APEC Leaders propose ambiguous Target for Greenhouse Gas Emissions

15th Nov 2009 : Asahi Newspaper
[ Reuters \ Singapore \ 14th Nov ]
Leaders of APEC (the Asia-Pacific Economic Committee), at a meeting held in Singapore, have made it clear that the target for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to be made public in a declaration on 15th Nov will be expressed by the English word [...]

Pre-Election Public Opinion Poll results

Asahi Shinbun today reports results to public opinion polls relating to support for political parties.
All figures are percentages, rounded to the nearest integer. This is only a selection of questions and answers from the survey. Where four figures appear in a row they represent results from surveys this year (2009) in the following order : [...]

An Alternative to current National Security Policy

[ Sekai, July 2009 ] – precis translation
A Call for Escape from American Domination / Ideological Stasis
[ 1 ] – The Guam Re-location Agreement and US-Japan Security Framework

Pig Influenza and the Japanese media

[ Sekai : July 2009 / Tatsuhito Tonooka / unlicensed and abridged translation/summary ]
Initial alerts by WHO were ambiguous : a level 3 alert was called at first, but this is supposed to indicate the spread of a disease among animal populations with insufficient evidence to suggest human-human contagion; perhaps the WHO were afraid of [...]

High School Students in Shinagawa receive 8.5 million yen in compensation

In Shinagawa prefecture, 22 students at Kanda prefectural High School failed on the basis of criteria not stipulated in official guidelines – hair colour, length of skirt, etc. – had their case brought before the Prefectural Board of Education. The board announced on 17th June that four of the students had agreed to accept a [...]

First Tokyo Trial by Jury to be murder case; trial starts in August

It has been understood from sources within the trial system that the first criminal trial to feature ordinary citizens taking part in deliberations is expected to open in early August this year; the case is that of a murder in May this year in Tokyo’s Adachi ward. There are currently around 80 cases on trial [...]

‘Salaryman’s’ pocket money… Public Survey

The Asahi Shinbun reports today that, according to consumer finance body Shinsei Financial’s “2009 Salaryman Pocket Money Survey”, company workers have on average a quarter of the ready cash they enjoyed during the bubble period. Male company workers’ pocket money has decreased by 700 yen since last year to 45, 600 yen. This represents a [...]

Atomic Radiation Sickness suit – Tokyo High Court Judgement

The Government moves to abandon appeal
[ report in Asahi Shinbun 9th June 2009 3:01am ]
On 8th June the government began deliberations on the withdrawal of its appeal against a recent ruling by the Tokyo High Court in which 9 out 10 people until now denied legal recognition of atomic radiation sickness were recognized as entitled [...]

Osaka High Court Atomic Bomb Compensation Ruling

A number of people seeking government recognition as official victims of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings have had their status recognized by the Osaka High Court in a second ruling after appeal. This is the 10th case the government has lost since May 2006.

J-Power Shareholders’ Meeting

The UK investment fund TCI (The Children’s Investment Fund) held a meeting in Tokyo for J-Power shareholders to seek support for TCI proposals with regard to dividend payments and other matters. TCI is now the largest shareholder in major Japanese electricity producer J-Power and are seeking to gain support from other investors before the general [...]

METI to warn British investment fund

METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) and the Finance Ministry of Japan will make an official decision by 11th April to ‘advise’ a British investment fund to modify or desist from its investment plans as announced in its application to increase its stock holdings in Japanese electricity-producing giant J-Power as “There is a risk [...]

Overwhelming Support for Life-time Employment

An independent survey by the Labour Policy Research and Training Council has revealed that nearly 90% of people in Japan still support the idea of life-time employment.

Tokyo – Heat Island

The Asahi Shinbun reports today on the effects on the climate of Tokyo of population density/global warming. At peak times, electricity consumption in the Tokyo area is greater than that of the entire UK or France.

Ibaragi Stabbings

The Asahi Shinbun reports today on the police investigation into yesterday’s March stabbings in Ibaragi prefecture, in which one person died and 7 were injured.

Compensation for Atomic Bomb victims

In the continuing review of the government policy relating to the acknowledgement of and compensation for the effects of radiation-related illness (from Hiroshima and Nagasaki), the “LDP Atomic Bomb Victims’ Policy-related Project Team” petitioned the Labour, Health and Welfare Ministry on 15th March and received its agreement that the new assessment (of victims) policy [...]

Pfizer Japan No Smoking Stand

Pfizer Japan has requested all employees to refrain from smoking, not just in company offices and property, but even in their own homes. The company is offering to make contributions to any medical expenses that employees may incur in their effort to give up smoking. Behind this decision stands Pfizer Japan’s plan to release, within [...]

Massive Pension Cock-up

The Asahi Shinbun does not describe the situation in so many words, but explains that the Ministry for Social Welfare announced today the results of its work to clarify the status of over 50 million ‘floating in the ether’ pension records.

‘Civic Legislative Committee on Age of Majority’ begins Deliberations

The Civic Legislative Committee on the Age of Majority, an advisory committee to Justice Minister Hatoyama began deliberations on 11th March on a proposal to lower the age of majority in Japan from 20 to 18 years old. Professor Kaoru Kamata of the prestigious Waseda University has been elected as Chairman of the committee. Members [...]

J-TUC Rally Calls for Working Women’s Rights

International Women’s Day (8th March) saw a rally held in Tokyo by the Japan Trade Union Confederation calling for greater pay equality and child support for working women, the Asahi Shinbun reports today (10th March).

Gasoline Tax, Road Maintenance Plan : call for Compromise

Secretary General Ibuki of the ruling LDP has announced that ’substantial compromises need to be made’ if agreement is to be achieved in the Diet over the extension of the Provisional Gasoline Tax and the next 10-year Road Maintenance Plan.

Fukuda to Japan Business Federation : “Pass the Fruits of Reform to the People”

PM Fukuda invited Fujio Mitarai (御手洗富士夫) (President of the Japan Business Federation 経団連) to his official residence to seek his cooperation in responding to demands for pay raises for company employees. (Asahi Shinbun, 7th March ‘08)

Fukuda Cabinet Support Rating

The Asahi Shinbun reports on the results of this month’s (March) survey of popular support for the Fukuda Cabinet and policies.

Public-Service Corporations ‘Ama-kudari’ Un-reformed

The Asahi Shinbun reports today that 37% (total 124) of public-service corporations under the jurisdiction of government ministries are still in breach of new government standards on ‘ama-kudari’; the Minister for Internal Affairs has been pushing in Cabinet for stronger enforcement of regulations.

Niigata Lawyers Association Opposition to Jury System

The Niigata Lawyers’ Association has decided to proceed with the aim of canvassing support in government for the submission of a legislative bill to the Diet proposing that the introduction of a Jury system in Japan (legislated to start by May 2009) be delayed, reports the Asahi Shinbun today.

Changing Tides – What 2007 Statistics Reveal

Jirou Terajima gives an interesting overview of socio-economic statistics for 2007, with a mind to what can be expected in 2008 (Sekai, March edition).

Which Socio-Economic System? Opinion Poll Results

Jiro Yamaguchi, Hokkaido University Graduate School Professor, and Taro Miyamoto, (the same) report in Sekai this month on an Opinion Poll they conducted in an attempt to ascertain what kind of socio-economic system people in Japan really want.

Whaling

Atsushi Ishii (石井敦), Touhoku University East Asia Research Institute Professor, writes in the March edition of Sekai (世界) on the question of why the controversy over Scientific Whaling keeps raising its head – and offers an independent view of Japan’s whaling diplomacy.

Environmental Action

Despite being the host nation for the Kyoto protocol on reducing carbon emissions, it is reported in the September issue of the monthly current affairs journal ‘Sekai’, that Japan is far from attaining its 2008-2012 target of a 6% overall reduction from 1990 levels. In fact, carbon emissions have risen by about 7.8% since 1990.

Support for Constitutional reform cools

The results of a survey across all major political parties conducted by the Asahi and Tokyo University were published in the Asahi today.

Youth vote changed the election

The Asahi reports today the results of a survey of young people who voted in the recent Upper House elections. The conclusion drawn is that it is no longer true to say that young people have no interest in politics – in fact if the political battles of the year so far show us anything, [...]