku Line on the night of Aug 3 last year.

Uezono sat next to the victim after the train left Fukui, and told her, "Don't raise your voice or I'll kill you."

After making further intimidating remarks such as "If you report me to the police, I'll stalk you," he forcibly took her to a rest room and raped her, the investigators said, adding Uezono has admitted to the allegations.

Uezono had been arrested by the Shiga police on suspicion of raping a woman on a train in another incident.

Man arrested for holding daughter hostage at knifepoint in Kagawa

A 50-year-old man was arrested Friday for holding his daughter hostage with a knife and locking himself inside his home in Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, police said. Yusuke Murakami, a part-time worker, released his 26-year-old daughter about an hour after police officers arrived at the scene and persuaded him to surrender. The daughter was unharmed.

When police arrived at the scene in response to an emergency call from his 57-year-old wife, Murakami threatened to kill his daughter and kill himself as well, and locked himself inside the living room on the first floor, they said. "I had a quarrel with my wife and became outraged. I did not intend to harm my daughter," he was quoted by police as saying after his arrest.

Man fires 9 shots from Machida apartment after shooting gangster to death in Kanagawa

A man armed with a handgun locked himself in an apartment in suburban Tokyo and fired nine shots out into the open around noon Friday apparently after shooting a gangster to death several kilometers away in Kanagawa Prefecture across the prefectural border, police said.

One of the shots hit a police patrol car which rushed to the apartment in the city of Machida, around 30 km southwest of central Tokyo. No one has been hurt so far and no hostages appear to have been taken, the police said.

The Metropolitan Police Department has deployed a contingent around the site while the Tokyo Fire Department has mobilized five ambulances to prepare for possible emergencies.

Investigators are positioned on both sides of the apartment building.

Education authorities have instructed primary and junior high schools near the scene not to allow students to leave until safety is ensured.

Residents around the apartment were evacuated on the instruction of the police.

Police said the armed man is the occupant of the apartment and has been identified as Yuji Takeshita, a member of a gang affiliated with the Kyokuto-kai underworld syndicate.

While a senior member of the gang group has continued efforts via mobile phone to persuade Takeshita to surrender to police, he was quoted as telling the senior member that he would kill himself in a sign of apology, according to police.

Earlier, a man was shot in the head at around 11:30 a.m. near a Family Mart convenience store in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, and was pronounced dead shortly afterwards at a hospital.

He was identified as a 37-year-old member of a gang also under the Kyokuto-kai syndicate.

The man who shot the gangster fled from the scene in a car to the apartment in Machida, a few kilometers to the northeast, police said.

The registered owner of the car is the same as the occupant of the apartment unit in Machida, police said.

A total of 44 primary and junior high schools near the apartment in the cities of Machida and Sagamihara closed their school gates and kept students inside, local government officials said. School guards are patrolling the school premises, they said.

Funeral held for slain Nagasaki mayor

A private funeral was held Thursday for Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito, who died after being shot by a gangster, in the Nagasaki prefectural capital.

Relatives, friends, supporters and city officials attended the funeral to mourn for Ito, who had worked for the abolition of nuclear arms and to help atomic-bomb victims as head of a city devastated by the 1945 U.S. atomic-bombing in World War II, participants said.

Ito's murder sparks anger among politicians; Abe calls it challenge to democracy

The murder of Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito prompted outrage among politicians Wednesday, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe calling it a challenge to democracy. "We have to eradicate this kind of violence," Abe told reporters. "I want a stringent investigation to be conducted by investigative authorities and for the truth to be discovered."

Ito's predecessor, former Mayor Hitoshi Motoshima, who was shot and seriously injured by a right-wing extremist in 1990 for his remarks about the late Emperor Hirohito's war responsibility, said: "We have to renew our vow that violence is wrong, first and foremost."

The 85-year-old said he could barely sleep last night. "I was lucky because I was only injured...I feel terribly for his wife. I would like to pray for him from my heart and offer condolences to his family," he added.

Ichiro Ozawa, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, expressed outrage at the incident, noting that Ito had worked to have nuclear weapons declared illegal and had appealed for world peace.

"It's extremely regrettable and I feel very outraged at the fact that such an outstanding person has lost his life," he told reporters in Kagoshima Prefecture.

The DPJ's acting leader, Naoto Kan, said freedom of speech should never be taken away. He also criticized Abe's remarks. "Prime Minister Abe only mentioned a stringent investigation. We cannot feel any sense of crisis from such a comment about the shooting of a political leader."

Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima had similar words for the incident. "This is very shocking to me. I can never condone a short-sighted act that takes away the life of a municipal leader with bullets and obstructs political activities," she said, offering her condolences to the late mayor's family.

Nagasaki Gov Genjiro Kaneko also offered condolences to Ito's family in a statement after his death was confirmed and expressed his anger at the shooting, in which a local gangster allegedly shot Ito twice in the back outside his election campaign office on Tuesday evening.

"This is the most painful thing of all because I was praying for his recovery, and I feel a strong sense of outrage at the vicious, violent act of shooting a mayor," he said.

The incident represents "a challenge to freedom and democracy" given that it took place during an election campaign period, he said, expressing hope that it will be investigated thoroughly.

Other municipal leaders, including Fukuoka Gov Wataru Aso, Saga Gov Yasushi Furukawa and Okinawa Gov Hirokazu Nakaima, also offered condolences to Ito's family and vowed not to tolerate any violence against politicians.

Nagasaki Mayor Ito shot in back while campaigning outside train station; in serious condition

Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito was shot twice in the back by a gunman at 7:50 p.m. Tuesday in front of Japan Railway's Nagasaki Station and is in a serious condition with his heart not moving, local authorities said. The alleged shooter, Tetsuya Shiroo, 59, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder, police said, adding he is believed to be a member of a gang affiliated with Japan's largest organized crime syndicate, the Yamaguchi-gumi. The motive is unknown.

Ito, 61, was shot twice in the back while campaigning for his fourth four-year term in Sunday's mayoral election in the western Japan city. He was immediately taken to a hospital past 8 p.m., a hospital official said.

Ito was shot near his campaign office and fell on his stomach.

Ito, formerly a Nagasaki city assembly member and Nagasaki prefectural assembly member, has made a number of statements and remarks to promote peace since he was first elected in 1995 as mayor of Nagasaki, which was devastated by an atomic bomb dropped by the United States in 1945 in World War II.

Debate on constitutional referendum bill begins in upper house

The House of Councillors on Monday began debating a bill setting procedures to amend Japan's pacifist Constitution, which has been unrevised since coming into force in 1947. The governing coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito party called for an early enactment at a plenary session of the upper house, while opposition parties stressed the need for thorough deliberations.

The governing coalition's bill, revised in March in the course of deliberation, proposes that the referendum be held only for the purpose of constitutional revision and with eligible voters being Japanese citizens aged 18 and older. One of the focal points in a revision is Article 9, which says, "Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes."

U.S. asks Japan to relax beef import conditions with deadline

The United States has requested that Japan consider softening a condition it has attached to importing beef from the United States by setting a concrete deadline by which Tokyo should abide by, sources informed on bilateral relations said Sunday.

The request, which the sources said includes a hint that Washington would file a complaint with the World Trade Organization over the matter, could put pressure on Tokyo ahead of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to the U.S. capital for summit talks later this month. Japan, which banned beef imports from the United States following the discovery, resumed the imports in December 2005 on the condition that the beef be limited to those from cattle aged up to 20 months and that dangerous parts be removed completely.

Washington has since been asking Tokyo to soften the age restriction and is now threatening to take the matter to the WTO, the sources said. Those who have referred to the move are senior officials of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, including Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, they added.

North Korean female agent linked to abduction of 2 kids ordered terror attack, police say

Japanese police have learned from testimonies that a woman believed to be the leader of North Korean agents involved in a 1974 abduction case in Japan allegedly ordered another agent to carry out a terrorist attack in South Korea in the 1970s, investigative sources said Saturday.

In the alleged abduction case of two children born to a Japanese mother and Korean father who went missing in 1973, the police have found a high possibility that a husband of the 59-year-old female agent knew of the kidnapping plan, the sources said.

The sources said the police obtained the testimonies from people related to Universe Trading — a now-defunct trading company in Tokyo's Shinagawa believed to have served as a base for covert North Korean operations in Japan. The woman also worked there.

Police believe the terrorism order was based on an instruction from North Korea, and came shortly after the failed assassination attempt in August 1974 of then South Korean President Park Chung Hee.

According to the testimonies, the female agent ordered a male agent who worked under her to "do something like that" after the failed assassination incident, the sources said.

