Japan News for May 01, 2007

Today’s Japan-related news links:

• Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit to Japan on April 11-13 helped push China toward objective reporting of Japan. But real mutual understanding between the two Asian powers will be difficult as long as Chinese public opinion is controlled via a top-down system, says a Yomiuri Shinbun editorial. [Link]
• Japanese Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma visited the U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida, on Sunday and assured the U.S. military that Japan will continue to support reconstruction efforts in Iraq through extending the deployment of Japanese air troops for airlift operations. [Link]
• This year’s calendar made it more difficult to attract Japan’s Golden Week vacationers to Hawaii and increased the appeal of closer destinations including Okinawa, the nation’s southern island chain, according to JTB. [Link]
• Seven people have complained of nausea and other health symptoms at theaters in Aichi and Mie prefectures after watching the Oscar-nominated U.S. movie “Babel,” theater officials said Monday. [Link]
• Japan’s Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry is considering a new financial assistance program that will include full basic pension payouts and a special grant system to replace welfare benefits for war-displaced Japanese who have permanently settled in Japan since returning from China. [Link]
• Tension between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and its neighbor Japan is expected to rise anew as the DPRK on Monday condemned Japan’s latest move to acquire hardware for its military. [Link]
• Five strippers at a Japanese go-go dance club in Sapporo didn’t know their customers included police officers who took them in as soon as they violated Japan’s decency laws that prohibit public exposure of genitalia. [Link]
• Talento and former sumo wrestler Konishiki has now taken on the role of music producer and will release his first compilation album this summer under his newly created record label. [Link]
• The New York Times reports that American schools are deploying Dance Dance Revolution as the latest weapon in the battle against childhood obesity. [Link]
• The newly opened UNIQLO UT in Tokyo’s Harajuku district sells t-shirts with hip vending machine splendor! [Link]
• Mutantfrog Travelogue has a new post with advice and information translated into English for foreigners looking to get a credit card in Japan. [Link]
• Colossal comedienne Shizuyo Yamazaki – or Shizu-chan, to just about everyone who knows her — is determined to find a good-looking hunk from the entertainment world to entrust with the task of relieving her of her virginity, according to Shukan Bunshun. [Link]