Japan News for March 15, 2007

This morning’s Japan-related news links:

• The Tokyo governor’s race is shaping up into a dogfight between incumbent Shintaro Ishihara and former Miyagi Governor Shiro Asano over the 40 percent of voters who are undecided, an Asahi Shimbun survey has shown. [Link]
• Alitalia’s Boeing 777 “Positano” (flight AZ 784) left Fiumicino airport yesterday afternoon bound for Japan, carrying the renowned painting of “The Annunciation” by the Italian master artist Leonardo Da Vinci. So much for the protestors. [Link]
• Mongolian grand champion Asashoryu got back on level terms by overpowering Toyonoshima to register his second win at the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament on Wednesday. After suffering shock defeats on the first two days of the 15-day meet, Asashoryu looked back to his best as he comfortably improved his record to 2-2 in the day’s final bout at Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium. [Link]
• Japanese weather officials have been left red-faced after a computer glitch led to incorrect forecasts for the start of the cherry blossom season. An embarrassed Meteorological Agency has been forced to admit that its predictions were wrong, in one case forecasting blossoms more than a week early. [Link via FG]
• Anime produced in small teams have been hitting the market one after the other recently, which is a new development as works are usually produced in production teams of dozens or even hundreds of people. The new works, which maintain a high level of quality while showcasing the creators’ intense vision in every nook and cranny, a feat that can only be achieved in a small team, are blowing a new wind throughout Japan’s animation industry. [Link]
• Passengers arriving at Kochi Airport, which was reopened Wednesday morning after it was closed Tuesday following the belly-landing of an All Nippon Airways (ANA) plane, have expressed concerns about the resumption of operations of the same type of aircraft. [Link]
• A dislodged bolt was behind Tuesday’s emergency landing of an All Nippon Airways Bombardier DHC8-Q400 at Kochi Airport, the Construction and Transport Ministry’s Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission said Wednesday. [Link]
• Japan’s palace guards on Wednesday arrested three people who trespassed near the imperial palace. [Link]

Afternoon Update:

• A court is set to decide tomorrow whether ex-Livedoor CEO Takafumi Horie is guilty of fraud. Many believe that there is a great deal more at stake than Mr Horie’s liberty. This trial, a senior Trade Ministry official told The Times, is “nothing less than a battle for Japan’s dignity”. [Link]
• Japan and the United States held a joint memorial ceremony Wednesday on Iwo Jima Island for soldiers who died in the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II. [Link]
• Miyazaki Gov. Hideo Higashikokubaru, a comedian-turned-rookie-politician, has become the latest Japanese politician to be accused by the English language media of saying there were no sex slaves during WW2. [Link]
• Japanese Police requested last year Internet providers disclose information on would-be suicides linked to 75 online posts suggesting suicidal actions and traced 64 people who made 60 posts. [Link]
• Thirty-six percent of employees at companies with 300 or more workers find it difficult to take child-care leave, despite being legally entitled to do so, a survey showed. [Link]
• A Liberal Democratic Party panel will submit a bill to the current Diet session to ban the taping of films by audience members in movie theaters in Japan, according to its members. [Link]
• Japan and China will hold the second two-day meeting of a joint history study group of experts from Monday in Tokyo, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. The two sides are expected to decide on study topics such as war responsibility and the 1937 Nanjing massacre under their plan to report findings by the end of 2008. [Link]
• A government report has revealed that 355 people died from carbon monoxide poisoning due to gas appliances with imperfect combustion over the past 21 years. [Link]
• Sales of the Nintendo DS are outpacing Sony’s PSP by 3-to-1 in Japan, according to Bloomberg. [Link]