The male agent left Japan in 1978 after disappearing from the company because of what was then explained as his increasing distrust of the female agent.

In the assassination attempt on Aug 15, 1974, Mun Se Gwang, a South Korean resident of Japan, shot at the president and his wife at a ceremony marking the 29th anniversary of the liberation of Korea from Japanese occupation. Park survived, but his wife and a female high school student died. Mun was sentenced to death and executed later that year.

The male agent is believed to have been involved in the suspected killing of Hideko Watanabe, the Japanese mother of the two children who went missing together in 1973.

The man had allegedly told acquaintances about circumstances before and after the killing, the sources said.

The sources said the husband, who married the female agent after the abduction incident occurred in 1974, had told workers of Universe Trading and other people about the kidnapping.

The man told them of such abduction circumstances as the children being given sleeping pills but waking up in the middle of being taken to North Korea on a spy ship, and the children having bad motion sickness, the sources said.

Given such testimonies from related people, police suspect the man was either directly involved in the abduction or received detailed reports.

The female agent and the man were allegedly in an intimate relationship before their marriage, the sources said. They left Japan in 1979 and there are no confirmed records of their return, leading the police to believe that they are now living in North Korea, the sources said.

The female agent is suspected of ordering her group of agents to abduct the two children in 1974 after receiving instructions in North Korea where she went after leaving Japan with the passport of another person, the sources said.

On Thursday, police designated two children as having been abducted by North Korean agents, and set up an investigation headquarters to start a full-fledged probe into the case.

The two children are Ko Gyong Mi, then a 6-year-old girl whose Japanese name is Kiyomi, and Ko Gang, then a 3-year-old boy whose Japanese name is Tsuyoshi.

They were born to Ko Dae Gi, a pro-Pyongyang Korean resident in Japan, and his Japanese wife Watanabe, who was 32 when she went missing.

Watanabe is suspected of having been murdered before the children were taken to North Korea.

Ko Dae Gi, who had gone missing earlier, worked for Universe Trading, and is believed to have led the group there before the female agent took over the leading role.

Abe hosts 11,000 guests at garden party; pledges to create 'beautiful Japan'

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hosted the government's annual cherry blossom viewing party at Shinjuku Gyoen park on Saturday and told the 11,000 invited guests that he would work hard to create a "beautiful Japan." Speaking under clear skies, Abe mingled with guests invited from the business, sporting and entertainment worlds. Since coming to power last year, Abe has vowed to create a more assertive Japan under his favorite campaign phrase "a beautiful nation" and made revising the 1947 constitution the top item on his political agenda.

"We have fair weather today with the cherry flowers in full bloom because your wishes reached up there, I believe," Abe told guests.

Wen meets farmers, plays baseball with students in Kyoto

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited Kyoto to add a human touch on the final day Friday of his three-day visit to Japan, chatting with local farmers and enjoying baseball with university students. When asked about the outlook for bilateral ties, Wen said, "I can't say all the problems have been solved. We need more time."

In Kyoto, he visited a farmer's house, toured historic spots and took part in baseball and other exchange programs with Ritsumeikan University students. Wen will have a meeting in Osaka on Friday night with government and business leaders in the Kansai region.

Man arrested for groping woman cop on train

A man was arrested last week for groping a woman who happened to be a police officer, police revealed Thursday. The incident happened on JR's Yamanote Line on April 6, they said. The 20-year-old police officer felt her coat lifted and her buttocks touched between Kanda and Akihabara stations, they said.

The officer immediately grabbed the man and hauled him off at Akihabara. The suspect, a 39-year-old construction worker, has denied the allegation. The police officer was in plain clothes at the time.

Wen calls for Sino-Japanese friendship, but urges Japanese leaders to face up to history

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Thursday called for friendship and cooperation to "thaw the ice" of years of strained relations, while urging Japanese leaders to act in line with past apologies for Japanese wartime aggression.

In a speech in the Diet aimed at wooing the Japanese public as well as subduing anti-Japanese sentiment back home, Wen laid out China's vision for developing closer, forward-looking strategic ties with Japan through building mutual trust and working on common interests.

Stressing that both Chinese and Japanese people were victims of wartime suffering that should be blamed on "a handful of militarists," Wen acknowledged Japan's repeated apologies over its deeds before and during World War II.

But he added, "We sincerely hope that Japan will demonstrate its past statements and promises with actual concrete actions."

The premier avoided reference to specific issues, but his remark was apparently made in connection with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's recent denial of the Japanese military's involvement in wartime sex slavery.

Wen's remark was also an apparent warning to Abe not to visit Tokyo's war-related Yasukuni Shrine like his predecessor Junichiro Koizumi did, which angered Japan's neighbors.

Wen was clear in speaking about Taiwan. He reiterated that China would "absolutely not tolerate" Taiwanese independence, urging Japan to understand the sensitivity of the issue, deal with it cautiously and uphold its one-China policy.

In the background of Beijing's concerns is the fact that Japan and its ally the United States included the Taiwan issue as part of their common strategic objectives in a security alliance statement in February 2005.

Citing the more than 2,000 years of "friendly exchanges" between the people of the two nations — albeit disrupted by "painful and unfortunate" rancor in the postwar decades — Wen called for future-oriented friendship between the Chinese and Japanese people "with history as the mirror."

"For the sake of friendship and cooperation, it is necessary to sum up and remember the lessons of the unfortunate past history," he said.

The premier, on the first Japan visit by a Chinese leader in nearly seven years, also noted that the Chinese people will never forget the "support and assistance" from the Japanese government and public of China's reform and modernization.

The speech, broadcast live nationwide in both countries, was made at a time chilled relations are recovering with the resumption of top-level political dialogue following Abe's Beijing visit last October.

Wen, as the first Chinese leader to speak at Japan's parliament in 22 years, made the speech not only in hopes of dispelling negative feelings and anxiety toward China among some Japanese, but also to deliver the message to the Chinese public to calm anti-Japanese sentiment that developed into riots two years ago.

The speech was well received by the Japanese side, with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki describing it as "very positive" and House of Councillors President Chikage Ogi saying, "I believe the ice has melted here right now."

Later in the day, Abe described Wen's visit as "the first step of a major breakthrough." Asked by reporters if he felt the "ice" has melted, Abe said, "The cherry blossoms were in full bloom at the Iikura guesthouse where we took a commemorative photo just now. I believe the season has already arrived."

In building a strategic and mutually beneficial relationship, Wen called for more mutual trust and to work for common interests without dwelling on differences.

He also expressed China's understanding of Japan's desire to play a larger international role and said China is prepared for more dialogue with Japan on international affairs including U.N. reforms, hinting at a softening of Beijing's reluctance toward Japan's desire for a permanent U.N. Security Council seat.

Describing bilateral economic cooperation as a "win-win relationship," Wen expressed a positive attitude toward resolving the bilateral dispute over gas exploration rights in the East China Sea, stressing it is important to realize the agreed joint development project.

"Economic development on both sides is an opportunity, not a threat, to both sides," he said, dismissing concerns that China's rapid growth threatens the Japanese economy.

Wen emphasized that China will stay on the path of peaceful development, in words apparently meant to dissipate Abe's concerns a day earlier of the lack of transparency in China's military buildup.

The Chinese premier, who arrived in Tokyo on Wednesday and held talks with Abe, was the first Chinese leader to address the Japanese Diet since Peng Zhen, then chairman of the Standing Committee of China's parliament, delivered a speech in 1985.

Abe, Wen meet to build strategic ties

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met in Tokyo on Wednesday evening to seek concrete steps to build mutually beneficial strategic ties and underscore a steady improvement in relations, highlighted by the first visit to Japan by a Chinese leader since 2000. Abe praised Wen's visit as "a big step forward" toward nurturing the strategic relationship and Wen responded by saying the trip "will lead to significant achievements and reflects both sides' desires."

Despite a drizzle, Abe hosted a welcoming ceremony for Wen in the garden of the prime minister's residence and told his counterpart he looked forward to talks in "a relaxed atmosphere," their third in just half a year. Abe and Wen are expected to issue a joint document confirming cooperation in areas of common interests as well as separate documents on collaboration on environmental and energy issues. Enhancing economic dialogue is also a main item on the agenda.

Japan extends economic sanctions on N Korea for 6 more months

The government decided in a cabinet meeting Tuesday to extend the economic sanctions Japan imposed on North Korea after Pyongyang's first nuclear test last October, officials said.

The sanctions prohibit North Korean ships from entering Japanese ports, ban imports of all items from North Korea, and block all North Korean people from entering Japan. Japan imposed more limited sanctions after North Korea conducted missile tests last July. These sanctions banned a cargo-passenger ferry link between the two countries and barred North Korean officials from entering Japan.

