Japan News for March 23, 2007
This morning’s Japan-related news links:
- Blond, blue-eyed Westerners probably can’t be as successful at Middle East diplomacy as Japanese with their “yellow faces,” Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso was quoted by media as saying in a weekend speech. [Link]
- Campaigning kicked off Thursday for a flurry of elections in April that will be a test of the Abe administration’s performance to date and a taste of what it can expect in July at the national level. [Link]
- Japan has been abuzz with the unusually harsh prison term handed to former Internet kingpin Takafumi Horie _ and the slap on the wrist given to scandal-tainted brokerage Nikko Cordial in another high-profile case of accounting regularities. [Link]
- An earthquake with an intensity of 4.2 on the Richter scale jolted eastern Japan Thursday morning shaking buildings in Tokyo, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. [Link]
- Nine new cases of teenagers acting abnormally after taking Tamiflu were revealed Wednesday, bringing the total number of accidents involving juveniles and the anti-flu drug to 15 since fiscal 2004. [Link]
- Princess Mako, the eldest daughter of Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko, graduated from Gakushuin Female Junior High School on Thursday. [Link]
- New statistics at What Japan Thinks examine the bread-eating habits of the Japanese people. [Link]
- The Tokyo International Anime Fair 2007, an event designed to show off Japan’s anime culture to the world, got underway on yesterday, with characters from such productions as “Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro” and “Maiking Break-Through Gurren-Lagann” greeting visitors. [Link]
- The Japanese government approved a guideline today to enable Japan to respond quickly to ballistic missiles being fired toward the country. [Link]
- In what analysts called a 田lear and welcome・sign that Japan痴 painful economic battle with deflation may be over, average land prices are rising again after a 16-year hiatus that began with the collapse of the property bubble. [Link]
- Confectionery giant Fujiya Co. resumed cake sales at its shops across Japan on today, two and a half months after a stale-ingredient scandal led to the shut down of its plants. [Link]
- Fuji Television Network Inc plans to file a 38 billion yen damages suit against Livedoor Co next week, source close to the matter said Friday. FTV, one of Japan’s largest private broadcasters, will claim it suffered losses in Livedoor shareholdings due to securities fraud on Livedoor’s part. [Link]
- Shigeru Yokota, who heads a group of Japanese families of victims of North Korea’s abductions, plans to step down from the post due to waning physical strength. [Link]
- A resolution pending in the U.S. Congress to seek that Japan apologize for sexually exploiting women of other countries during World War II is likely to be put to a vote in May. [Link]
Afternoon update:
