Japan News for June 14, 2007

This morning’s Japan-related news links:

• Toshio Yanagi, the head of Japan’s domestic spy agency, criticized the purchase of the Tokyo headquarters of a pro-North Korean group by a company which is run by one of his predecessors. [Link]
• Only one in 28 calls made to the Social Insurance Agency after it set up a toll-free line to handle inquiries about pension payments actually got through, figures released by the agency have shown. [Link]
• Japan and China plan to step up military exchanges with a visit to Japan by the Chinese defense minister and the first-ever port call by a Chinese naval vessel, an official said Wednesday, amid signs of warming ties between the neighbors. [Link]
• Stung by a series of losses in court, the government plans to shift its policy and settle lawsuits filed by lung-disease sufferers who worked in state-ordered tunnel projects. [Link]
• Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara has asked nonfiction writer Naoki Inose to assume the post of vice governor, sources close to the governor said. [Link]
• A huge amount of Japanese police investigation information including data on crimes such as rape and attempted murder has been leaked over computer networks through the file-sharing software program Winny, it has been learned. [Link]
• A former police officer convicted of stealing a USB memory stick containing investigative information from a disobedient junior officer was slapped with a suspended prison sentence in a ruling at the Kofu District Court on Wednesday. [Link]
• China on Tuesday claimed to have unearthed a large cache of explosives, abandoned by Japanese troops during World War II, from the base of a hill in Dunhua City in northeast China’s Jilin Province. [Link]
• The Supreme Court on Wednesday decided on a set of rules to select and pay lay judges in the new criminal trial system to begin in 2009, including authorizing a daily wage of up to 10,000 yen. [Link]
• A former Toyo University law professor and three other suspects accused of illicitly claiming medical reimbursement fees for traditional Chinese medicine were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of fraud. [Link]
• The Boston Globe takes a look at Yuko Tojo, grand-daughter of wartime PM Hideki Tojo, who will be running as an independent in Japan’s upcoming upper house elections. [Link]
• A former world boxing champion has been arrested in Osaka for trying to force a woman to retract a criminal complaint she had filed against an acquaintance of his. [Link]
• Honda Motor Co. (7267.TO) said Wednesday it is considering introducing vehicles with advanced diesel engines in Japan despite the relative unpopularity of diesel cars in the world’s third largest auto market. [Link]
• Some of the world’s top doughnut chains have come rolling into China, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan and elsewhere in the region as Asians embrace the Western fast food fad. [Link]
• A recently-published report from infoPLANT has revealed that Japanese prefer mobile phone-based blogging to PC-based blogging. [Link]
• Japan will get its first nursing home for dogs with round-the-clock monitoring by doctors and a team of puppies to help aging pooches feel younger. [Link]

Afternoon Update:

• Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi jokingly said he couldn’t afford to return his salary over a pension scandal after a top politician said that former health ministers such as Koizumi should take responsibility for the embarrassment. [Link]
• Voters in their 20s and 30s, who buttressed the sky-high popularity levels of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, have not taken a shine to his successor, according to the Asahi Shinbun. [Link]
• The deal to sell the Tokyo headquarters of Chongryun to Harvest, an investment advisory firm headed by an ex-chief of the Public Security Intelligence Agency, will probably fail because the buyer can’t get the money to buy the pro-Pyongyang group’s premises. [Link]
• All systems are finally go for Japan’s first lunar orbiter, which is scheduled for launch on August 16. [Link]
• The main opposition Democratic Party of Japan announced Wednesday 10 major policies it plans to pursue, as the House of Councillors election looms next month, with the focus on revamping the nation’s pension system, raising the minimum wage and improving people’s daily lives. [Link]
• A 57-year-old woman sustained serious injuries Wednesday after getting her hand caught in the doors of a train at a station in Hadano, Kanagawa Prefecture, and being dragged nearly 40 meters along the platform and falling into the gap between the platform edge and the train. [Link]
• The number of volunteer operators staffing Inochi no Denwa suicide hotline centers that offer free telephone counseling services has fallen by about 900, or 11 percent, since 2001, causing staff shortages and forcing the centers to trim operations. [Link]
• South Korea will receive 10 South Korean prisoners currently serving sentences in Japan in the latest invocation of an international prisoner transfer treaty. [Link]
• The Japanese government said Monday it will provide grant aid worth 18.65 million yen to nongovernmental organizations in Afghanistan for literacy education and job training. [Link]
• A U.S. military chopper made an emergency landing at a park in Yokohama city’s Kanazawa Ward at around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday: No one was injured. [Link]
• The Church of England on Wednesday urged the people of Japan to join its campaign against a violent Sony Corp. computer game that allegedly uses a British cathedral as a backdrop. [Link]
• Bankruptcies rose sharply in Japan in May pushing the number to more than one thousand. [Link]
• Japan’s under-22 team was handed a tough task on the road to the 2008 Beijing Olympics when it was drawn in the same group Wednesday as Saudi Arabia for the final Asian qualifying round. [Link]
• Yoko Ono has helped make an Amnesty International fundraiser CD featuring work by her late husband, Beatles legend John Lennon, by donating all music publishing royalties to the cause. [Link]
• Hoga Central has posted a translation of an interview with Japanese actor Ken Watanabe regarding his role in “Memories of Tomorrow.” [Link]
• China is continuing its crackdown on illegal horror publications, particularly “Death Note” stories, according to the national office for cleaning up pornography and fighting illegal publications Wednesday. [Link]