GSDF camp's internal info leaked from PC via Winny

The layout of an arms dump and other internal information from the Ground Self-Defense Force's Matsudo garrison in Chiba Prefecture was leaked onto the Internet in late March from a personal computer of a sergeant who used to work there via the Winny file-sharing software, Defense Ministry sources said Monday.

Although the data leaked did not include confidential information, the Defense Ministry plans to punish the officer ranked sergeant first class as he has not complied with the ministry's ban on storage of professional data on any privately owned PC.

Murder suspect Ichihashi living on 50,000 yen

Two weeks after the murder of English teacher Lindsay Ann Hawker, 22, prime suspect Tatsuya Ichihashi is still on the run, most likely living on 50,000 yen in cash, police said Monday. Further investigations have revealed that Ichihashi, 28, ran off with 50,000 yen in cash he had withdrawn from a bank ATM after getting away from police who came to his apartment on March 26. Police said they are watching his account and said he had made no cash withdrawals since then.

Police also said that Ichihashi's bicycle had been left at nearest station to his home before the murder, refuting rumors that he had used it to make his getaway from the area.

No. of homeless people down 6,700 to 18,500

The number of homeless people in Japan decreased from about 25,300 four years ago to about 18,500 as of January this year apparently due to economic recovery and welfare, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Friday. "It is apparently a result of employment due to economic recovery and state assistance measures," a ministry official said.

The ministry conducted the survey in January following the first of its kind in 2003, by consigning the project to prefectural governments across Japan with prefectural officials visually counting the number of homeless people living at parks, riversides, roads, stations or other public facilities. By prefecture, the homeless population was largest in Osaka at 4,911, followed by Tokyo at 4,690, Kanagawa at 2,020, Fukuoka at 1,177 and Aichi at 1,023.

Abe eyes allowing Japan forces to defend U.S. in missile attacks

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is leaning toward allowing Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense — currently banned in line with an official interpretation of the Constitution — in a limited number of cases such as a ballistic missile attack against the United States, a government source said Saturday.

The government is expected to form a panel of handpicked experts later this month to conduct detailed discussions on four situations in which Japan could mobilize its forces when an ally comes under attack, with the aim of reaching a conclusion possibly this fall on whether to lift the self-imposed ban under those limited circumstances, according to the source.

The panel, chaired by former Japanese Ambassador to Washington Shunji Yanai, is expected to examine employing Japan's missile defense shield to intercept a ballistic missile targeted at an ally as well as staging a counterattack when a warship of another country sailing along with a Japanese Self-Defense Forces vessel comes under attack on the high seas, the source said.

These two cases are subject to a ban under the Cabinet Legislation Bureau's interpretation of the pacifist Article 9 of the Constitution on the grounds that either of them is tantamount to exercising the right to collective self-defense beyond the necessary minimum self-defense.

But calls for reviewing the interpretation for limited cases are growing around Abe, who is keen on bolstering Japan's lesser role in its bilateral security arrangement with the United States, the source said.

Abe may be hoping that mentioning such a move, even just for consideration, could help attenuate bilateral discord generated by his or other ruling lawmakers' remarks downplaying the Japanese military's role in running wartime brothels, ahead of his very first official trip to the United States in late April, observers said.

Critics say moves to expand the scope of Japan's missile defense and to enable Japan-U.S. joint vessel operations in the high seas may alarm other Asian countries, particularly China.

The two other cases are Japan staging a counterattack when another country's military units in multinational forces including Japanese troops working for a shared objective are attacked, and Japan using arms to eliminate obstacles to implementing duties as part of U.N. peacekeeping operations.

The government has said Japan inherently has the right to collective self-defense under international law but is prohibited from exercising it under Article 9 of its Constitution.

Reinterpretation of the article is a sensitive subject that may generate heated debate even within the governing coalition of Abe's Liberal Democratic Party and its junior partner the New Komeito party, which is highly cautious about Japan exercising the right to collective defense, and will also likely be a focus in the House of Councillors election slated for July.

Article 9 renounces Japan's right to wage war or to maintain armed forces.

Abe proposed in his first policy speech in September studying which specific cases of cooperation with an ally may be prohibited under the Constitution.

In a book published in July when he was chief cabinet secretary under former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Abe questioned the ban on exercising the right, saying of the ban, "I wonder how long it can remain valid in the context of norms in the international community."

Japan and the United States agreed in a summit in November that they will reinforce and accelerate bilateral cooperation for building missile defense systems. Last month, Japan installed a land-to-air interceptor system north of Tokyo.

Ishihara leads rivals in Tokyo gubernatorial race

Incumbent Tokyo Gov Shintaro Ishihara is one-up on his main rival, former Miyagi Gov Shiro Asano, in the April 8 gubernatorial election, Kyodo News analyses showed Sunday.

Ishihara, who is seeking a third four-year term, has secured sufficient support from the affiliates of the ruling parties — the LDP and the New Komeito party — as well as from parts of the DPJ supporters. Asano, on the other hand, has not yet solidified the support base in the DPJ, which backs him, according to the analyses. The other two major candidates — architect Kisho Kurokawa and former Adachi Ward mayor Manzo Yoshida — have failed to expand their support base, according to the analyses.

U.S. student becomes world sudoku champion

Harvard University student Thomas Snyder become the world sudoku champion in Prague on Saturday when he beat Japan's Yuhei Kusui in the head-to-head final round.

Snyder, 27, who was runner-up in the first world championships of the popular numerical logic game last year, scored 162 against Kusei's 135 points in the final session of the three-day event in which 141 of the world's best players took part.

"I was really disappointed not to have won last year," Snyder, who is also the reigning U.S. world puzzle champion, said. "I do not think people were surprised to see me in the play-offs."

Snyder, a chemistry student who expects to finish his post-graduate studies this year, said the secret of his success was playing "lots of logic puzzles, not just sudoku."

"I started doing mathematical and logic puzzles when I was four or five at the time between crawling and walking," he said, adding that the interest was nurtured by his mathematics teacher mother and his father, a university science professor.

Japan won the world team competition, which was held for the first time this year, with 4,490 points. The United States took second place with 4,328 points, followed by the Czech Republic with 3,690 points.

Sudoku, a sort of numerical crossword where contestants have to fill a nine by nine grid so that each column, each row, and each of the nine three by three internal squares contains only the numbers from one to nine, was revived at the end of the 1980s and has recently enjoyed a worldwide boom in popularity.

Organizers of the second world championship said they choose to mix classical sudoku puzzles with logic brain teasers for this year's world championships in a move welcomed by the finalists.

"That was my aim this year," one organizer, Vitezslav Koudelka, said. He added that the game's popularity has now leveled off following its rocking success.

"As the players said, it gets a bit boring filling in gaps with missing numbers in the same way," he explained.

Tokyo gov't punishes 35 teachers over anthem

The Tokyo metropolitan board of education on Friday punished 35 public school teachers for refusing to stand up and sing the "Kimigayo" national anthem in front of the "Hinomaru" flag during graduation ceremonies this month, board officials said.

Of the 35, three were suspended from school for one, three and six months, respectively, and 12 others received pay cuts, while the remaining 20 faced admonitions, the officials said. The move has brought the total number of teachers in Tokyo reprimanded over the Kimigayo and Hinomaru issue to 381 since the education board in 2003 notified teachers at public schools that they could face punishment if they refuse to give respect to the flag and the anthem during school ceremonies.

Blackman says 'great shame' Hawker suspect got away from police

The father of slain British hostess Lucie Blackman said Friday that it was a "great shame" that the key suspect in the Lindsay Hawker murder case had managed to get away from police when they first visited his home.

Tim Blackman said that there were comparisons between this apparent police blunder and elements of the investigation into his own daughter's death.

In that case, police initially failed to search the suspect's home, despite the fact that he was dirty, anxious, and detectives could glimpse pieces of concrete and a sack of bulky objects when they questioned him on the doorstep. At the time, Joji Obara, who is now accused of raping and fatally drugging Lucie Blackman, claimed that he was "retiling his bathroom." Prosecutors claimed the sack contained Blackman's body parts. Obara denies the charges.

Blackman said, "We are all very upset. Not just for Lindsay, but for Lucie. It brings it all back hugely. I just know how devastated these people are and what a terrible problem it is going to be for them. It's just a great shame that the guy (suspect in the Hawker case) got out the back door."

The body of English teacher Lindsay Hawker, 22, was found in a bathtub full of sand on the balcony of an apartment in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, on Monday.

