Japan News for July 08, 2007

Japan-related news links for today:

SDF To Darfur? Japan has started to consider the possibility of dispatching the Self-Defense Forces to Sudan’s troubled Darfur region in line with the planned launch of full-fledged joint peacekeeping operations by the African Union and the United Nations, government sources revealed Friday. [Link]

Deja Vu? Farm Minister Norihiko Akagi named his father’s home as the location of his political support group and chalked up about 90.45 million yen in personnel, office, and utility expenses over a 10-year period even though the home was apparently not being used as an office, it has emerged. [Link]

Flooding: Residents of nearly 3,400 households in Kumamoto Prefecture have been urged to flee their homes and take shelter at public facilities as the seasonal rain front has brought heavy rain to the area. [Link]

Corpse In Foreigner’s Apartment: The decomposed body of a man was found in a Nepalese woman’s apartment in western Tokyo in the early hours of Saturday. [Link]

Ballistic: The Japanese government has confirmed that short-range missiles launched by North Korea into the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea on May 25 and June 7 were ballistic missiles, as were those launched on June 27, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Friday. [Link]

Complaint Against Russia: Japan has lodged a complaint against Russia in the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg, after Russian coast guards seized a Japanese trawler last month near the Russian Kamtchatka peninsula. [Link]

Decapitated: A human body and its severed head were found at a railway crossing in Nara Prefecture on Friday evening, sparking a police investigation. [Link]

Fleeing Pension Cuts: At least 164 local assembly members across the country resigned before the law amended to lower pension benefits for them came into force on April 1, the Mainichi Shimbun has revealed. [Link]

Regulating The Internet: With nearly eight out of 10 elementary school children in Japan using personal computers and parents worrying about children’s surfing habits, the government has begun to craft stricter regulations for harmful Internet sites, the Cabinet Office said in a survey report Saturday. [Link]

96% An overwhelming majority of Japanese high school students are using mobile phones, according to a government survey. [Link]

Anniversary: China marked the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of war against Japan on Saturday with a U.S.-made film documenting Japanese wartime atrocities opening in theatres nationwide and schoolchildren holding a candlelight vigil. [Link]

Leaky Japan: A recently released congressional report expressed misgivings about a possible leak of U.S. technology if the United States sells the state-of-the-art stealth fighter F-22A Raptor to Japan. [Link]

Bulldog Ban: Japan Airlines Corp. has banned bulldogs from all its flights, saying Friday the stress of flying can prove fatal for the sensitive breed. [Link]

Matsuzaka Fever? Pfft: Japanese fans were pretty sure they would see a compatriot Red Sox pitcher make the All-Star game this year but few figured it would be Hideki Okajima. [Link]

Expensive Dog House: Sanrio Co, creator of the Hello Kitty character, said Friday it will sell a single 3.9 million yen doghouse with a Kitty cushion during a promotional event from July 24 to 30 at Mitsukoshi Ltd’s flagship department store in Tokyo’s Nihombashi district. [Link]