Japan News for December 11, 2006

Some quick news links this morning:

-LDP leaders have said that Japan opposes resuming international talks on dismantling North Korea’s nuclear program unless Pyongyang is ready to compromise.
Update: North Korea Monday has responded by calling on Japan to stay away from international negotiations over its nuclear weapons program, accusing it of trying to interrupt efforts to peacefully resolve the nuclear dispute.

-Democratic Rep. Tom Lantos, set to take over as chairman of the House of Representatives International Relations Committee, said Friday he hopes Japan will move beyond its wartime history. He also warned the Japanese government against visiting the Yasukuni shrine.

-Japan’s Health Ministry has confirmed the country’s 31st case of mad cow disease. The animal will be destroyed so it does not enter the food supply.

-The Taipei Times tells the story of how Nissin prevented the US hedge fund Steel Partners’ hostile bid for Myojo, Japan’s No. 4 instant noodle maker.

-Although Japan recently agreed to allow up to 1,000 Filipino nurses into their country, Filipino nurses and caregivers may only start working in Japan in 2010 as they must first finish a three-year language course and technical training and pass Tokyo’s licensure exam for medical practitioners.

-Boston Red Sox starter Curt Schilling and pitching coach John Farrell are learning Japanese so they will be able to talk to recently-acquired Japanese players Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima.

-Foreign Dispatches comments on the distortions and half-truths surrounding the Nanking Incident.

-Slash Gear looks at a Japanese-developed high tech concept for a ship that uses air bubbles to glide through the water.

-Are mentions of wartime atrocities in Haruki Murakami’s works a reason for some Japanese to be wary?

-The San Francisco Chronicle provides some tips for cheap travel in Tokyo.

-Mobile Ojisan writes about fancy electronic dictionaries.

-A very cool set of Japanese refridgerator magnets.

Afternoon update:

-The BBC interviews Japan’s first lady, Akie Abe.

-With all the politicians who have been destroyed by bid-rigging scandals in recent weeks, might one assume that attitudes towards bid-rigging might be changing? Do the authorities actually consider this illegal activity to be a crime now?

-A Japanese Iwo Jima eyewitness tells his story in today’s Mainichi WaiWai column.

-Asimov: “Help me. I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.”

-13-year old Mitsui Aika is latest member to join the ever-changing lineup of Morning Musume.

-The Japan Times reports on Anthony Bianchi’s run for the Inuyama City mayor’s office.