Chinese Military Aircraft Probe Japanese Air Defenses
Julian Ryall of the Telegraph reports on China’s increasingly aggressive probing of Japan’s air defenses:
In the last nine months, Japanese fighters have been scrambled to intercept Chinese intruders on 44 occasions, the highest figure in the last five years and more than double the number for the whole of fiscal 2006, the defence ministry officials said.
In another deviation from their previous behaviour, the Chinese aircraft are not turning home as soon as they realise they have been detected but are continuing on their courses until they make visual contact with Japanese interceptors.
Chinese reconnaissance aircraft are also increasingly entering Japan’s Air Defence Identification Zone. Although this is not a breach of territorial airspace, it does inevitably lead to interceptors being scrambled.
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Categories: General Japan
Rabbit Daruma
The year of the rabbit is almost upon us! Here’s an ATV report about some neat rabbit daruma dolls being sold at Kawasaki Daishi in Kanagawa prefecture:
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Categories: General Japan
Japan Airlines Fined for Age Discrimination
Taipei City’s Department of Labor Affairs has fined Japan Airlines (JAL) 600,000 Taiwan dollars (20,000 USD) for age discrimination:
The fine stemmed from a layoff in July of 70 Taiwanese flight attendants, including 18 senior employees who were close to retirement — a move that violated the Employment Services Act (就業服務法), the department said.
“Japan Airlines fully realized that the employees were senior members with excellent performance records and higher salaries. The move to lay off senior workers was an act of age discrimination,” commissioner of the department Chen Yeh-shin (陳業鑫) said.
The employees who were laid off have protested against their dismissal and filed a complaint with the department in August, accusing the airline of workplace discrimination.
The employees said that while JAL had cited financial difficulties as the reason, the layoff targeted people who were Taiwanese or female, and the Taiwanese flight attendants were soon replaced by Japanese.
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Categories: Discrimination
Immigration Officers Could Face Charges for Death of Ghanaian Man
It looks like Japanese immigration officers could face charges over rough treatment that seems to have caused the death of Abubakar Awudu Suraj, an illegal immigrant from Ghana:
From the Japan Times:
The action Monday came six months after the man’s Japanese widow and her lawyers filed a criminal complaint demanding that prosecutors take action against the airport immigration officers who overpowered Abubakar Awudu Suraj to get him on the jet, where he subsequently died of unknown causes while handcuffed in his seat.
[...]
Mayumi Yoshida, assistant general secretary of Asian People’s Friendship Society and a supporter of the widow, had quoted a Chiba police officer as saying the immigration officers carried Suraj, who was acting violently, aboard an Egypt Air jet on March 22. Handcuffed and his mouth covered with a towel, Suraj was found unconscious in the aircraft and confirmed dead at a hospital, Yoshida had quoted the officer as saying.
The police were unable to pinpoint the cause of death. They showed Yoshida a report dated May 20 that indicated there were no signs of disease or physical damage, either internal or external. Suraj came to Japan on a 15-day visa in May 1988, according to Yoshida. In 1990, he began living with the woman who later became his wife. He was arrested in 2006 on suspicion of staying in the country illegally and received a deportation order. The same month, his wife registered their marriage.
A Sankei Shimbun article notes that an autopsy found no visible external/internal injuries or bone fractures.
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Categories: Foreigners in Japan
Athletic 84-year-old
An 84-year-old man in Japan who is quite possibly more athletic than many of this site’s readers:
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Categories: Odd / Strange
The Death of Japanese MMA?
A Yahoo News article reports that Mixed Martial Arts is on its way out in Japan, with top fighters fleeing from FEG’s Dream and K-1 to sign with American MMA promoters:
It’s not a secret that FEG has been battling financial problems stemming from the decline in interest in both kickboxing and MMA. Ratings are down. Attendance is down. Money is beyond tight. Fighters, who often have to wait months before getting paid after a fight, are looking to get out.
The most telling news about the scene was UFC’s signing of Dream’s biggest drawing card and best known current star, Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto, earlier this month, eliminating him from appearing on the December 31 show.
Yamamoto (18-3, 1 no contest), who will compete as a bantamweight and debut on Feb. 5 in Las Vegas against Demetrious Johnson, was Japanese MMA’s biggest remaining draw. He was a key ratings draw because of his popularity with younger women fans. He came from a well-known and respected amateur wrestling family – his father wrestled in the 1972 Olympics and was later the country’s Olympic team coach. His two sisters, who both looked like models, were both world champions in wrestling.
“It’s pretty bad,” K-1 U.S. representative Michael Kogan said about Yamamoto depature for the UFC. “It’s not deadly. But it’s certainly not a good thing. He was a big draw, both with TV ratings and ticket sales. It’s obviously going to hurt.”
It’s telling that Yamamoto, like Yoshihiro Akiyama before him, walked away from a scene in which they were major celebrities, to start from scratch in a place where they were not going to be pampered and where it would be almost impossible to maintain their level of success and popularity.
Another Dream fighter, Michihiro Omigawa, arguably Japan’s top featherweight, although someone who is not a star past the very small hardcore audience, also just signed with UFC. It’s hardly a secret in the industry that most of the top MMA names in Japan are making inquiries about coming to the U.S., where things are more financially stable.
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Categories: General Japan