Japan News for January 24, 2006
Some news links this morning:
- “Letters From Iwo Jima,” the Japanese language movie directed by Clint Eastwood, was Tuesday nominated for best picture, while Japan’s Rinko Kikuchi is up for the best supporting actress gong for her role in “Babel” at the Academy Awards next month.
- The Cultural Affairs Agency decided Tuesday to add four sites to the provisional list of World Cultural Heritage candidates for consideration by UNESCO: Mt. Fuji, Tomioka Silk Mill in Gunma Prefecture, Takamatsuzuka and Kitora tombs in Nara Prefecture, and churches and related properties in Nagasaki Prefecture.
- Kyoto-based electronic component creator, Rohm, announced yesterday that the world’s smallest LED, the PicoLED will go into mass production in April.
- Osaka-based Kansai Telecasting Corp. (KTV) announced Tuesday that the firm had punished President Soichiro Chigusa and nine others in relation to a TV program found to have used fabricated data on the nutritional benefits of natto fermented soybeans.
- Nonfiction crime writer Atsushi Mizoguchi and his son filed a lawsuit Monday with the Tokyo District Court against five individuals with ties to the Yamaguchi-gumi crime syndicate, seeking yen 72 million in compensation for an attack on the son.
- Herds of horny Japanese women are flocking to Thailand to spend time with go-go boys, claims WaiWai.
- Toymaker Takara Tomy announced today that they’re releasing the world’s smallest 2-legged robot in July.
- David translates a Japanese article about whale meat being introduced into the meals of 1 to 5 year-olds at a daycare center in Ishinomaki.
- Marxy has written an informative article exploring the misanthropology of the Japanese Kogal / Ganguro.
- An outbreak of bird flu is suspected at another poultry farm in Miyazaki Prefecture, just 60 km from the farm in Kiyotake that was decimated by the high virulent H5N1 strain two weeks ago.
- Officials at Awashima Marine Park, located in the coastal city of Numazu, have obtained rare video footage of a frilled shark (Chlamydoselachus anguineus) near the sea surface after it was captured in nearby waters.
- Yomiuri Shinbun reports that foreigners are filling Japan’s jails and prisons struggling to cope with the nonnatives’ needs.
- Ending two decades of silence on the matter, the Supreme Court has taken steps to hear a dispute between Taiwanese authorities and a group of pro-Beijing Chinese over the ownership of a student dormitory in Kyoto, a case that could potentially generate diplomatic friction for Japan.
- About 800 out of date candy items were given out during a food festival in Toyama last weekend, it was learned Wednesday.
- China, watch out. Japan is a contender again, says top Nomura economist Richard Koo.
- Nissin Food Products will begin selling refillable instant ramen cups and refill packages from March.
Afternoon update:
