Japan News for February 03, 2007

Japan related news links for today:

• The Chinese government has unofficially invited Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako to the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Japanese government officials said on Friday. [Link]
• Mugs, pens and notepads adorned with cartoon depictions of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe went on sale at his party headquarters’ souvenir shop this week. Party officials are hoping Abe souvenirs can help push up support for the prime minister, who has been hit by scandals involving political funds and misstatements by Cabinet ministers. [Link]
• An Asahi Shimbun journalist has plagiarized parts of a story from the Yomiuri Shimbun web site, it has been announced. “When I rewrote my story, I referred to the article on the Yomiuri Shimbun web site,” the reporter was quoted as saying. “The Yomiuri article was better than my original, so I rewrote mine.” [Link]
• The father of a Japanese-Brazilian woman wanted by Japanese police for allegedly causing a fatal auto accident in Shizuoka Prefecture in 2005 said Wednesday she had no choice but to return to Brazil because she was fired right after the accident. In a letter sent to Kyodo News, Roberto Fujimoto said his daughter, Patricia, 32, who has been placed on an international wanted list since leaving Japan, is “hoping for a fair trial” and “is not running away.” [Link]
• Economic reforms are tricky politics for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, claims a new World Politics Watch article. [Link]
• Ampotan has posted and informative article about Japan’s many regional dialects. [Link]
• The Sydney Morning Herald has details about the rape and assault of a Japanese tourist in Australia last year. [Link]
• A Chinese woman standing trial for fatally stabbing two kindergartners has said that what she stabbed were sand dolls. Lawyers for her reportedly plan to plead not guilty by claiming that she was mentally unstable at the time. [Link]
• Former Nippon Ham fighter Tsuyoshi Shinjo, 35, has signed a deal with Hollywood movie producer Jerry Bruckheimer to promote three upcoming Hollywood movies: “Deja-vu,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End,” and “National Treasure: The Book of Secrets,” all of which will be distributed by Buena Vista in Japan this year. [Link]
• Women from 28 through 33 years old represented the fastest growing group in the nation’s work force, while the overall number of working men has dropped, recently released government statistics for 2005 showed. [Link]
• Sony Corp. plans to shut down its Osaki West Technology Center in Tokyo’s Shinagawa Ward at the end of March in what will be a major turning point in its TV production business, sources familiar with the plan said Thursday. The center has been a backbone of Sony’s manufacturing operations since it began mass-production of TVs in 1963. [Link]
• Kimie Osugi, an announcer at Nippon Television Network Corp., plunged to death from her condominium in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward, early Friday, the police said. The 43-year-old announcer is believed to have committed suicide because she left a note, police said, adding she jumped off the building around 6:30 a.m. [Link]