Japan News for June 27, 2007

Today’s Japan-related news links:

Dependable Japan: A record high 74 percent of the general public in the United States said Japan is a “dependable” country, while record high percentages of people in four major European countries said they view the current relationship between Japan and Europe are “good,” the Japanese Foreign Ministry said Monday. [Link]

Nintendo Dominance: Nintendo Co Ltd briefly zipped past Sony Corp in market capitalisation the other day to become one of Japan’s 10 most valuable companies as it elbows the PlayStation maker out of its decade-long dominance of the game industry. [Link]

Angry Voters: As many as 92 percent of voters remain angry about the government’s slipshod handling of pension records, an Asahi Shimbun survey showed. [Link]

Advantage? In a related story, more than 80 percent of potential Democratic Party of Japan candidates in next month’s House of Councillors election want to make pensions a key issue in the leadup to the poll, according to a Yomiuri Shimbun survey. [Link]

Translating Abduction Woes: The Japanese government has decided to add English and Chinese pages about Japanese abducted by North Korea to the Web site of the Prime Minister’s Office in a bid to publicize the issue. [Link]

Wasted: Dozens of valuable art works hanging at Japanese embassies and other Foreign Ministry missions overseas have been thrown out with the garbage or lost, according to officials. [Link]

Scam Insurance: Meat Hope Co. repeatedly misused liability insurance to cover damages stemming from recalls of meat products it had knowingly mislabeled, it has been revealed. [Link]

Can Other Companies Be Trusted? The Agriculture Ministry ordered surprise inspections of ground-beef products nationwide Tuesday after it discovered one company was mixing pork, chicken and other meats into goods labeled as pure beef. [Link]

Moral Responsbility: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will return 2.34 million yen of his 5.36 million yen summer bonus to the state’s coffers to take moral responsibility for the Social Insurance Agency’s pension record-keeping blunders. [Link]

Quasi-National Park: The Environment Ministry has decided to make Amanohashidate, one of the “Three Great Sights of Japan,” in Miyazu, Kyoto Prefecture, a quasi-national park. [Link]

Leaving Korea: Japanese electronics brand JVC has announced that it’s withdrawing from Korea because of poor sales. [Link]

Bye Bye, NK HQ: The Tokyo headquarters of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) has moved closer to being seized by the government-affiliated Resolution and Collection Corp, as the Tokyo District Court is set to approve a request from the corporation to put the property headquarters up for auction. [Link]

Resolution? Japan said Tuesday it would stick to its position over former “comfort women” even if a US Congressional panel backs a bill demanding a fresh, unambiguous apology over wartime sexual slavery. [Link]

Lonely Oyajis: Japanese men in their 50s are more likely to fall in love with someone at first sight than other generations, a poll by an expressway company has found. [Link]

Guilty Judge: A former judge who in 1968 sentenced a pro boxer to hang for murdering a family of four submitted a petition Monday to the Supreme Court demanding a retrial because he has always felt the defendant was innocent. [Link]

Studying Suicide: Japan’s first full-fledged survey on the social backgrounds and other reasons for the high suicide rate will be conducted from the summer by support groups and bereaved families. [Link]

Daylight Savings = More Overtime Work? The land of the rising sun is considering Daylight Saving Time to conserve energy, curb greenhouse gas emissions and help fight global warming, but critics say the move might merely promote “daylight slaving.” [Link]

Fresh From The Reservoir: An increasing number of local bodies are selling bottles of local tap water to attract consumers’ attention and dispel widespread perceptions that tap water tastes bad or smells moldy. [Link]

Korean TV: Scandal has erupted after the talk show the Beauties Chatterbox aired a segment in which a Japanese college student claimed that one of her Korean university professors offered to give her a good grade in return for sex. [Link]

Akiba Crime Wave: Known throughout the world as the top electronic gadget district and as a favorite spot for computer geeks, Akihabara is gaining an embarrassing reputation for criminal activity that is causing concern among police and local residents. [Link]

Horrifying: A medical organization in Kitakyushu plans to file a complaint against a nurse, accusing her of abusing four elderly patients by tearing their toenails off. [Link]

Delicious Whale: With knives sharpened and kids watching, a coastal whaling town in Chiba Prefecture butchered its first catch of the season last week ・and defended the practice against global criticism. [Link]

Crabby Island: An island off the coast of Higashihiroshima is crumbling away due to countless crustaceans that have made holes in its rocks and caused its highest peak to completely disappear. [Link]

Can they drive? Professional sumo wrestlers said they want permission to drive cars during a meeting of high-ranking grapplers on Tuesday. [Link]

Japanese Kids Smell Bad: Japanese schools are getting filled with more kids that stink, according to Sunday Mainichi. [Link]

Sad Ending: An 80-year-old cyclist riding around Japan was hit by a truck in a tunnel just 20 kilometers away from his residence on Monday and died. [Link]