Police said on Wednesday that Hawker may have suffocated. Her body was bruised and tied with synthetic-resin cord often used in gardening.

Detectives are hunting Tatsuya Ichihashi, 28, who fled barefoot from the apartment when several police officers - as many as nine according to some reports — called at the condo on Monday.

According to British reports, officers asked Ichihashi for his name but then gave him time to pick up a bag, which he later dropped, before he managed to flee from the apartment via a fire escape.

Japanese police have defended their actions saying that, at that time, they had not seen the body and so were not sure exactly what had happened.

However, this has not stopped some British newspapers from describing the operation as "bungling" and drawing comparisons with the Lucie Blackman case.

Blackman, who worked in a Tokyo hostess bar, went missing on July 1, 2000. Seven months later, her dismembered remains were found in a beachside cave in Miura, Kanagawa Prefecture. Her severed head had been encased in concrete.

But police had in fact visited Obara's home on the evening of July 6, 2000, after neighbors complained about noise. Obara, who appeared anxious and dirty, did not allow the officers inside and they were told by their superiors to leave the address.

There was also concern over the fact that the cave where Blackman's remains were found had been searched by police in October 2000, but nothing had been found.

Tim Blackman has been critical of his daughter's investigation in the past, and has said that his very open relationship with the media and frank comments often conflicted with advice from the Foreign Office and British police. He said he did not want to be seen to be criticizing the handling of the Hawker case and hoped the suspect would be apprehended quickly.

Blackman said, "I'm sure that the profile of Lucie's case will make sure, or underpin, the police's enthusiasm to make as much progress as they can in Lindsay's case.

"It's a different case. The police know they are investigating a murder whereas, when Lucie went missing, they didn't even accept that a crime had been committed because she had not arrived home. The fact that Lindsay left information about where she was, made a huge difference."

Blackman said that he had not received any requests for help from Hawker's father, William, but would be willing to assist if needed.

In the meantime, Hawker's family need to keep Lindsay in the public eye until Ichihashi is apprehended, Blackman suggested.

"This man needs to be found and I think that any appeals that he (William Hawker) can make personally, or ways he can keep Lindsay's picture on the front of the newspapers will be useful," he said.

"Someone must be renting an apartment to him, or giving him some casual job. Someone is in touch with him although they don't know it and everyone needs to look carefully at the people around them."

Following his daughter's death, Blackman established a trust which advises young people on personal safety, particularly when traveling overseas.

"Lucie's death went a long way to making people think very carefully, or prepare carefully before traveling but, for want of a better expression, "shit happens." Unfortunately, Lindsay has been the subject of that and it's a terrible thing."

Hawker, who comes from the city of Coventry in central England, had been working as a teacher at the Nova Co school in Koiwa, east of Tokyo, since October.

Ichihashi first got in touch with Hawker on March 21 on the street in front of JR Nishi-Funabashi Station. Ichihashi, who is still missing and is on a nationwide wanted list on suspicion of abandoning her body, asked Hawker to teach him English. He then followed her home and managed to persuade Hawker to give him an English lesson, the first one taking place on Sunday.

Her father, William, and boyfriend, Ryan Garside, traveled to Japan this week and made an emotional TV appeal. Hawker's body has been released to the family which is due to return to Britain.

Cabinet OKs bill to instill patriotism in classroom

The cabinet on Friday approved a bill to revise the School Education Law featuring a provision aimed at instilling patriotism in the classroom and another bill designed to reinforce the power of the education minister in management of schools.

Placing top priority on education reform in the current Diet session, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is aiming to enact the two bills along with another, approved by the cabinet on Tuesday, to strip teachers of life tenure and require them instead to renew their licenses every 10 years.

Yasukuni OK'd enshrining Class-A war criminals in 1969

Yasukuni Shrine gave a green light in 1969 to the idea of its enshrining Japanese Class-A war criminals from World War II, nine years before it actually did so, and the government was more closely involved in discussions regarding whom the shrine should honor than currently believed, a book released by the National Diet Library Wednesday suggests. The book with the English title "A New Compilation of Materials on the Yasukuni Shrine Problems" contains 808 items, including nearly 180 documents that the Shinto shrine in Tokyo disclosed on Wednesday for the first time.

Among the 808 documents is a group of lists dated Jan 31, 1969, presented at a meeting of officials from the shrine and the then Health and Welfare Ministry. The lists name people who could potentially be enshrined at Yasukuni and indicate that the shrine and the ministry shared the view that "Class-A" war criminals "able to be honored." The ministry and the shrine also agreed to refrain from making public the idea of Yasukuni honoring such war criminals, apparently due to political sensitivity surrounding the separation of state and religion.

The issues of government involvement in Yasukuni's honoring of war criminals and Japanese leaders' visits to the shrine have been a source of diplomatic disputes mainly with other Asian countries such as China and South Korea.

British media give extensive coverage to teacher's death

The British media covered the death of English teacher Lindsay Ann Hawker prominently Wednesday, with some reports claiming she had recently been followed home by a Japanese man and was becoming increasingly disillusioned with the country.

According to The Sun, a popular tabloid, one of Lindsay's friends revealed that she was planning to come home next month because she found Japanese men "creepy."

Toby Wheeler, 30, who worked with Lindsay in Tokyo, said, "She found Japanese men weird. Some made inappropriate gestures and sexual remarks."

Several newspapers contained extracts of messages Hawker, who was 22, had sent to her family since she arrived in Japan last October. They were posted on a social networking site.

On March 20, she wrote, "Don't worry about the guy who chased me home, it's just crazy Japan."

Further messages from her family show their growing frustration as they tried in vain to contact her.

In an email just before her body was found, her friend Ryan Garside e-mailed, "Get in touch you fool! Why do you never email?"

Lindsay had recently graduated from Leeds University in northern England and had been working in Japan since October last year.

The Daily Mail tabloid said colleagues said Hawker had been dating Tatsuya Ichihashi, 28, a Japanese man wanted on suspicion of abandoning the woman's body.

But the newspaper reports this may well have been because her contract with Nova Co, where she was an English teacher, prohibited teachers from taking private lessons.

Her family said they had no knowledge of Ichihashi and denied any relationship. Japanese police also denied they were dating.

According to The Times, Hawker had not known Ichihashi for a long time. The Japanese police said they got to know each other only several days before her body was found.

Hawker's case has unhappy echoes of the death of another British woman, Tokyo club hostess Lucie Blackman, 21, whose dismembered body was found encased in concrete in a cave in Kanagawa Prefecture in 2000.

The Tokyo District Court plans to hand down a ruling in April on Joji Obara, who has denied charges of raping and fatally drugging Blackman.

According to The Sun, her father Tim Blackman, 52, said, "Lindsay's death has upset me greatly. Elements are frighteningly similar."

Slain British woman was being stalked by suspect; father holds news conference

A 22-year-old British woman found dead Monday in a condominium in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, had been stalked by the man who is the primary suspect in her death, police said Wednesday. Lindsay Ann Hawker was stalked by Tatsuya Ichihashi, a 28-year-old Japanese who has gone missing and is wanted on suspicion of abandoning her body. He had visited her home and given her a note in which his name and phone number were written, according to the police.

Police are searching for the Ichihashi on suspicion that he had a hand in the death of Hawker, who worked as an English teacher for Nova Co.

In Tokyo, Hawker's father, William, was enraged and tearfully vowed to see justice is served in connection with the death of his daughter, who finished her university last year and came to Japan in October.

"My daughter did not come here to be murdered. She came here to help people. She came here to teach," he said in a shaking voice, tears rolling down from his eyes. "I will not rest until the man who killed my daughter is caught."

Hawker explained tearfully how he had believed that Japan was a safe place and that Lindsay, who was teaching English at a language school, was "tricked" into going to the suspect's condominium where her body was found Monday "under the pretext of giving an English lesson."

"My daughter was a lovely girl. She would help anybody and it was because she would help anybody she is where she is now," he added.

"I believe this man was a loner...some sort of social misfit who targeted my daughter and he must be caught," Hawker said, and called for the public for any information related to the case.

Hawker also said he believed there was not "any sort of relationship" between his daughter and the suspect.

Lindsay's boyfriend Ryan Garside also attended the press conference and said how they loved each other and wanted to get married, but the tragedy had "ruined" their plans.

Meanwhile, Chiba prefectural police said Wednesday an autopsy showed Hawker may have died of suffocation. There were bruises on her face and elsewhere on her body, they said.

One of her friends, a 27-year-old American man, said that Hawker had planned to give Ichihashi a private English lesson on Sunday, the day before her body was found buried in sand in a bathtub on the balcony of his fourth-floor condo unit on Monday night.

