Japan News for July 01, 2007
Japan-related news links for today:
Going For It: Intensive therapy and an outpouring of fan support have convinced champion eater Takeru Kobayashi to stomach his pain and try for a seventh consecutive Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest July 4 in New York City. [Link]
Don’t Investigate Me: Shigetake Ogata, a former head of the Public Security Intelligence Agency arrested Thursday on suspicion of fraud in connection with a real estate deal involving the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon), asked Tokyo prosecutors to call off their investigation in mid-June, sources said Friday. [Link]
Can Fujimori Escape? Former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori trumpeted his decision to run for Japan’s Senate but Chile and Peru warned it would not deter efforts to extradite him on rights abuse charges. [Link]
Censure Attempt: The opposition parties made one final attempt Friday to stop the ruling bloc from ramming pension system-related bills through the Diet with motions to censure Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and health minister Hakuo Yanagisawa. [Link]
Beef Is Back: Major supermarket chain Ito-Yokado Co. brought American beef back to its shelves Friday, about 3 1/2 years after sales were halted in the wake of the first U.S. case of mad cow disease. [Link]
Expansion: As part of the planned realignment of U.S. forces in Japan, the U.S. wants more than 100 facilities to be newly built or improved at the U.S. Marine Corps Iwakuni Air Station in Yamaguchi Prefecture. [Link]
Victorious Violinist: A Japanese woman has won first place in the 13th International Tchaikovsky Competition’s violin category, the competition organizing committee announced Friday. [Link]
Doctor Arrested: A university hospital doctor was arrested Saturday in Utsunomiya for paying a junior high school girl to have sex with him. [Link]
Who Needs Cameraphones? 90% of Japanese carry camera-equipped cell phones, but 25% of them don’t feel they need such a feature, according to a recent study conducted by goo Research [Link]
iTuning Yahoo: Yahoo Japan and iTunes Japan have entered into a deal that will give users one-click access from Yahoo Japan music-related sites to the iTunes music store, where they can preview and download music and videos. [Link]
Sacked: Jubilo Iwata midfielder Naoya Kikuchi has been sacked by the J-League club after being arrested earlier this month for having sex with a 15-year-old girl. [Link]
Deer Test: A local group hoping to protect deer in Nara Park is planning to offer a certification exam next year that will test test-takers’ knowledge of the animals, a national natural monument. [Link]
Reef Disease: A new threat is surfacing that could destroy more coral reefs around the world.The disease, called “white syndrome,” has been observed affecting coral reefs in the Great Barrier Reef of Australia as well as reefs in Okinawa Prefecture. [Link]
Damn The Torpedoes: The Maritime Self-Defense Force and Japan Coast Guard mobilized forces after being called out to disarm what a fisherman thought was a torpedo only to reveal it was an empty gas tank. [Link]
