News for November 01, 2006
Some quick news links:
-Prime Minster Abe Shinzo has vowed to revise Japan’s pacifist constitution by the end of his term. Can he overcome public support for pacifism and finally change the name of “ground self-defense forces” to “army”?
-Parents of an autistic elementary schooler are suing their local government after a teacher locked their son in the school’s warehouse, driving the child into a panic and making him jump out of a second story window.
-Indian blogger/photographer Sivakumar is traveling through Japan and writing about his experiences on his blog: check it out!
-Justin takes a look at Yuriko Koike, who has been called the Condi Rice of Japan and may one day become the country’s first female prime minister.
-A Nagoya man suspected of stealing about 5,000 pairs of shoes in order to enjoy their odor has been arrested. He is quoted as saying, “Indoor shoes for school sexually stimulate me. I couldn’t throw away the shoes I obtained.” Fantastic.
-Japan has rightly decided to keep up it’s sanctions on North Korea, regardless of whether North korea agrees to return to the 6-party talks. There’s no point in lifting sanctions until actual progress is made at the talks.
-Many newspapers in the Philippines are concerned that Japan will use the new trade agreement between the countries will turn their country into Japan’s toxic waste dump.
-Ryuganji has all the juicy gossip on the Nakamura Shido/Takeuchi Yuko divorce, which was announced on the news this morning. All the Japanese teachers have been talking about it in the office today.
-Softbank mobile has decided to alter their advertisements after the FTC started an investigation into the deceptive nature of it’s ads. Apparently Softbank took out full page ads in the newspapers that announced all calls between Softbank customers were free, when in fact that isn’t the case at all [If you'd read the tiny tiny tiny disclamer printed in the bottom margin of the page, you'd know].
-A date with a porn star has proven deadly for Japanese heart-throb Hayami Mokomichi’s career. He swears she was just visiting his apartment to watch DVD’s.
