News for December 20, 2006
Some news links this morning:
-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tuesday he wants to pass legislation next year that would allow a national referendum on changing the country’s pacifist Constitution. A ballsy move, considering the fact that a majority of the country still opposes dropping article 9.
-In the wake of reports that a bank the government bailed out had given huge donations to the LDP afterwards, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has instructed Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Hidenao Nakagawa on Tuesday that the party should refrain from receiving political donations from major banks.
-An organization formed by families of Japan’s war dead will hold a meeting to study whether the Class-A war criminals should be separately enshrined at Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine.
-Tadashi Sakurai, former mayor of Tomakomai, Hokkaido, was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months in prison, suspended for four years, for groping a woman in a restaurant in the city in May.
- The government plans to enhance its system of tracking foreign nationals of Japanese descent by issuing new IC cards containing information controlled by the Justice Ministry’s Immigration Bureau. The electronic information will include name, date of birth, nationality, address in Japan, family members, and duration and status of stay.
-A 14-year-old junior high school boy, under arrest for robbery, has confessed that he took part in the November murder of a homeless woman on a river bank in Aichi prefecture. Aichi police suspect that the boy, whose name is being withheld because he is a minor, and two of his classmates, aged 14 and 13, jointly murdered the woman under the instructions of a 28-year-old man.
-A woman who tried on a pair of jeans imported from China at a clothing store in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, on Oct 26 was stung by a scorpion inside the jeans and was hospitalized for five days. The scorpion, about 5 centimeters long, is believed to be a Chinese bark scorpion, officials said. The bark scorpion possesses venom and causes pain when it stings, but it is not lethal. It is considered a luxury food item in China.
-A discussion of problems with a new ammendment to the consumer products safety law, which requires that companies report all “serious” accidents involving their products within 10 days.
-The number of black bears trapped or killed as pests from April to November this year totaled 4,737 across the country–twice as high as the previous record, according to a Yomiuri Shimbun investigation. About 90 percent of the bears, 4,250 in total, were either killed at the time of being caught or were destroyed later.
-The Yokohama Curry Museum will close at the end of March 2007. “Even though it’s profitable, it has already achieved its goal of spreading the culture of curry and vitalizing the local economy,” an official of Matahari Co. that operates the Yokohama Curry Museum said.
-The governments of at least 21 anti-whaling nations have undertaken the largest single diplomatic protest yet against Japan’s lethal scientific whaling program, according to statements released this week by the governments of New Zealand and Australia.
-Nearly half of minors were aware of the revised Tokyo government ordinance barring juveniles from the streets late at night, but merchants still hold reservations about the effectiveness of the measure, according to a university survey. Under the ordinance, those accompanying minors under 18 years of age between 11 p.m. to 4 a.m., without the consent of a parent or guardian, are subject to punishment. In addition, operators of karaoke bars, manga libraries and Internet cafes are obliged to bar juveniles during these hours.
-Shinzo Abe loves them school lunches!
-The Nintendo DS remains damn popular.
Afternoon update:
-Shari comments on the idea that unhealthy junk food is making Japanese people fat.
-Popular video-sharing Web site YouTube Inc. has agreed to post Japanese language warnings about respecting copyrights in an attempt to prevent users from uploading copyrighted materials. Problem solved, right?
-Baseball players with the once-mighty Yomiuri Giants have been facing tough salary negotiations for 2007 after the popular club failed to finish in the top three places in the Central League for the second year in a row.
-In its “Info Variety: Hanamaru Market” program aired on Friday last week, TBS claimed that if boiling water is poured on a basin in a restroom, it will disinfect the basin and make it easier to remove stains. It has since been revealed that this can crack/damage your toilet.
-Japan will require passengers on flights leaving the country from March 1 to put any liquids into small containers and transparent bags if they plan to take them onboard as carry-on luggage. The new security regulation comes after the United States, Canada and members of the European Union introduced similar measures to combat possible terror attacks on airliners using liquid explosives.
-In today’s WaiWai column, Japanese “experts” discuss the size differences between Japanese men and foreigners, if you know what I mean.
-Shinzo Abe’s cabinet approved has approved an allocation of 4.5 billion yen to cope with the problem of bullying in schools and child abuse. The outlay will be used for measures such as increasing the number of school counselors. Just throw some money at the problem, and it might disappear?
-A new article has appeared about Australia’s disastrously stupid tourist slogan “Where the bloody hell are you?” and how it failed to increase the dropping number of Japanese tourists who travel to Australia.
-The Kobe Family Court’s Amagasaki branch has rejected a request from a man who had a sex change operation to have his sex registration in his family register changed. The official gender change was rejected because the man was previously married and has a child.
-Actor, SMAP member and Japan’s No.1 heart throb Kimura Takuya will not be accepting his nomination for a best actor prize at the 30th Japan Academy Awards. It is the first time an actor has refused a nomination, other than the rare occasion when it has conflicted with a work schedule. Johnny’s Jimusho, which represents Kimura, said he “doesn’t want to compete with other nominees.”
-Update your bookmarks/feed readers, the Japanese Ads blog has launched!
