Japan-related news links for today:

Replacement: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe chose special prime ministerial advisor Yuriko Koike to replace Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma on Tuesday, after Kyuma announced his plans to resign over his comments that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki couldn’t be helped. [Link]

Tojo’s Promises: The granddaughter of wartime Prime Minister Hideki Tojo said Tuesday if she wins election later this month for a seat in the Diet she will push to strengthen the military, rewrite the history of the Rape of Nanking and move to censure the United States for dropping atomic bombs on Japan. [Link]

Acknowledging, Yet Erasing: The government said Tuesday that some Okinawa people had died under the Japanese military’s orders, but upheld government textbook screeners’ instructions to publishers to delete the military’s role in wartime mass suicides in Okinawa. [Link]

DPJ Lead: The main opposition Democratic Party of Japan has widened its lead over Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party in the run-up to the July 29 House of Councillors election, a poll of eligible voters conducted over the weekend by Kyodo News indicated Monday. [Link]

Reliable: Japanese cars are the most reliable, the least polluting and the best to own, according to British consumer group. [Link]

Nagasaki Complains: Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue lodged a protest on Tuesday against Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma for saying that the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki could not be helped. [Link]

North Sea Oil: Idemitsu Kosan Co., Japan’s second-largest refiner, and partners including Norsk Hydro ASA have received approval from the Norwegian government to develop a 47 billion yen gas project in the North Sea. [Link]

50 Years: The U.S. Forces Japan headquarters marked its 50th anniversary with a ceremony Monday at Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo. [Link]

Hot Nights: Global warming will lead to dramatic temperature changes in 20 to 30 years in Japan, including three times as many “hot summer nights,” when nighttime lows are unusually warm, researchers said. [Link]

Stealing By Motorcycle: Police are warning residents about a new type of telephone-based fraud in which criminals phone unsuspecting victims claiming to be relatives in need of cash, and use motorcycle delivery workers to collect the money from them. [Link]

Dressing Room Accusations: A teacher in Odawara has recently been reprimanded along with his boss for placing a piece of paper on a boy’s back with a message that falsely accused him of sneaking into a girls’ dressing room at the school he attended. [Link]