This is the first in what will be a weekly look at news from Japan and occasionally Korea. One thing you’ll discover your not the only ones with strange people, weird events and idiot politicians
Tuesday September 18
He may be the underdog in the race to become prime minister, but with his love of comic books and streetwise talk of pop culture, Taro Aso has plenty of support among Japan’s disillusioned youth.
“Aso understands the youth culture,” said 16-year-old Riku Shimoda, one of those who turned out to hear the two candidates vying to replace Shinzo Abe stump for votes in the neon-infested, teeny-bopper haven of Shibuya.
If one were watch the usual campaign rally in Japan 85% of those attending are middle aged or older. So its unusual for a candidate to attract any interest from the younger generation.
WASHINGTON – Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, in his new book published Monday, blames the Japanese government for causing a decade-long economic quagmire that followed the burst of an economic bubble in the early 1990s. In “The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World,” he says Tokyo’s reluctance to take bold action to resolve the bad-loan problems at Japanese banks, such as liquidating the assets of doomed banks, was more for “cultural” reasons than “economic” ones.
I know many people admire Alan Greenspan. However anyone with a rock rolling around inside their head could have told you that the economic malaise was the fault of Japanese government policy.
Theatrics must exit the political stage
Telegenic, a word often used in the United States to describe politicians, can hardly be used for Yasuo Fukuda and Taro Aso in the election to pick a new Liberal Democratic Party president.Six years ago, Junichiro Koizumi heightened his popularity by screaming, “I will destroy the LDP.”
A year ago, Shinzo Abe used his youth to gain similar popularity.
Who are these people kidding. Japanese politics could use more theatrics not less. Most Japanese politician’s have all the charisma of white bread.
Wednesday September 19
Cops to offer ¥100,000 for tips that catch sex traffickers
The National Police Agency will start offering rewards of up to ¥100,000 from Oct. 1 for information leading to the arrest of anyone forcing minors or foreigners to be prostitutes or hostesses, officials said.The campaign is being carried out in conjunction with Guardian Angels Japan Inc., a nonprofit organization of public security volunteers. The red-capped Guardian Angels will be in charge of accepting tips via a toll-free number, and the police are calling on the public to contribute anonymously, if necessary.
This is a policy which should have been implemented a long time ago. This particular case will show you why. Lucie Blackman disappeared in July of 2000 while working as Bar Hostess in Tokyo. Even though she was reported missing Tokyo Metropolitan Police refused to investigate the case. It wasn’t until pressure was applied by the Tony Blair’s government that the police started to investigate.
HIRATSUKA, Kanagawa Prefecture–Surfers rescued two boys from drowning but could not save a third at a dangerous spot off a beach in the Shonan area over the long weekend.
The surfers jumped into the water to pull out the kids in two separate incidents at the same place.
On Sunday, Yukio Sakuma, 47, and Hendrik Boschen, 29, a German company employee from Oiso, Kanagawa Prefecture, pulled two elementary school boys from the surf at a beach in the Togahara part of Hiratsuka near the mouth of the Hanamizugawa river.
3 newspapers ordered to pay libel damages
Wednesday, September 19, 2007 at 07:12 EDT
TOKYO – The Tokyo District Court on Tuesday ordered three vernacular newspaper publishers to pay libel damages of up to 1.65 million yen to a physician for publishing a story distributed in July 2002 by Kyodo News but the court rejected the doctor’s demand for damages from the news agency, citing “considerable reasons for misreporting the facts.”
TV Timer: TV commentators declare open season on ailing prime minister
Thursday September 20
Ratio for education spending dismal
Government spending in Japan on education was about 3.5 percent of the nation’s gross domesticproduct in 2004, the secondlowest ratio among advanced nations next to Greece, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
When spending by parents and students was included, Japan’s ratio was the fifth lowest.
NOVA looks to shut down schools amid financial crisis
Major English language teaching chain NOVA is considering shutting down a large number of schools, it emerged on Thursday.
NOVA’s income from lesson fees has decreased since the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry issued the language school a partial business suspension order over its practices. Because of this, the school is apparently pushing for a turnaround, hoping to cut costs by trimming and merging unprofitable schools.
They conveniently left out the reason why NOVA was nailed in the first place. Prospective students are asked to fill out an introduction card. Unbeknown-est to the students NOVA was using these cards as signed contracts.
Niigata nuke plant rooftop catches fire
Thursday, September 20, 2007 at 15:26 EDT
NIIGATA – A small fire broke out Thursday morning from a power cable of a makeshift air conditioner on the roof of the quake-hit Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture, Tokyo Electric Power Co said. It said no one was injured and there were no radiation leaks.
Another sign of safety first
Friday September 21
The Social Insurance Agency has revealed more embezzlement cases of pension funds–and more cases of the perpetrators being let off the hook.
The agency said Wednesday its investigation uncovered 47 new cases of pension premiums embezzled by municipal government employees, bringing the number to 95 from 48 reported earlier this month.
The total amount of money embezzled by municipal workers increased by about 27 million yen to about 228 million yen, the agency said.
All the crime and very little punishment
Game makers in marketing joust at Chiba expo
By SHINICHI TERADA
Staff writerCHIBA – Tokyo Game Show, one of the world’s largest gaming events, opened Thursday with the participation of a record number of Japanese and overseas firms – an indication that the industry is ready to take advantage of a brisk market boosted by the popularity of Nintendo Co.’s Wii console and dual touch-screen DS portable machine.
Sexperts tout erotic image training as the secret to a beautiful mind
Sex advisors for women have recently changed tack, going from counseling about detailed techniques such as how to achieve orgasm, to recommending they carry out some erotic image training, according to Spa! (9/25).Advisors in publications like the recently released sex manual “Girl’s Side Book” by the intriguingly-monikered “Pink Sensei” are offering detailed advice on the steps women need to take to imagine what a romp would be like before it happens, then how to make that fantasy materialize.
One from China
Nearly 500 school children in Fugong, Yunnan Province, China have to cross the often raging Nujiang River each day to get to school. The only problem is that there is no bridge.
And you thought your trip to school was an adventure.
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to use more of the top section of your posts, so more will appear on the front page.
flight to Minneapolis . . .
had great hair…
people admire greenspan?
and the china story- wow!
thanks for the roundup- this is going to be a great part of the site!
I’m Sooo happy this will be a weekly series! Yay! Whoo-hoo!! (^.^)
I love your news. You always find such Great articles to share with us.
and selfishly…
Hopefully this series will help me find a way to become closer with my daughter-in-law who is Japanese. They live with us and recently there has been a fissure in our relationship. I’m not sure what happened or why, but maybe sharing this news series with her can be a place to begin the mending.
Thank You!
Looking forward to your parade of “strange people, weird events and idiot politicians” from East Asia.
… is that the basic fault of the Japanese government was not introducing measures to restrain the bubble when it was inflating, which would have limited the damage when it burst …
… and that is precisely what Greenspan did as the US housing bubble was developing.
If we had restrained the housing bubble, of course the short term impact would have been slower US growth, which would have slowed capital inflows, which would have led to an earlier decline of the US exchange rates with the EU, pound, the “resource” (Australian and Canadian) dollars, etc. … and would have slowed the de-industrialization of America.
But when you measure economic growth at the top 1% rather than at the “bottom” 80%, the de-industrialization is a good thing, since each and every step down that path is taken in pursuit of higher corporate profits, and a cheaper dollar is a bad thing, because it reduces the economic power of US domiciled corporations that borrow primarily from US capital markets.
First, thanks mishima for the excellent roundup. I have a few questions, though, because I don’t have enough background to understand some of what’s going on here.
In the story about investigating sex trafficking, you mention
Why is that? Is this standard procedure not to investigate missing person cases, or was there something in particular about this case (or this type of case) that explains why?
On the NOVA story,
What do you mean by this? I guess I don’t understand what kind of contracts the school could be using: exterior to the school? As legal protections for the school in the case of lawsuits?
Sorry for all the questions – great roundup, you’ve just whetted my appetite for more!
I was born in Japan in 1950, the child of American missionaries. Things have changed so much since I left in 1968. I know I would no longer recognize my old home, though I often long to return to the to the place I learned the most important lessons of my life. I will enjoy your posts.