The friend said he does not know how she came to offer such a lesson or how they got acquainted.

Police said that Hawker and Ichihashi apparently came to know each other several days before her body was found. They denied rumors that the two had been dating.

Meanwhile, in England, Hawker's two sisters paid an emotional tribute outside the family home. Lisa and Louise Hawker fought tears as they read prepared statements in Coventry, central England.

"Our sister Lindsay was our best friend. She was extraordinary in so many ways," said Lisa Hawker, 25. "Like so many people our age she wanted to see the world, and for some reason felt safer in Japan than in this country.

"We are all made constantly aware of the dangers on our own streets. Thousands of young people go abroad each year, and for some reason the dangers of home seem to be forgotten.

"If Lindsay's death can make at least one young person abroad be more vigilant, then perhaps one more family can be spared the pain, the devastation, and the despair we are all experiencing."

Louise Hawker, 20, said: "Our family are so close and we have been torn apart by what's happened. "You never think a thing like this could happen to you. We are normal people, and it does, and it hurts more than you can imagine."

Dead British woman's family shocked at murder and suspect's escape from police

The family of the British woman whose body was found in Chiba Prefecture are "deeply shocked and upset" by the news of her death and the fact that the suspect escaped barefoot from the scene despite the presence of police officers, local media reported in England. The naked body of Lindsay Ann Hawker, 22, was found buried in sand in a bathtub on the balcony of a fourth-floor condominium unit in Chiba Prefecture on Monday night.

Police obtained an arrest warrant Tuesday for Tatsuya Ichihashi, 28, who fled from the condominium in the city of Ichikawa when police officers visited on Monday.

Police were alerted on Monday afternoon after staff at the English language school where Hawker taught were unable to get in touch with her.

Hawker came from the city of Coventry, situated in the middle of England, about 130 kilometers northwest of London, where her family was being comforted by police.

Speaking after visiting the family home, which lies just outside the city, Inspector Dale Pritchard, from Warwickshire Police, said the family was "deeply shocked and upset" and wished to be left alone to come to terms with the news they had received from Tokyo.

In a televised statement he said, "They are in a terrible position, one in which no one would ever want to be."

Police later issued a photograph of Hawker on behalf of the family.

Hawker was employed as an English teacher at the Nova English school in Koiwa, also in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo.

A spokeswoman from Nova in London said, "She graduated from university last year and she began working with us on Oct 25, 2006. Lindsay was very well liked by her colleagues. She took her job seriously and was a very hard worker and she was adapting to life in Japan.

"The company would like to express its shock, upset and regret at such a tragic incident and the company is cooperating with all the investigations in Japan."

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said the family was receiving consular assistance and the department was happy with the police investigation.

Ichihashi, who escaped from the scene despite the presence of several police officers, is being sought on a charge of abandoning her body.

The bathtub contained a large amount of sand that completely covered the body except for part of a hand, and she had what appeared to be several assault wounds to the face and arms, according to investigations. The exact cause of death is unknown at this stage.

Nova denied some media reports that Ichihashi was a student with Nova and was dating Hawker.

Police officers found a note at Hawker's residence which contains Ichihashi's name and contact details. They also found clothes that appeared to have been worn by Hawker in Ichihashi's condominium. A bag and ID belonging to Hawker were also discovered. They said that Ichihashi had visited Hawker's residence a few days earlier.

Hawker arrived in Japan in October last year and lived in a residence in Funabashi city adjacent to Ichikawa with two other women — one from Australia and the other from Canada.

Ichihashi, whose profession is unknown, is said to be around 180 centimeters tall and weighing around 70 kilograms. He was wearing a red sweater at the time of his escape.

Ishihashi lived with three other family members in the apartment and moved to Gifu Prefecture when he was a child, according to nearby residents. He reentered the apartment several years ago when he joined a university and has since been living in it alone.

Residents nearby heard sounds of striking metal and something being dragged between Sunday night and early Monday, the sources said.

Washington Post criticizes Abe's handling of sex slave issue

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's campaign to roll back Japan's acceptance of responsibility for the abduction, rape and sexual enslavement of women during World War II is "odd" and "offensive," the Washington Post said in its editorial on Saturday.

In a piece titled "Shinzo Abe's Double Talk," the U.S. daily criticized Abe's attitude over the so-called "comfort women" issue while comparing it with his enthusiasm in resolving North Korea's abduction of Japanese nationals and refusing discussions with Pyongyang until it provides information on abductees certified by the Japanese government. "If Mr. Abe seeks international support in learning the fate of Japan's kidnapped citizens, he should straightforwardly accept responsibility for Japan's own crimes and apologize to the victims he has slandered," the editorial said.

No Japan military involvement in running wartime brothels: official

Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hakubun Shimomura on Sunday denied that the Japanese military directly recruited women to work in brothels providing sex for Japanese soldiers before and during World War II.

"There were military nurses and embedded journalists but no 'embedded comfort women.' It is true that there were 'comfort women.' I believe some parents may have sold their daughters. But it does not mean the Japanese army was involved," Shimomura said in a program on Radio Nippon. Shimomura was referring to the controversial issue of whether the Japanese military was directly involved in forcing women, especially those from other Asian countries, into sexual servitude. Such women are euphemistically called "comfort women" in Japan.

Japan welcomes additional sanctions on Iran

Foreign Minister Taro Aso on Sunday welcomed the U.N. Security Council's approval of additional sanctions on Iran for its refusal to freeze its uranium enrichment program. "We appreciate the step as demonstrating the international community's firm stance on the Iranian nuclear issue," Aso said in a statement.

"Our nation thinks a resolute response to the Iranian nuclear issue is necessary in view of the maintenance of the nuclear nonproliferation system, its relationship to the North Korean nuclear issue and stability in the Middle East, which has a large influence on energy supply," he said, adding Japan will urge Iran to return to the negotiating table.

American man served fresh arrest warrant for murder of ex-wife

A former U.S. airman who was arrested three weeks ago for allegedly damaging and dumping the body of his divorced Japanese wife in Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, was served with a fresh arrest warrant Friday on suspicion of strangling her last July.

William Scott Omari McAllister, 25, was indicted the same day on charges of transporting the body of his ex-wife, Naomi Kimura, 33, in a car and setting fire to her body before abandoning it in the trunk.

Local police, meanwhile, did not file charges against his 29-year-old girlfriend, who had earlier been arrested on suspicion of providing the police with a false alibi for the suspect, and released her.

McAllister, who is currently facing trial on a separate case of fraud, was arrested March 2 but has denied any involvement in the murder or abandonment of his ex-wife, who was running a bar in Misawa.

The former U.S. serviceman, who worked at the U.S. Air Force's Misawa base in Aomori until December 2005, is alleged to have strangled her around July 20 last year.

Investigators had been provided with information that the victim had a quarrel with a "foreign" man at her home in the early hours of July 20.

McAllister was earlier arrested last August on suspicion of using another person's credit card to purchase a car navigation system.

Japan calls for more stringent beef product checks by U.S.

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka said Friday that the ministry has demanded that Washington step up beef quality checks when beef is being shipped from designated U.S. meat-processing facilities authorized to export to Japan.

The minister spoke in connection with beef from the Lexington, Nebraska plant of Tyson Fresh Meats Inc, which was exported to Japan in February without any U.S. certificate identifying the age of the cattle from which the meat was produced. Japan had resumed American beef imports last July on condition that the United States limits beef exports to Japan to meat from cattle aged up to 20 months to safeguard against mad cow disease.

81-year-old man arrested for paying 14-year-old girl to have sex with him

The man said he first met the girl at a supermarket in January of 2006. He said he offered to buy her dinner and in May, started paying her for "sexual favors" once a month, according to police. He had also given her his cash card. The crime came to light when police found the girl who had run away from home in February and questioned her.

Abe urges N Korea to return to negotiations

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urged North Korea on Tuesday to engage seriously in ongoing six-nation nuclear talks and to fulfill its promise to denuclearize, warning that Pyongyang would otherwise continue to face severe problems.

Asked to comment on North Korea's refusal Tuesday to attend the second-day session of the six-way talks in Beijing, Abe told reporters, "For as long as North Korea adopts this kind of attitude, it will not be able to change the circumstances it is currently facing."

North Korea urges Japan to stop talking about abduction issue

North Korea is urging Japan to stop talking about North Korea's past abductions of Japanese nationals and sincerely implement a six-party talks deal promising to supply North Korea with aid in return for denuclearization steps, the Korean Central News Agency reported Tuesday.

