Alas, the long vacation is over. Here is today’s Japan-related news/links:

• Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Khan has urged Japan to “play a more active role internationally on human rights issues.” Khan also raised the issues of Japan’s poor record on accepting refugees and its use of the death penalty as lingering problems, and spoke extensively on human rights abuses in Asia, especially North Korea and China.
>Members of the Ground Self-Defense Force have inadvertently allowed information to be exposed in 27 cases via the Winny file-sharing program installed on their personal computers between fiscal 2002 and the end of October, sources close the GSDF said Monday.
• A survey reveals what anime Japanese viewers would most like to see a spinned-off into a movie.
• The Asahi Shinbun has an article up about a Japanese actor who has made a career out of playing the “evil Japanese” character in Chinese films.
• Japanese people name which Japan-foreigner couple they would most want to model their relationship on.
• The Australian reports on Japan’s aging wannabe cowboys.
• The newest issue of Newsweek has a feature story on violence in Japanese schools.
• South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun has proposed renaming the waters between South Korea and Japan as the “Sea of Peace” or “Sea of Friendship,” [basically anything but "Sea of Japan"]. Roh broached the proposal when he held talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Vietnam in November.
• The U.S. military submarine USS Newport News collided with a Japanese tanker in the Arabian Sea south of the Strait of Hormuz. There were no injuries and no damage that affected the navigational abilities of either vessel, Vician said.
• Actress Satomi Ishihara has been named ‘Best Pearl Dresser’ among 20-year-olds for 2007 (pictures at Tokyo Times).
• High-quality rice grown in Taiwan has gained in popularity in Japan, with 180 metric tons of rice cultivated in eastern Taitung county scheduled to be exported to the country later this year, a Taiwanese government official said yesterday.
• Japan, which boasts the world’s most energy-efficient economy, is helping other parts of Asia, including emerging powerhouses China and India, to curb coal consumption through the use of “clean coal” technologies.
• Yamamoto Mona, a journalist who was forced to quit the TBS show “News23″ in October following revelations of an affair with a married politician, continues to submit herself to humiliation as an act of repentance. She made her first public appearance yesterday since the scandal, taking on the role of “Jackass Japan Section Chief” in a PR event for the movie “Jackass Number Two”.
• South Korea’s main opposition party on Tuesday rebuked President Roh Moo-hyun over his handling of a diplomatic issue regarding the Sea of Japan issue. “His proposal to rename the East Sea the ‘Sea of Peace’ is the act of a traitor to one’s country,” the Grand National Party (GNP) said in a statement.