Japan News for January 11, 2007

A few Japan-related links for this morning:

• Japan’s largest mobile phone carrier, DoCoMo, will upgrade its wireless network to make its data transmission hundreds of times faster, enabling subscribers to watch high-quality video just as they can over fiber-optic cables.
• In November 2006, Internet giant Yahoo Japan held an online poll that showed 90 percent public support for a return to commercial whaling. In the recent poll, 21,221 people cast a vote, with 19,001 agreeing with sustainable commercial whaling and 2220 opposed. The results don’t quite match up with Greenpeace’s claim that 70 percent of Japanese don’t support whaling…
• Japan’s biggest online shopping mall Rakuten Inc. plans to launch a service in the United States later this year. Tokyo-based Rakuten, used by an estimated 18 million shoppers in Japan, also hopes to take its business to Europe and China, the Kyodo News agency said.
• Hawaii has launched a new marketing campaign, which aims to reverse a decline in Japanese tourists.
• The Japanese government will introduce a bill to the regular session of parliament that convenes on Jan. 25 to make the payment of N-H-K subscription fees mandatory, while the fees will be reduced by roughly 20 percent, communications minister Yoshihide Suga said Wednesday.
• 67.3% of Japanese would like a robot to help with house chores, according to a recent poll.
• In his latest op-ed, Ian Bremmer, president of Eurasia Group, says that Japan can become in East Asia what Israel is in the Middle East, a “wildcard.”
• Japan’s postal service will be releasing 10 collectible Evangelion post stamps. Each post stamp is valued at 80 yen but their otaku cred value is likely much higher…
• The Chosun Ilbo claims that more Korean men in their early 20s go to Japan to work in host bars. As a foreigner cannot get a work visa for host bar work, it can be assumed that many such hosts are working illegally on tourist visas. [Via Lost Nomad]
• The most recent episode of the Simpons made a subtle jibe at Japan’s fishing industry [click for screen capture].
• Bird Flu is back. Will it come to Japan?

Afternoon Update:

• The mutilated body discovered in Shinjuku last month has been identified as a Japanese man named Yusuke Mihashi, whose wife has confessed to murdering him and chopping him up. Media reports at the time of the body’s discovery, such as this one, had focused on the possibility of the body or murderer being foreign.
• The president of Toshiba EMI visited N-H-K twice this week to formally apologize for the scandal caused by DJ Ozma, who is with the label. Ozma’s performance on the public network’s Kohaku special on New Year’s Eve featured the artist and his dancers in body suits that fooled many viewers into thinking they were naked [pictures and video here].
• More than 90% of special task forces established at prefectural police headquarters nationwide to investigate murders successfully solved their cases last year, the National Police Agency said Thursday. The agency attributed the favorable data mainly to the improvement in scientific criminal investigation.
• A 68-meter windmill snapped at its base and tumbled over Monday night in Higashidorimura, Aomori Prefecture, when a joint section of its 3.6-meter-wide ferro-concrete base gave way. Officials continue to investigate the exact cause of the collapse.
• Mutantfrog Travelogue presents an informative look at free English-language online sources on Japanese politics.
• Kevin Munroe, director of the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated feature, told IGN that he is working on a big-screen adaptation of the anime series Gatchaman next. [via FG]
• McDonald’s Holdings Co (Japan) said Wednesday that sales in 2006 set a record high at 441.5 billion yen.