Japan News for May 11, 2007

This morning’s Japan-related news links:

• The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) proposed Thursday deleting the name of the sea between Korea and Japan in its upcoming oceanographic map amid controversy over the name of the waters between the them. [Link]
• Call it cheeseburger diplomacy. Japan’s prime minister says he and U.S. President George W. Bush munched their way to a relaxed first-name basis, befitting their countries’ close alliance during his first U.S. visit as premier. [Link]
• With more high-level talks with Moscow in the offing, Japan is hoping to seize the opportunity to crack the long-standing territorial dispute over the Russian-held islands off Hokkaido. [Link]
• Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said Wednesday that a solid U.S.-Japan partnership is vital for future generations to overcome a variety of global challenges such as climate change, poverty and terrorism. [Link]
• A former right-wing activist was indicted Wednesday for throwing a Molotov cocktail at Nikkei Inc.’s headquarters building in Tokyo last July. [Link]
• An annual march calling for global peace and return of land used for U.S. military bases began Thursday in Okinawa, as state-of-the-art U.S. stealth fighters began leaving one of the bases the same day after a temporary mission. [Link]
• The Fair Trade Commission raided the headquarters of major electronics retailer Yamada Denki Co. and several related facilities on Thursday on suspicion the firm violated Japan’s Anti-Monopoly Law. [Link]
• Japanese police have arrested 12 Chinese people believed to be kin of a woman who entered Japan using the name of a displaced Japanese in China during World War II, suspecting they have committed fraud and an immigration law violation. [Link]
• For half a millennium, the tea ceremony has been a symbol of Japan, a combination of ritual, meditation and aesthetics expressing the refinement of one of the world’s most ancient cultures. But now the ”Way of Tea” is undergoing a revolution intended to ease one of its less appealing side-effects -– excruciating leg pain. [Link]
• Police on Thursday seized six dogs from a former convenience store here on suspicion that some of them attacked a woman earlier this month. [Link]
• The baby drop-off, called “Crane’s Cradle,” was opened by the Catholic-run Jikei Hospital in the southern city of Kumamoto as a way to discourage abortions and the abandonment of children in unsafe public places. [Link]

Afternoon Update:

• Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says Japan will impose new sanctions against North Korea if it goes back on its promises and fails to shut down its nuclear reactor. [Link]
• Japan is leaning towards resuming direct aid to the government of the Palestinian territories for the first time in more than a year. [Link]
• The government and ruling coalition plan to establish a system to dispatch doctors to areas of Japan suffering serious shortages of medical staff. [Link]
• House of Councillors President Chikage Ogi has decided not to run in the upcoming election and will retire from politics. [Link]
• The Diet enacted a revised law Friday aimed at reducing motor vehicle emissions by tightening regulations on the construction of department stores, offices and other facilities in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. [Link]
• The Japanese government said Thursday that a recent U.S. report on trade accusing Japan and 62 trading partners of erecting unfair barriers to American exports was “inaccurate.” [Link]
• Tokyo is losing ground as a financial centre, according to Business Standard. [Link]
• A man questioned over an incident in which a Great Dane bit a woman in Aichi Prefecture earlier this month has admitted that the dog belongs to him. [Link]
• Strong winds disrupted railway services in the Kanto area around Tokyo this morning. [Link]
• May 10 is Cotton Day, according to the Japan Cotton Promotion Institute. On Thursday, the 4th Cotton USA Awards took place and actress Masami Nagasawa was named Miss Cotton 2007. [Link]
• A TV special recently featured some Japanese Rappers who hope that the constitution will be revised to allow Japan to support an army. [Link]