"The DPRK strongly demands Japan stop talking about the 'abduction issue' but redeem the crimes committed by it in the past which are more horrendous than the issue," KCNA said, referring to Japan's wartime acts, such as forcing Korean women into sexual slavery for the Japanese military. KCNA said the abduction issue is already resolved.

Shinzo Abe tells SDF cadets Japan seeks stronger U.S. security ties

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Sunday that Japan should strengthen its security alliance with the United States, citing North Korea's abductions, nuclear program and missile launches as well as other challenges in the Asia-Pacific region. "There is a need to further strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance while steadily upgrading our country's national security platform in order to protect the people's lives, health and property," Abe said in an address to Self-Defense Forces cadets at a graduation ceremony at the National Defense Academy in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture.

As for the situation in the Asia-Pacific region, the premier said, "There exist various challenging problems, ranging from North Korea's abductions, nuclear development and ballistic missile launches to regional conflicts stemming from complex and diverse factors and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction." The speech was made for this year's 421 graduates, including 30 women and 10 students from Indonesia, Mongolia, Thailand and Vietnam. Of the graduates, 10 have declined to join the SDF.

Masked wrestler Sasuke to run in Iwate gov election

MORIOKA — Iwate prefectural assemblyman and professional wrestler The Great Sasuke announced his plan Sunday to run in the April 8 Iwate gubernatorial election as an independent candidate. Sasuke, 38, said in a press conference at a hotel in the Iwate capital of Morioka that he intends to continue wearing his mask even if he is elected as governor.

The Great Sasuke, his ring name under which he has served as a prefectural assembly member, is known for establishing the first local wrestling organization in Japan, Michinoku Pro Wrestling (Northeastern Wrestling), in 1993. His wearing a mask at assembly sessions had incurred criticism from some of his fellow assembly members after he was elected to the assembly in the spring of 2003. His four-year term as an assembly member is about to expire.

agloco? Should work!

I recently joined AGLOCO because of a friend recommended it to me. I am now promoting it to you because I like the idea and I want you to share in what I think will be an exciting new Internet concept.

AGLOCO’s story is simple:

Do you realize how valuable you are? Advertisers, search providers and online retailers are paying billions to reach you while you surf. How much of that money are you making? NONE!

AGLOCO thinks you deserve a piece of the action.

AGLOCO collects money from those companies on behalf of its members. (For example, Google currently pays AOL 10 cents for every Google search by an AOL user. And Google still has enough profit to pay $1.6 billion dollars for YouTube, an 18-month old site full of content that YouTube’s users did not get paid for!

AGLOCO will work to get its Members their share of this and more.

AGLOCO is building a new form of online community that they call an Economic Network. They are not only paying Members their fair share, but they’re building a community that will generate the kind of fortune that YouTube made. But instead of that wealth making only a few people rich, the entire community will get its share.

What's the catch? No catch - no spyware, no pop-ups and no spam - membership and software are free and AGLOCO is 100% member owned. Privacy is a core value and AGLOCO never sells or rents member information.

So do both of us a favor: Sign up for AGLOCO right now! If you use this link to sign up, I automatically get credit for referring you and helping to build AGLOCO. http://www.agloco.com

U.S. ambassador says sex slaves were raped by Japanese military

U.S. Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer has said that women, who were engaged in providing sex to Japanese soldiers throughout Asia before and during World War II, were rape victims of the Japanese military, the New York Times reported in its electronic edition Saturday.

"I think they were coerced to engage in prostitution. That means they were raped by the Japanese military at that point in time," Schieffer said, according to the dispatch from Tokyo. "I think that happened, and I think it was a regrettable, terrible thing that it happened." Schieffer described former comfort women who testified last month in Congress about being coerced into prostitution by the Japanese authorities as "credible witnesses."

LDP group to reinvestigate sex slave issues

A group of ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers agreed Wednesday to a government request that they reinvestigate the facts that gave birth to a 1993 official statement apologizing for the Japanese military's forced recruitment of women to provide sex for servicemen during World War II.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the group's chair, Nariaki Nakayama, have differed over which side should conduct the investigation, but ultimately the group conceded to the wishes of Abe and his aides, who are hoping to act in a "cautious" manner ahead of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's planned visit to Japan in April, group members said. The move to reinvestigate the so-called "comfort women" comes amid Abe's recent controversial remarks disputing the Japanese military's role in wartime sexual slavery as well as arguments by some LDP lawmakers that the 1993 statement should be retracted because the military did not force foreign women into sexual slavery.

Curry tainted by dead mouse sold at Tokyo noodle stand

A JR East-affiliated restaurant operator said Tuesday that curry tainted by a dead mouse has been used in some of the food products sold at a noodle stand inside JR Shinkoiwa Station in Tokyo.

Nippon Restaurant Enterprise Co said 18 meals sold at the noodle stand, including "curry soba" (buckwheat noodle) and "curry rice," for about two hours since its opening at 6:30 a.m., were made with the tainted curry.

Empress visits flower arrangement exhibition

Empress Michiko viewed flower arrangements on exhibit at a Tokyo department store on Thursday. It was her first official duty outside the Imperial Palace since the Imperial Household Agency said on Tuesday that she has shown symptoms of bleeding from the walls of the intestines several times. The exhibition was held in commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Sogetsu school of flower arrangement.

6 Vietnamese women to sue Toyota subcontractor

Six Vietnamese women who came to Japan to undergo industrial training and an internship under a Japanese government-sponsored skills-transfer program will soon sue a subcontractor of Toyota Motor Corp for more than 30 million yen in damages and unpaid wages, arguing their human rights were infringed upon and that overtime allowances were unpaid, their supporters said Thursday.

The women, all in their 20s, plan to also name as defendants in the suit the Japanese recipient body of the Vietnamese trainees, which is a union of Toyota's third-tier subcontractors, and the Japan International Training Cooperation Organization, a body set up by five Japanese ministries to promote the transfer of Japanese techniques and skills to developing countries, they said.

Japan, N Korea blame each other for breakdown of talks

Japan and North Korea ended two days of talks on normalizing diplomatic relations without progress on Thursday, blaming each other for their failure to solve thorny bilateral rows and falling short of setting the next date for the negotiations.

Koichi Haraguchi, Japan's chief representative at the talks, and his North Korean counterpart Song Il Ho said major differences remained over bilateral issues, including a bitter dispute over Japanese nationals abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s. "I find it regrettable that specific solutions were not reached for the progress of Japan-North Korea relations during the current talks," he said. At a separate news conference, Song also said that "a big gap" remains between the two sides and that was the reason "nothing was reached" in the negotiations.

Japan eyes response to international criticism of Abe's sex slavery remarks

Japan is considering publishing counterarguments and taking other measures in response to international criticism of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's recent remarks on wartime sex slaves, with the top government spokesman accusing foreign media on Thursday of misinterpreting the remarks.

"It is our understanding that reports on the prime minister's remarks were not based on appropriate interpretation," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said in reference to the furor sparked by Abe's denial of military involvement in the coercion of foreign women into sexual servitude before and during World War II. "We are considering an appropriate response, including publishing rebuttals of media reports and commentaries overseas that are not based on facts or are based on misinterpretations," Shiozaki told a news conference when asked to comment on a New York Times editorial dated Tuesday that criticized Abe's "efforts to contort the truth."

Emperor best person to repair damage over sex slaves: LA Times

A major U.S. newspaper suggested in its editorial published Wednesday that Japan's Emperor Akihito "go one step further and offer a more forceful apology for all the crimes committed in his family's name," commenting on the ongoing controversy over the so-called "comfort women."

The Los Angeles Times' editorial said, "Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's attempt to finesse the Japanese government's role in forcing about 200,000 Asian women to work as sex slaves during World War II is worse than unfortunate. It is counterproductive — and the best person to repair the damage is Emperor Akihito himself," the Times said. "The person who could do the most to reconcile the people of Japan and their neighbors with the past is Akihito, the son of wartime emperor Hirohito. He is also the one person who could lift this issue above the political fray."

apan-N Korea talks to continue despite snag over abductions

Japan and North Korea are set Thursday to meet for their second day of talks on normalizing diplomatic relations, after their bitter row over past abductions of Japanese nationals by North Korean agents triggered a stall on the first day. Koichi Haraguchi, Japan's delegate, and his North Korean counterpart Song Il Ho are due to meet at the North Korean Embassy in Hanoi to discuss both the abduction dispute as well as issues linked to Japan's 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula.

North Korea boycotted the afternoon session of the first day of the normalization talks, in objection to Tokyo's demands that it reinvestigate past abductions of Japanese nationals by North Korean agents. Pyongyang eventually agreed to return to the negotiating table Thursday after informal consultations with Japan, according to Japanese diplomats. In Wednesday's talks, Japan urged North Korea to reinvestigate the cases of 12 abduction victims on Japan's official list, or all of the listed victims except the five who returned to Japan in 2002.

Japan-North Korea normalization talks begin

Japanese and North Korean diplomats began two-day talks on Wednesday with both sides calling for a solution to thorny bilateral issues that have prevented them from normalizing diplomatic relations.

Koichi Haraguchi, Japan's representative at the talks, and his North Korean counterpart Song Il Ho met at the Japanese Embassy in Hanoi in the morning for talks that are first expected to focus on a bitter row over past abductions of Japanese nationals by North Korean agents. "We plan to work...under the policy of aiming for the normalization of diplomatic ties based on a comprehensive solution to the abduction, nuclear and missile issues as well as the settling of the unfortunate past," Haraguchi said at the outset of the talks, which was open to the press.

S Korea's Song raps Abe's remarks on sex slaves

South Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Song Min Soon criticized Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday for disputing that the Imperial Japanese Army forced foreign women into sexual slavery during World War II, Yonhap News Agency reported.

"Anyone who doubts the sexual slavery by Japanese imperialism during World War II has to squarely face the truth," Song said after giving a speech in Washington, according to Yonhap. "Such remarks do not help to forge healthy and future-oriented relations between the two countries." Song is the first member of the South Korean cabinet to lash out at Abe for his reported remarks on Thursday that there is no evidence to prove that women were coerced into working in brothels run by Japan's military during the war.

Japs won't give 'even 1 yen' to N Korea unless abductions resolved: Aso

Japan will not give North Korea "even 1 yen" in aid unless the issue of Japanese citizens abducted by the North is resolved, Foreign Minister Taro Aso said Saturday before the two countries hold normalization talks next week. He added that Japan is ready to maintain economic sanctions on Pyongyang including the ban on port calls in Japan by the North Korean ferry Mangyongbong-92.

The remarks come before the two countries restart talks on normalizing diplomatic relations in Hanoi on Wednesday under the framework agreed during last month's six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear development programs. While experts are voicing concern that Japan may be isolated in the nuclear talks by sticking to the abduction issue, Aso flatly denied this, saying, "Japan will never be isolated."

U.S. lawmaker disputes Abe's contention that evidence of sex slaves doesn't exist

A U.S. lawmaker spearheading legislation urging the Japanese government to "officially" apologize for pressing women into sexual servitude during World War II cited an "overwhelming historical record" of the practice, following reported remarks by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe disputing that such evidence of coercion exists.

Abe is reported to have said Thursday that there is no evidence to prove that women were coerced into working in brothels run by Japan's military government during the war, in apparent contrast to a 1993 government statement acknowledging and apologizing for the forced recruitment of so-called 'comfort women' in places such as China and Korea.

Following Abe's remarks, Rep Mike Honda said in a statement that "the overwhelming historical record makes it clear that the Japanese Imperial Army forced as many as 200,000 women into sexual slavery during the Second World War."

Honda urged Tokyo to offer an "official" apology for what he called "undeniable past wrongs," saying it would "only increase Japan's standing as a member of the community of free, democratic nations."

Honda, along with a group of powerful House Republicans, is sponsoring legislation calling on Abe to offer an official apology to former victims of sexual slavery. Prospects are high that the legislation will pass the Democrat-controlled Congress after four similar bills failed to come to a full lower chamber vote in past years under the Republican majority.

The resolution has drawn sharp protest from the Japanese government both in Tokyo and Washington, with Foreign Minister Taro Aso calling the legislation "extremely regrettable and definitely not based on facts."

Japan's Ambassador to the United States Ryozo Kato has also argued against passage of the bill, saying his country has already apologized and cautioning it could harm otherwise sound U.S.-Japan relations.

In his statement Honda also cited the 1993 statement, issued by then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono, as evidence of Japan's admitted culpability in the comfort women practice.

While Tokyo has said it stands by the statement — Abe indicated last month that he had no intention of revising it — a group of senior ruling party lawmakers is demanding it be reviewed.

Underscoring the momentum of the most recent congressional attempt to prod Japan on the issue, a subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee recently held a hearing on the comfort women resolution, hearing testimony from three women who said they were forced to provide sex for the Japanese military during World War II.

Honda has argued that passing the legislation has become urgent given the advancing age of the former victims of Japan's sexual enslavement, who are mostly in their 70s and 80s.

Top court rules principal's order to play national anthem constitutional

The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a ruling that says it is constitutional for a public school principal to order a music teacher to play the piano to accompany Japan's "Kimigayo" national anthem at a school ceremony.

This is the first ever decision by Japan's top court on a series of lawsuits over teachers rejecting the national anthem in various ways such as declining to stand up or sing it on public occasions.

The top court upheld the Tokyo High Court's ruling in July 2004 after telling relevant parties last week it is handing down a decision on the case without listening to arguments by the plaintiff.

The suit was filed by a 53-year-old elementary school teacher in the suburban Tokyo city of Hino who sought to repeal a reprimand the Tokyo metropolitan school board issued to her for refusing to play the piano during an entrance ceremony in 1999.

Like other teachers, she cited a violation of freedom of thought and conscience when refusing the order. The Tokyo school board issued the reprimand on the grounds of a violation of the Local Public Service Law.

The Tokyo District Court ruled in December 2003 that "public servants must serve the whole of society and their freedom of thought and conscience are subject to restraint from the point of public welfare," and concluded the principal's order was constitutional and the reprimand was lawful.

The Tokyo High Court upheld the decision in July 2004.

In August 1999, the government instituted a law defining the Kimigayo as Japan's national anthem.

Since fiscal 2000, some 875 public school teachers across Japan have been reprimanded in various ways for actions against the national flag and the Kimigayo, such as refusing to stand up and sing the anthem in front of the flag.

A series of lawsuits have been filed by some of those teachers. While many of them have lost their cases in lower court rulings, the Tokyo District Court last September judged it unconstitutional for a local government to force teachers to stand up for the flag and sing the song in school ceremonies.

The court noted the Hinomaru flag and the Kimigayo have a history of being used as pillars of militarism and they are therefore not value-neutral and penalizing those who refuse to stand for the flag and the song is an action which violates freedom of thought and conscience under the Constitution.

Amnesty attacks Ibuki's human rights remarks

Amnesty International Japan on Tuesday harshly attacked recent remarks by Bummei Ibuki, the education minister, in which he said too much respect for human rights would give Japan "human rights metabolic syndrome." In a letter sent to Ibuki, Amnesty demanded the minister retract the remarks, saying they "ignore the human rights of citizens."

Ibuki's remarks mean he has neglected his obligations and is trying to restrict people's human rights, Amnesty said. Comparing human rights to butter, Ibuki said Sunday, "No matter how nutritious it is, if one ate only butter every single day, one would get metabolic syndrome...Human rights are important, but if we respect them too much, Japanese society will end up having human rights metabolic syndrome." Amnesty also sent the same letter to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has downplayed criticism over Ibuki's remarks.

Residents near Kadena base say they are suffering mentally, physically

Many residents of Okinawa's town of Kadena where a U.S. military air base is located said in a recent survey they are suffering both mentally and physically from the base's existence, mainly due to noise problems.

Of those people living in homes which are across the road from the Kadena Air Base and face its runway, 95% of them complained of their sufferings, with 43% citing ear ringing and 28% hearing loss, according to the survey conducted by the Kadena town government.

The survey was conducted on 300 households between last May and December.

The complaints particularly centered on noise in the early morning and at nighttime at the largest U.S. air base in East Asia, with some residents saying they have to wear earplugs in order to sleep and they are unable to get back to sleep once they are awakened by the noise.

The survey also showed that 90% of the residents are worried about a possible aircraft crash, 78% about explosions of fuel tanks and other things, and 67% about getting involved in a war.

The Kadena city government has repeatedly expressed concerns about the temporary deployment from this month of 12 state-of-the-art F-22A stealth fighters at the base.

Michiaki Tokashiki, who heads the town's external affairs section related to the base, said the deployment could make the noise problems worse because F-15 fighters have also returned to Kadena after taking part in training drills in the United States.

In February 2005, the Naha District Court awarded residents near the Kadena base a total of 2.8 billion yen, the largest amount of compensation the state has ever been ordered to pay in a noise pollution suit involving a military base or airport.

But the court turned down a request by some of the residents to ban nighttime flights at the Kadena base and did not establish a causal link between the noise pollution and hearing problems, thus leading the plaintiffs to file an appeal.

Abe meets victims of 2004 Niigata quake

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday visited Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, where a powerful earthquake hit in October 2004, with some of its victims still forced to live in temporary housing after two years and four months.

"I understand that you are having a hard time in spending a third winter in temporary housing," Abe told the victims. "We will do our best so that you can celebrate the next New Year holidays at own home." After hearing from the people that a major difficulty they face is that many of them need to frequently take out new bank loans on top of existing ones when building or repairing homes, Abe said the government should help them to find sources of income.

Japan successfully launches satellites to complete spy system

The government successfully launched an H-2A rocket to carry a second radar satellite and an experimental third optical satellite into space Saturday from a launch site in Kagoshima Prefecture to complete its spy system for full global coverage. The two satellites were placed into orbit about 20 minutes after the rocket's launch at 1:40 p.m., the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said.

If completed with the second radar functioning, the four-satellite system will enable the photographing of any point on Earth once a day for intelligence gathering with two sets of a radar satellite and an optical satellite, it said. In the spy project, two optical satellites and one radar satellite have already been placed into orbit. They are reportedly capable of detecting objects as small as about 1 meter.

LDP, DPJ lawmakers to study Nanjing Massacre from Monday

LDP, DPJ lawmakers to study Nanjing Massacre from Monday: "A group of lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties will start examining the 1937 Nanjing Massacre from Monday with the aim of countering descriptions of it in the late Iris Chang's bestseller 'The Rape of Nanking,' the group members said Thursday.

The lawmakers said they have decided to hold three study sessions because they are concerned that anti-Japanese campaigns could begin at a time when 10 films, many based on the book, will be produced around the world to mark the 70th anniversary of the atrocity."

Lawyers demand teachers not be forced to sing anthem

The Japan Federation of Bar Associations said Wednesday it has urged the government and the Tokyo education board not to force teachers to stand and sing the "Kimigayo" national anthem in front of the Hinomaru national flag and not to reprimand them for refusing to do so.

The federation, the country's sole organization of lawyers, also said it issued its gravest admonition to the Tokyo education board on Tuesday for violating the human and educational rights of five public schoolteachers by reprimanding them for not showing respect to the flag and the anthem during school ceremonies in 2004 and 2005. The move comes amid a series of lawsuits filed over the controversial notice the Tokyo metropolitan government issued Oct 23, 2003, demanding that teachers show respect to the flag or face reprimands.

Cheney stands with Japan on abduction issue, gets support on Iraq

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney agreed Wednesday to boost bilateral alliance and cooperate to resolve the issue of North Korea's past abductions of Japanese citizens, while Tokyo gave reassurances over its support for U.S. policy on Iraq and its commitments to promoting missile defense and U.S. military realignment.

Cheney's visit to Tokyo came at a time when some concerns have recently arisen between the two close allies over policies on North Korea and Iraq in an otherwise strong bilateral security alliance.

The United States is in need of Japan's continued cooperation in Iraq under the new strategy adopted just weeks ago by the administration of President George W Bush. But Japanese Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma recently irked Washington with comments critical of U.S. policy.

In Tokyo, meanwhile, concerns persist that Japan may face isolation in the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programs due to its policy of not joining in providing energy aid to North Korea unless there is progress on the abduction issue. Under an agreement reached last week at the multilateral talks, Pyongyang is to receive energy aid in exchange for taking steps to abandon its nuclear programs.

In a brief photo session prior to his talks with Abe, Cheney said the United States wants to see a resolution to the abduction issue, and praised Tokyo for having played a "very important part" in the six-party talks.

Cheney reaffirmed "unwavering commitment" to the security of Japan and said the two countries are cooperating to deal with the proliferation of nuclear arms and ballistic missiles, while Abe stressed the need to "strengthen the bilateral alliance and mutual trust."

In separate talks earlier with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki and Foreign Minister Taro Aso, Cheney expressed his understanding of Japan's policy of not joining energy aid due to the abduction issue.

"I explained Japan's policy and he expressed understanding over it," Shiozaki told reporters after a breakfast meeting with Cheney, the vice president's first meeting in Tokyo during his three-day visit that began Tuesday.

Cheney will meet with the families of Japanese abductees on Thursday, a move Aso told Cheney would underline steadfast U.S. commitment to helping Japan resolve the abduction issue following Bush's White House meeting last April with Sakie Yokota, whose daughter Megumi was abducted in 1977 at age 13 and remains missing, Japanese officials said.

Both Shiozaki and Aso thanked Cheney for arranging the meeting. The vice president has fitted the meeting with the abductees' families into his tight schedule even through he is not holding talks with defense chief Kyuma.

While agreeing to deepen bilateral unity to press North Korea to implement the six-party accord on "initial" steps such as shutting down and sealing its Yongbyon nuclear complex, Cheney and the Japanese leaders also shared the view that China's role is important in the multilateral talks that also involve South Korea and Russia, the officials said.

Cheney and the Japanese leaders also agreed on the need to continue to seek stability in Iraq and Afghanistan and to promote cooperation on bilateral missile defense and realignment of the U.S. military presence in Japan, the officials said.

Aso told Cheney that Japan "understands and supports" the new U.S. strategy on Iraq, the officials said.

Shiozaki said he told Cheney that Japan will continue to make a "proactive contribution" over efforts to seek stability in Iraq and Afghanistan, referring to Japan's continued commitment to assisting in Iraq's rehabilitation, including the ongoing airlift operations by the Japan's Air Self-Defense Force.

Cheney explained the new Iraq policy, especially the plan to boost deployment of U.S. troops by more than 20,000.

Earlier in the day, Cheney visited the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk at the U.S. naval base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture. Speaking before about 4,000 U.S. military personnel as well as dignitaries from both countries, Cheney said the United States will keep on with the fight against terrorism.

"We know that terrorist attacks are not caused by the use of strength; they are invited by the perception of weakness. We know that if we leave Iraq before the mission is completed, the enemy is going to come after us," he said.

"I want you to know that the American people will not support a policy of retreat," he added.

During an audience later with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, Cheney conveyed appreciation on behalf of the U.S. government over Japan's contributions on Iraq and Afghanistan.

Cheney last visited Japan in April 2004 and is holding his first meeting with Abe since Abe became prime minister last September.

The visit to Japan is part of a two-nation trip that also takes in Australia. Officials in Japan see the trip as highlighting Washington's interest in forging stronger cooperation with its two close Asia-Pacific allies.

So far, Cheney's itinerary includes no meeting with Kyuma, who about a month ago said Bush's decision to invade Iraq as "wrong" and later said the United States lacks understanding regarding talks with Okinawa Prefecture over the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Futemma Air Station within the prefecture.

Kyuma explained away the fact he wasn't meeting Cheney by saying it was due to the difference in rank between himself as defense minister and Cheney as vice president.

Aso has also made controversial remarks, describing Bush's policy on Iraq as "very naive."

China gives cool response to news of Nanjing massacre film by Japanese nationalists

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman hit back Thursday at a Japanese director who says he will shoot a documentary film that denies tens of thousands of people died during the Nanjing Massacre. Spokeswoman Jiang Yu said there is "ironclad" evidence, supported by the international community, that proves Japanese troops massacred soldiers and civilians when they captured what was then the Chinese capital in 1937.

Japanese director Satoru Mizushima, who has the backing of a number of conservative lawmakers and academics, announced Wednesday he is going to make the film, called "The Truth about Nanking," according to reports. "This will be our first effort to correct the errors of history through a film," Mizushima is reported to have said at a press conference in Tokyo to launch the film project.

It will be based on testimony from Japanese war veterans, archive footage and documentary evidence that proponents said will show the massacre is "nothing more" than Chinese propaganda.

U.N. human rights commissioner to visit Japan Jan 25-27

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour will visit Japan on Jan 25 to discuss with Japanese officials how to address international human rights issues, including North Korea's past abduction of Japanese and other foreign nationals, Japan's Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

During the three-day visit, Arbour is scheduled to meet with Foreign Minister Taro Aso and other Japanese officials. They are also expected to discuss how to go about dealing with the U.N. Human Rights Council, the ministry said.

Visitors to Japan top 8 million for 1st time in 2006

The number of visitors to Japan in 2006 reached 8.11 million in preliminary data, up 8.8% from the previous year and topping 8 million for the first time, the Justice Ministry said Friday.

The ministry attributed the figure, which marked a record for two years in a row, to increases in the number of tourists mainly from other parts of Asia following the Japanese government's efforts to attract foreign tourists plus a series of visa waivers. Of foreign visitors, the largest number came from South Korea at 2.37 million, followed by Taiwan at 1.35 million and China at 980,000.