Japan News for August 03, 2007
Japan-related news links for today:
America Snubbed: Opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa rejected a meeting with U.S. Ambassador Thomas Schieffer, apparently over the Japanese government’s planned extension of the anti-terrorism special measures law. [Link]
Usagi Strikes: A typhoon packing strong winds and heavy rain pounded the island of Kyushu in southern Japan on Thursday, toppling trees, cutting power to 20,000 homes and forcing cancellation of scores of flights. [Link]
Voters Oppose Constitutional Revision: More than half of the winners in Sunday’s upper house election are opposed to revising war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution and nearly half of them do not approve exercising the right to collective self-defense, a Kyodo News survey showed Wednesday. [Link]
Unsafe Nuclear Plant: No chemical fire engines are deployed at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency’s Monju fast breeder reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, according to a report submitted Tuesday by the agency to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency. [Link]
Avoiding A-Bomb Survivors: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has decided not to attend a meeting with atomic-bomb survivors in Hiroshima on Aug 6, the anniversary of the deadly attack on the city. [Link]
Coffee Is Healthy? Drinking three or more cups of coffee a day may cut the risk of colon cancer in women by half, according to a study by Japanese scientists. [Link]
Post-Election Charges: Architect Kisho Kurokawa, who unsuccessfully ran in Sunday’s House of Councillors election as an independent, faces negligence charges over a traffic accident in which one person was injured. [Link]
What Went Wrong? The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Wednesday decided to form an in-house commission to investigate why the party suffered a massive defeat in the House of Councillors election on Sunday. [Link]
Child-Drowning Mother: A 42-year-old woman was sentenced to 7 and 1/2 years’ imprisonment on Thursday for drowning her 8-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter in a dam in 2005. [Link]
US Marine Mechanics Blamed: Okinawa Prefectural Police on Wednesday filed documents to public prosecutors over an accident in the Okinawa Prefecture city of Ginowan in 2004 in which a helicopter carrying U.S. Marines crashed in the grounds of a university. [Link]
Unemployment Down: Japan’s unemployment rate has dipped by 0.1% to reach 3.7% in June. This is the lowest level for the unemployments rate since February of 1998. [Link]
Failed Suicide: A woman was slightly injured after jumping in front of a JR Chuo Line train at Shinjuku Station in Tokyo Thursday morning. [Link]
Robo Janitor: An autonomous robot janitor built by Subaru (Fuji Heavy Industries) and Sumitomo has landed a job cleaning the outdoor hallways of a new 14-story Bali-themed luxury apartment complex in Tokyo. [Link]
New Runway: Kansai International Airport Co began operating its second runway early Thursday, hoping to achieve its goal of becoming an Asian hub for international air cargo. [Link]
MUJI USA: With the opening date for its New York flagship store approaching, Japanese retailer MUJI has launched an official USA site. [Link]
Gambling Japan: Over 30% of Japanese regularly play the lottery, according to a survey conducted by MyVoice. [Link]
Korean Rapist Arrested: Tokyo police have in custody a suspected rapist who stalked women walking alone at night while using their cellphones or listening to music players. [Link]
Perverted Official: A Kushiro, Hokkaido municipal government official is being questioned over allegations that he attempted to secretly photograph a woman in a city hall elevator. [Link]
Cosplay World Summit: TV personality Shoko “Shokotan” Nakagawa gained inspiration from cosplayers from around the world at a “costume play” show in Tokyo’s Akihabara to mark Saturday’s launch of the World Cosplay Summit in Nagoya. [Link]
Deadly Tweezers: A 61-year-old man suffering from dementia has been arrested for murdering an 86-year-old woman with tweezers at a hospital in Shizuoka. [Link]
