Japan News for April 27, 2007

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    Today’s Japan-related news links:

    • Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed regret Thursday about the misunderstandings caused by his remarks on the sexual exploitation of Asian women by the Japanese military during World War II. He made the comments during a meeting with U.S. congressional leaders upon his arrival in Washington for a two-day visit for talks with President George W. Bush. [Link]
    • Japanese police obtained an arrest warrant Thursday for an alleged North Korean spy suspected of abducting two children to the communist country decades ago, according to a media report. [Link]
    • The Japanese and U.S. governments have agreed to issue a joint document stating their determination to boost bilateral technical cooperation in tackling global warming and other environmental problems. [Link]
    • Japan has said it aims to launch its first magnetic levitation – or maglev – rail service by 2025. With a top speed of more than 500kph (310mph), the trains will run between Tokyo and the central city of Nagoya. [Link]
    • The Japanese government authorized the spending of about 4.18bn yen Thursday to finance another half-year extension to Nov. 1 of the Maritime Self-Defence Force’s mission to provide fuel and water to US-led coalition forces in the Indian Ocean in support of the anti-terrorism campaign in Afghanistan. [Link]
    • Japan’s foreign minister Taro Aso will visit the United States, Russia and Egypt on an eight-day trip starting this weekend. [Link]
    • Wikipedia already has thousands of people logging on at their homes and offices. In Japan, those looking for instant answers now need look no further than their mobile phones. [Link]
    • An indebted Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) officer has been arrested for robbing a post office in Fukuoka of more than 1 million yen in March. [Link]
    • Time Magazine has written of the dwindling profits Japan’s Yakuza gangs are facing in an article entitled, “Crime Doesn’t Pay (As Much) in Japan.” [Link]
    • A condominium complex in Nagoya that a scandal-tainted architectural company calculated quake-resistance data for has proven to be substandard. [Link]
    • The Japanese government yesterday donated 3200 tons of rice to The Gambia Government, at a ceremony held at State House, Banjul. [Link]
    • A child modeling agency Atlas Promotion has fired most of its employees and closed down several of its branches over a tax evasion scandal. [Link]
    • South Korea and Japan said they will resume joint history research to broaden mutual understanding for each other. The joint project had halted in 2005 due to disagreements between both countries. [Link]
    • The Party’s over for western hostesses in Japan, claims the Times in an article about the decline of hostess bars. [Link]
    • Thousands of rich Japanese women have been conned by a firm into believing lambs were valuable miniature poodles, claims the Sun. [Link via LeonJP]
    • Androgenic hormone levels of male company workers are lowest in their 40s and 50s, generally the prime of their careers, according to a survey conducted by a doctor at Teikyo University Hospital in Itabashi Ward, Tokyo. [Link]
    • Another former chamberlain wrote in diaries that late Emperor Showa had stopped visiting Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo because he was displeased at the enshrinement of Class-A war criminals with other war dead, it was learned Thursday. [Link]
    • “The Testimony to Grandchildren,” a book published annually by Shimpu Co. of Osaka to hand down memories of the war to succeeding generations, marks its 20th anniversary this year. [Link]
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