Japan News for April 26, 2007

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    This morning’s Japan-related news links:

    • China has officially displaced the US as Japan’s largest trading partner, figures revealed on Wednesday. [Link]
    • A ceremony was held Wednesday to mark the second anniversary of a deadly train accident that claimed the lives of 106 passengers and the driver when the train derailed and slammed into an apartment block in Hyogo Prefecture. [Link]
    • Rankings for the upcoming Summer Grand Sumo Tournament were released in Tokyo on Wednesday: media attention is on Ozeki and current Emperor’s Cup holder Hakuho as he prepares for his second yokozuna-promotion push. [Link]
    • Despite the low rent, or because of it, 90% of apartments were vacant as of Sunday in the new 300-unit government housing complex for Lower House members in Tokyo’s prime location close to the Diet. [Link]
    • A group supporting Shiga Gov. Yukiko Kada received a phone call from a man threatening violent retaliation if the governor did not back the creation of a new bullet train station in Shiga Prefecture, it has been learned. [Link]
    • A rally and march seeking that Japan issue more apologies for its wartime sexual enslavement of civilian women from other Asian countries will be held Thursday near the White House when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrives for talks with U.S. President George W Bush. [Link]
    • Police raided four affiliates of the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) on Wednesday over allegations that North Korean agents abducted two children in 1974. [Link]
    • An explosion sent a 29-year-old man flying out of his 5th floor apartment around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday morning in Sapporo. [Link]
    • Shunsuke Nakamura made clear Monday that he will remain with Celtic, a day after the Japan midfielder scored the injury time winner against Kilmarnock that gave his club the Scottish Premier League championship. [Link]
    • The government on Wednesday announced the 13 members of a panel of experts who will discuss Japan’s right to collective self-defense. [Link]
    • Video game developer and publisher Hudson Soft has decided to place ads for a train-related game on the outside of carriages on the struggling Choshi Electric Railway Line in Chiba Prefecture, it has been learned. [Link]
    • Labor unions and nonprofit organization members conducted a survey Tuesday night on the increasing number of young people who stay overnight at Internet or manga cafes. Those who stay at these facilities are assumed to be the working poor, and the survey aims to clarify what has led them to their current situation. [Link]
    • A White House official leaned positively Wednesday toward selling U.S. fighter jets to Japan, an issue Tokyo is highly interested in to counter North Korea and China but which, in the case of F-22s, is restricted by U.S. domestic laws. [Link]
    • Japan’s practice of recruiting prostitutes to provide sex for its troops in World War II has a little-known sequel: After its surrender _ with tacit approval from the U.S. occupation authorities _ Japan set up a similar “comfort women” system for American GIs. [Link]

      • Afternoon Update:

      • Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe headed for Washington on a government aircraft today for his first summit trip to Japan’s top ally. [Link]
      • Kyoto Prefecture has been picked as the venue for the foreign ministerial meetings when Japan hosts the Group of Eight (G-8) summit in summer 2008. [Link]
      • An earthquake hit Shikoku and other parts of western Japan on Thursday morning, but no injuries were reported. [Link]
      • The Japanese arm of U.S. e-tailer Amazon.com Inc. on Tuesday opened a virtual shopping mall that allows third parties to set up shops on its Web site. [Link]
      • A man has been sentenced to life in prison for raping and killing a female Taiwanese college student who was traveling in Japan in June 2004. [Link]
      • American sociologist Carole Cameron Shaw has just published a book through Seoul National University Press that claims the United States actively intervened in Japan痴 annexation of Korea. [Link]
      • An Iranian family that has overstayed its visa for more than 10 years was deported Thursday morning, while leaving their eldest daughter behind so she can continue her education at a Japanese junior college. [Link]
      • Japanese head hunting firm Recruit has forecasted that Japanese companies will hire 932,600 workers next spring, up 13 percent from this year, while 436,500 university graduates are expected to hit the job market. [Link]
      • Fossilized dinosaur skin has been found in a 120-million-year-old rock bed in Fukui – the first of its kind to be discovered in Japan. [Link]
      • Talento Eguchi Tomomi (39) suffered a nasty accident while filming a TBS variety show yesterday. She was riding a 125cc buggy bike at the Nasu Buggy Park in Tochigi Prefecture when she took a spill, suffering a blow to her lower back and damaging her kidney. [Link]
      • Tesco Plc, a British grocery chain, opened its first Tesco Express outlet in Japan Wednesday, located in the Oizumi Gakuen district of Tokyo’s Nerima Ward. [Link]
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