News for December 02, 2006
Some news and links on this fine Saturday morning:
-The Japanese government released a white paper on declining fertility yesterday, which urges a reduction in the working hours of fathers to help improve home environments and make child-rearing easier. However, they are still working on plans to encourage overtime further overtime work.
-The Kobe District Court has ordered the government to pay about 468.6 million yen (4.18 million US dollars) to a group of plaintiffs who were stranded as children in China at the end of World War II.
-After mentioning Shinzo Abe’s love for dogs, it is only fair that Asia Exile do the same for the opposition party(DPJ).
-How do Japanese people get their news? What Japan Thinks finds out.
-The New York Times takes a look at Japan’s plans to re-introduce trial by jury.
-According to Akihabara News, PS3 stocking problems in Japan might be coming to an end. Maybe they’ll eventually join their buddy, the PSP, in collecting dust on the shelf while Nintendo systems sell out at lightning speeds?
-An editorial from the Yomiuri Shinbun about how a Defense Ministry was long overdue.
-Interesting photos of 1951 Japan from Frog in a Well.
-Big garbage day rocks: free furniture for any gaijin who’s not afraid to loot the trash pile!
-Japan loves the UNESCO world heritage program: the Cultural Affairs Agency has announced an additional 24 domestic candidates that will be put forward as potential UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Sites.
Evening update:
-A Japan Airlines passenger flight and a JAL cargo plane bound for Shanghai returned to Narita international airport after departing there Friday due to airspace restrictions prompted by a Chinese military exercise (other airlines were forced to turn their planes around too, but the Japan Today article decided not to tell us).
-Are you injured, but not sure if you need to be hospitalized? The Tokyo Metropolitan Government would like you to dial #7119 and ask if you need an abulance, since they’d rather not pay for all the extra ambulances that are picking up people who aren’t injured enough to require hospitalization.
-The LDP and DPJ are working together to change the minimum legal voting age to 18 (it is currently 20).
- Sony Corp. president Ryoji Chubachi has admitted the company should have taken swifter action in a crisis over defective batteries as the firm moves to trim losses elsewhere by shaking up its games unit.
-Danny Choo has the goods on the launch of the Nintendo Wii.
-The Kyoto District Court has ordered an imprisoned Christian clergyman and his church to pay a total of about 58 million yen in damages to five girls and two women who filed a civil suit against him, saying they were sexually abused repeatedly by him between 2000 and 2004.
-Foreign Minister Taro Aso has unveiled what he calls the “arc of freedom and prosperity,” a new foreign policy vision that will help promote democracy and economic development in Southeast and Central Asia and Eastern Europe. You know, it’s kind of like a “co-prosperity sphere“, only arc-shaped.
-Trendy new words for 2006? Why didn’t “chibi-ero-kawa” make the list?
