News for December 01, 2006
News/Links for this morning:
-Japan’s lower house of parliament has passed a bill to create a cabinet-level defense ministry for the first time since World War II. It’s about time.
-A former company president who forced an employee to get a tattoo when the employee said he wanted to resign has been arrested. How exactly does a company president force you to get a tattoo when you are trying to quit your job?
-North Korea has repeated it’s desire that Japan not take part in the 6-party talks. This time, their reason is that Japanese leaders have said they don’t want to deal with a nuclear North Korea.
-”Foreign minister says Japan could build a nuclear bomb, but won’t for now“, according to the Mainichi Shinbun. When the same story was picked up by China Daily, the italic part was dropped from the headline, since it obviously wasn’t important…
-The Sendai District Court ordered the local city government to pay 550,000 yen in compensation to a Pakistani-born physically disabled man for a city-run bus’s refusal to board him in 2003, recognizing the treatment as a form of racial and disability discrimination. What palyed a greater role in the decision, the fact that he was foreign-born, or that he was physically disabled?
-After running a series of articles on atomic bombing victims, the Mainichi Shinbun has read through the comments of foreign readers and determined “that there was a need to fill the gap between Japanese views and many Americans who believed that the atomic bombings were necessary.”
-The Marmot comments on the issue of Japan’s apologies to South Korea.
-A man who burst into a nursery here and threatened a part-time worker with a box cutter, saying noise from the institution was depriving him of sleep was arrested yesterday. Nothing ruins a good nap like the sound of gleeful children, argh!
-The congested city of Tokyo has proposed to help pay to treat its residents’ asthma, according to a plan submitted to the Tokyo High Court on Tuesday by Governor Shintaro Ishihara. I guess if you can’t clean up the air, you can at least pay for the medical treatments caused by polluted air..
-The fact that geeks are clammoring to buy medical books that contain uncensored images of female genitilia might be a sign that it’s about time to lift the censorship laws in this country. Come on, look how desperate these guys are!
-More Political/Society/Business news for today at Trans-Pacific Radio!
Afternoon update:
-Japan’s fertility rate is still at a record low, but that doesn’t seem to be stopping the government from eliminating special payments for single-parent families living on welfare.
-Tokyo’s tight office market could see prime rents rise another 60 to 70 percent in around three years’ time, property consultants say.
-Big brother loses in court: The Osaka High Court on Thursday permitted four residents of three cities in Osaka Prefecture to have their personal data removed from the Basic Residents Registration Network. The judge cited security flaws in the network as a possible violation of privacy rights.
-A disctrict court has ordered a former judge to pay compensation to a woman he stalked.
-The EB virus ["Kiss Disease"] is spreading like mad, and Japan’s cleanliness is to blame, warns Mainichi’s WaiWai column.
-Occidentalism discusses yet another distortion in the Dokdo/Takeshima dispute.
-A Japanese youth magazine asked its readers “What food do you want to eat just before you die?” Hamburgers, baby!
-Yakult Swallows infielder Akinori Iwamura is hoping to make progress in his negotiations with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. I’m not really sure why anyone would want to play for the Devil Rays, but I guess they are a major league team, kind of.
-Japanese officials have conducted surprise inspections of U.S. meatpacking plants that were authorized to export beef to Japan after the country lifted its ban on U.S. beef imports imposed because of the fear of mad cow disease. Seems reasonable, and a lot better than this.
-Police are still struggling to find those responsible for the murder of a family in the year 2000. Some of you might recall this as the “it must have been foreigners because they were wearing foreign shoes” murder case.
-The government has asked the Science Council of Japan to take up the debate on assisted reproduction technologies, including surrogate births, and will consider creating necessary laws to legalize or regulate the procedures depending on the discussion results. Japan’s current laws make surrogate births difficult, as the surrogate mother, and not the woman who provides the egg, is recognized as the sole legal mother of the child born.
-H!P takes a look at the candidates hoping to become the newest member of Morning Musume.
-A computer the size of a pen? Awesome.
-Japanprobe wishes a happy birthday to Princess Aiko, who turned 5 today!
