2011年9月24日土曜日

Lit mag shares quake fiction in English

The Yomiuri Shimbun

The publisher of a noted Japanese literary magazine has begun to publish online English translations of fiction related to the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake by 15 authors.

Waseda Bungakukai, the publisher of literary magazine Waseda Bungaku, allows visitors to its site (http://www.bungaku.net/wasebun/) to download and read the stories for free, but urges them to make a monetary donation to help disaster victims.

The stories, which originally appeared in the latest issue of the annual literary magazine, are intended to convey the current state of affairs regarding the earthquake and tsunami disasters to a worldwide readership, according to Waseda Bungakukai.

The 15 writers, including Akutagawa Award winners Kazushige Abe and Mieko Kawakami, wrote their works after the March 11 disaster and allowed the publisher to use them for free.

Three stories are currently available on the Waseda Bungakukai Web site. More will follow.

The three are "Ride on Time" by Abe, "Poola's Return" by Hideo Furukawa and "Almost Everything in the World" by Shin Fukunaga.


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Deadly typhoon leaves Japan; nuclear plant intact

The second major typhoon in a month made its way out of Japan on Thursday after triggering landslides and floods that left at least 16 people dead or missing but sparing a crippled nuclear plant from major damage. There had been concerns that Typhoon Roke could pose more problems for the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, which was sent into meltdown by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, but officials said the plant weathered the storm without major incident. Hiroki Kawamata, spokesman for plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co., said several cameras set up to monitor the plant were damaged, but there had been no further leaks of radioactive water or material into the environment. Police and local media reported 16 people dead or missing because of the storm, most swept away by rivers swollen with rains in the southern and central regions. One person died in a landslide in northern Iwate prefecture and two people were swept away in Sendai in the northeast.

The typhoon made landfall Wednesday afternoon near the city of Hamamatsu, about 125 miles (200 kilometers) west of Tokyo, and then cut a path to the northeast and through the capital before bringing new misery to the tsunami zone. It dumped up to 17 inches (42 centimeters) of rain in some areas, triggering landslides and flooding.

By midafternoon Thursday, the system had weakened to a tropical storm and had moved out to sea past Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, which was not hit as hard as the main island of Honshu the day before.

On Wednesday, hundreds of tsunami survivors in government shelters in the Miyagi state town of Onagawa were forced to evacuate for fear of flooding. The storm set off landslides in parts of Miyagi that already were hit by the March disasters. The local government requested the help of defense troops, and dozens of schools canceled classes.

Strong winds snapped power lines in many areas, and officials said more than 200,000 households in central Japan were without electricity.

Overnight in Tokyo, where many rush hour trains were suspended for hours, thousands of commuters got stuck at stations across the sprawling city and stood in long lines for buses and cabs.

Fire department officials reported three people injured in Tokyo, but other than the inconvenience of transportation gridlock and winds that made it difficult to walk around the city, the storm passed through without incident.

Heavy rains prompted floods and caused road damage earlier in dozens of locations in Nagoya and several other cities, the Aichi prefectural government said. More than 200 domestic flights were canceled.

A typhoon that slammed Japan earlier this month left about 90 people dead or missing.


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Genba, Clinton reaffirm Futenma base relocation

NEW YORK — Foreign Minister Koichiro Genba and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton agreed Monday to implement the relocation of the Futenma military base within Okinawa Prefecture, based on a bilateral accord.

Genba told reporters that in the talks in New York, he asked Clinton to make further efforts to ease the burdens on the people of Okinawa, telling her that the prospects for the base relocation plan are tough.

Referring to calls for reviewing the current relocation plan, Clinton told Genba that she hopes to move the issue forward quickly by implementing the agreement formulated in the bilateral security talks earlier this summer, a U.S. official told reporters.

Japan and the United States plan to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from Ginowan to the less densely populated coastal area of Nago in the prefecture, but the plan has been deadlocked due to strong opposition from local leaders and residents.

Genba and Clinton, in their first one-on-one meeting, also agreed to deepen the bilateral security alliance as the cornerstone of peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

Genba told the U.S. secretary of state that the Cabinet of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda sees the Japan-U.S. relationship as the linchpin of Japanese diplomacy.

Genba is in New York for a series of U.N. and bilateral meetings. His talks with Clinton came ahead of a summit between Noda and President Barack Obama in New York on Wednesday.

On the nuclear standoff with North Korea, the two foreign ministers reaffirmed that Japan, South Korea and the United States will work closely together.

Genba and Clinton also shared the view that it is premature to resume the six-party talks aimed at denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.

KYODO

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda left Tuesday evening to attend U.N. meetings in New York in a test of his diplomatic skills as he strives to hold on to power for an extended period to rebuild the country from the worst catastrophe in its postwar history.

His four-day stay will mark the international debut of the 54-year-old prime minister, who took office Sept. 2 following the resignation of Naoto Kan.

Noda, who was finance minister in the Kan Cabinet, will put most of his efforts into explaining attempts to speed up reconstruction in areas hit hard by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, while at the same time working to bring the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant under control, government officials said.

Noda will use every opportunity to express Japan's appreciation for the various support offered since the catastrophe. He will also promise to provide all necessary information regarding the Fukushima crisis.


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Tepco mulling cuts in pensions, workforce

Tepco mulling cuts in pensions, workforce Tokyo Electric Power Co. President Toshio Nishizawa said Tuesday the utility is considering cutting corporate pension payments as well as its workforce as it faces ballooning compensation payments over the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant. The government panel tasked with overseeing Tepco's cost-cutting efforts has pointed out that the utility's personnel costs are high compared with other sectors. After briefing a meeting of the panel, Nishizawa said of a possible cut in pension payments and personnel: "We are considering it and currently discussing the details."
23 Sep A man found 10 million yen ($131,000) in cash Sept. 22 in a bag thrown away in a garbage dump at the city of Kasai in Hyogo prefecture, police said. The 56-year-old employee of a Kasai Municipal Government-run waste disposal center found the bag while separating garbage for the disposal. Center officials handed the bag into the police and will be entitled to claim the cash if its rightful owner does not emerge within three months. (majirox news)
22 Sep Following the request that the name Tokyo Electric Power Co. appear on a receipt for a sex club in Sapporo's Susukino red-light district earlier this month, the establishment has decided to ban patronage from that firm, reports daily tabloid Yukan Fuji (Sept. 17). On September 14, the fuzoku shop Olive Garden announced on its blog that it would not honor patrons hailing from TEPCO - in fact, it joked that the nuclear meltdown at Fukushima had sapped some of their virility in any case. (Tokyo Reporter)
22 Sep Mika Sato has found that two dolls resembling her 6-year-old daughter, who died in the March 11 tsunami, have helped soothe her emotional scars. "It was like my daughter came back to me," said Sato, 36, recalling the day earlier this month when she received the two dolls from the nonprofit organization Tamezo Club. Omokage bina are dolls that resemble people who have passed on. They are made by craftsmen who work from photographs of the deceased person. Since early August, Tamezo Club, a welfare services NPO based in Iwatsuki Ward, Saitama, has been donating them to people who lost loved ones in the March 11 disaster. (Yomiuri)
22 Sep A 71-year-old Japanese man died in Honolulu after falling off a trolley during a tour. The man, who name was not released, was taken to a hospital after falling Monday afternoon, where he was listed in critical condition and died later that day, police said. The man was standing next to an exit on the trolley and fell onto the road when the vehicle made a left turn out of a shopping center. A police spokeswoman said the accident is under investigation but that drugs and alcohol are not considered to be factors. The trolley was not speeding and traffic was moderate at the time, she said. (Japan Times)
21 Sep To promote forthcoming anti-gang legislation, the superintendent general of Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, Tateshi Higuchi, threw out the first pitch before the Yakult Swallows faced the Yomiuri Giants at Tokyo Dome last night, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Sept. 21). Beginning on October 1, business transactions between citizens and members of organized crime, such as the paying mikajimeryo (protection money), will be prohibited. The law will be enforced nationwide. (Tokyo Reporter)

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Golf: Woods to play Japanese women

Updated September 20, 2011 14:54:04

Tiger Woods, who barely qualified for his own charity tournament, has announced that he will compete in a charity golf event in Japan on November 1 against three top women.

"Challenge! Tiger Woods" will be staged at the Masters Golf Club in Miki City, where the Japanese LPGA's Ladies Masters is contested, with Woods playing nine holes against JLPGA Tour members Miho Koga, Shinobu Moromizato and Rui Kitada.

Woods took part in a 2006 charity event at the same club to help boost the development of youth golf in Japan.

The three Japanese prefectures most devastated by earthquakes and the tsunami last March will each receive Y45 million ($570,000) in donations from the event to fund relief efforts.

Woods will return to US PGA action October 6-9 at the Frys.com Open in San Martin, California, and travels to Asia before joining the US team in trying to retain the Presidents Cup against an International side in November at Royal Melbourne Golf Club.

Woods fell three spots to 49th in the world rankings released on Monday, but remains eligible for the Chevron World Challenge charity event he will host December 1-4 at Sherwood Country Club in Southern California.

The annual event to benefit Woods' foundation is limited to players ranked in the top 50 in the world as of Monday after a deal two years ago that allows world ranking points to be offered at the tournament.

That limited the Challenge to two sponsor exemptions for top-50 players.

AFP

Topics: golf, sport, japan

First posted September 20, 2011 06:26:41


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Soccer: Japan, South Korea cruise to Olympic wins

Soccer: Japan, South Korea cruise to Olympic wins Asian giants Japan and South Korea cantered to home wins while Australia fired blanks in a dour draw on Wednesday in the final round of qualifying for the 2012 Olympics. Later, Saudi Arabia and Qatar drew 1-1 in Riyadh, Uzbekistan beat Iraq 2-0 in Tashkent, and Syria defeated Bahrain 3-1 in a qualifier played in Jordan. In front of an expectant home crowd in Tosu, Japan beat Malaysia 2-0, with a goal in either half breaking the visitors' doughty defence. Dominating the game throughout, Takashi Sekizuka's side opened the scoring in the tenth minute after midfielder Keigo Higashi latched onto a defence-splitting pass to slot the ball beyond the Malaysian goalkeeper.
23 Sep A man found 10 million yen ($131,000) in cash Sept. 22 in a bag thrown away in a garbage dump at the city of Kasai in Hyogo prefecture, police said. The 56-year-old employee of a Kasai Municipal Government-run waste disposal center found the bag while separating garbage for the disposal. Center officials handed the bag into the police and will be entitled to claim the cash if its rightful owner does not emerge within three months. (majirox news)
22 Sep Following the request that the name Tokyo Electric Power Co. appear on a receipt for a sex club in Sapporo's Susukino red-light district earlier this month, the establishment has decided to ban patronage from that firm, reports daily tabloid Yukan Fuji (Sept. 17). On September 14, the fuzoku shop Olive Garden announced on its blog that it would not honor patrons hailing from TEPCO - in fact, it joked that the nuclear meltdown at Fukushima had sapped some of their virility in any case. (Tokyo Reporter)
22 Sep Mika Sato has found that two dolls resembling her 6-year-old daughter, who died in the March 11 tsunami, have helped soothe her emotional scars. "It was like my daughter came back to me," said Sato, 36, recalling the day earlier this month when she received the two dolls from the nonprofit organization Tamezo Club. Omokage bina are dolls that resemble people who have passed on. They are made by craftsmen who work from photographs of the deceased person. Since early August, Tamezo Club, a welfare services NPO based in Iwatsuki Ward, Saitama, has been donating them to people who lost loved ones in the March 11 disaster. (Yomiuri)
22 Sep A 71-year-old Japanese man died in Honolulu after falling off a trolley during a tour. The man, who name was not released, was taken to a hospital after falling Monday afternoon, where he was listed in critical condition and died later that day, police said. The man was standing next to an exit on the trolley and fell onto the road when the vehicle made a left turn out of a shopping center. A police spokeswoman said the accident is under investigation but that drugs and alcohol are not considered to be factors. The trolley was not speeding and traffic was moderate at the time, she said. (Japan Times)
21 Sep To promote forthcoming anti-gang legislation, the superintendent general of Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, Tateshi Higuchi, threw out the first pitch before the Yakult Swallows faced the Yomiuri Giants at Tokyo Dome last night, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Sept. 21). Beginning on October 1, business transactions between citizens and members of organized crime, such as the paying mikajimeryo (protection money), will be prohibited. The law will be enforced nationwide. (Tokyo Reporter)

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Japan exports disappoint, could weaken further

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan's exports rose in the year to August at less than half the pace expected as a global economic slowdown, a strong currency and Europe's sovereign debt crisis put Japan's own recovery increasingly in doubt.

The data is likely to provide little comfort as Japan's newly formed government tries to kick-start spending on reconstruction from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami to prevent a strong yen and waning global demand from snuffing out a rebound after the disaster.

Weak exports are also an ominous sign as the Federal Reserve could inch toward easing U.S. monetary policy, which could potentially push the yen even higher versus the dollar and worsen trade conditions for Japanese exporters.

The Fed is expected to decide at a policy meeting ending on Wednesday to stock up on longer-term Treasury notes to boost a fading economic recovery.

"The impact of a slowing in the global economy is starting to become visible in Japan's export figures," said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute.

"In the coming months exports may go back to posting year-on-year declines, meaning the economy will have no sufficient support factor unless the government quickly implements reconstruction spending."

AUTOS UP, ELECTRONICS SLUMP

Exports rose 2.8 percent in August from a year earlier, much less than a median forecast for an 8.0 percent annual increase, Ministry of Finance data showed on Wednesday.

The gain was led by shipments of cars, which rose 5.3 percent, up for the first time since the March disaster, as automakers restored damaged supply chains.

But the yen's rise and slack global demand for electronics put a drag on overall export growth, ministry officials said. Japan's exports of electronic parts fell 16.4 percent, extending annual declines since the beginning of this year.

Shipments to China rose an annual 2.4 percent while those to the United States rose 3.5 percent.

Compared to the previous month, exports rose 0.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, up for a fourth straight month, but the pace of growth slowed from July's 0.7 percent.

Imports rose 19.2 percent in the year to August, exceeding a 14.0 percent gain expected by economists, bringing the nation's trade balance to a deficit of 775.3 billion yen ($10.1 billion), the biggest on record for the month of August.

The hefty increase in imports, the biggest since June 2010, reflected persistently high crude oil prices and strong demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) to make up for losses in nuclear power, after the March disaster triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl in 1986.

Both import value and volume of LNG surged to a record high in August.

Economists say Japan's economy is likely to resume growing in the third quarter after three consecutive quarters of contraction, boosted by a rapid recovery in supply chains, but the outlook is increasingly murky as a strong yen and Europe's sovereign debt crisis erode exports.

The yen has gained about 5 percent against the dollar since July, threatening to derail the export-reliant economy's recovery from the March disaster.

A senior Japanese official kept up customary warnings to markets on Wednesday against pushing the yen up too far, saying that Japan remained ready to take firm action in the foreign exchange market if necessary.

The yen climbed to a one-month high of 76.11 yen to the dollar on Wednesday, heading toward a record peak hit last month of 75.941 yen, although the dollar staged a sudden spike and managed to steady near the previous day's close. By early afternoon it was around 76.35 yen.

Europe's woes, weak economic growth in other advanced countries and moderating growth in emerging markets top the agenda for a Group of 20 finance ministers' meeting this week.

($1 = 76.450 Japanese Yen)

(Writing by Stanley White and Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Edmund Klamann and Michael Watson)


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Nuclear Power Fuels Japan Election - Wall Street Journal

A local election in southern Japan pits a pro-nuclear-energy incumbent against an anti-nuclear-energy candidate in the first big electoral test for how far the country will go in pulling the plug on nuclear power. WSJ's James Simms explains.

KAMINOSEKI, Japan—This small fishing village has become the next front in Japan's battle over nuclear power, with an anti-nuke protester threatening to oust the pro-nuke mayor in an election Sunday.

At stake: the fate of a long-planned reactor for which ground-breaking is supposed to take place next year.

More broadly, the defeat of a mayor whose economic development strategy has centered around a controversial power plant could fuel the country's increasingly influential anti-nuclear movement.

"What's often said is that we need nuclear-power money to run Kaminoseki," challenger Sadao Yamato, 61 years old, told a few dozen supporters as he formally kicked off his campaign Tuesday. Standing on a beer crate at his campaign office in front of the Murotsu port, he went on, "Should we sacrifice the precious livelihoods and lives of our villagers for money?"

Mr. Yamato's answer is clear. His election poster, which shows him posed in front of solar panels and wearing a white polo shirt, is captioned "Graduate from Nuclear Power!"

James Simms/The Wall Street Journal Pro-nuclear Mayor Shigemi Kashiwabara, wearing a tie, versus anti-nuclear challenger Sadao Yamato, in a polo shirt in front of solar panels

Activists have been fighting Chugoku Electric Power Co.'s plan for a Kaminoseki plant since it was first broached in 1982, and all eight mayoral elections since then have been fought mainly over the issue. But all eight times, the pro-nuclear camp won.

This weekend's contest is the third between incumbent Shigemi Kashiwabara and a Yamato family member. Mr. Kashiwabara first took office in 2003 by besting Mr. Yamato, 59% to 41%. Four years ago, he beat Mr. Yamato's son, Takashi Yamato, 67% to 33%.

But that was before the March 11 Fukushima Daiichi accident eroded support for nuclear power all over the country. Polls show large majorities of the public want to curb Japan's dependence on atomic energy—and, at a minimum, halt construction of new reactors like the one planned in Kaminoseki. On Monday, tens of thousands of protesters flooded the streets of Tokyo to demand an end to nuclear power in Japan.

With the national government feeble and divided, the future of nuclear power now is being shaped more in communities where reactors are located or planned. Of the reactors down for maintenance at the time of the accident or shut down since, just one, which was undergoing test operations in March, has restarted. The restart of the rest has been stymied by local opposition, amid community fears that without stricter safety controls, another Fukushima-style accident is possible.

Still, many long-struggling towns continue to see the atom as crucial for economic development. In the first local post-Fukushima election to center around nuclear energy, a governor who strongly backs building a reactor handily won re-election in June in impoverished northern Aomori prefecture.

Kaminoseki's mayoral election is the second such test. The community was once strongly pro-nuclear, but local newspapers say the race appears closer this time.

In Kaminoseki, as in Aomori, the financial incentives are great, because of declining and aging populations and shrinking local economies and tax bases—issues that much of rural Japan faces.

Since the nuclear project was first proposed some three decades ago, the population has halved, to just 3,534, and the proportion of those age 65 or more has jumped to nearly half from a fifth. Because of the planned reactors, nuclear-related funding sources provide almost one-fourth of the village's nearly $60 million budget now, and Chugoku Electric has donated $32 million to village coffers since 2007.

A billboard on the island where the reactor is planned shows a couple and their baby having a picnic, the proposed twin reactors in the background. Set up by promoters of the plant, it reads, "A Vibrant Village With Nuclear Electricity."

James Simms/The Wall Street Journal Pro-plant billboard reads 'A Vibrant Village With Nuclear Electricity.'

Tsutomu Asami heads the Kaminoseki commerce and industrial cooperative, and owns a fish wholesaler. He said the local economy has been hurt by a lack of work for younger people, fewer people to take over fishing jobs and a drop in the catches of prized fish like snapper and flounder. "Nuclear power is the only option," he said.

Chugoku Electric, after three decades of struggle to clear political and legal hurdles, finally appeared close to breaking ground for the plant before the Fukushima Daiichi accident. The utility began full-time work at the site on Feb. 21, when a Yamaguchi District Court issued an order preventing demonstrators from interfering with the project. But protesters continued working to block construction, converging on the site from land and sea.

Little progress had been made by March 11, when the tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Five days later, the governor of Yamaguchi prefecture asked the utility to suspend site-preparation work. But Chugoku Electric says it plans to go forward with construction, a resolve the utility's president repeated at a news conference just last Friday.

A supportive mayor is crucial for those plans.

Mayor Kashiwabara, 62, hasn't revoked his backing for the reactor. But he does appear to be playing it down in his campaign. His official poster, showing him in a dark suit, carries the slogan "Connecting to the Future"—but no mention of nuclear energy.

In one of his opening rallies, speaking to several dozen supporters, Mr. Kashiwabara didn't argue for or against the plant, saying the decision ultimately rests with the national government in Tokyo. He seemed to suggest that if the plug does get pulled, the community should get compensation.

"The main thing is that I want the government to acknowledge the 30 years of anguish" villagers have suffered over the nuclear issue, Mr. Kashiwabara said.

—Chester Dawson
contributed to this article.

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Japan says no loss of key data in cyberattack (AP)

TOKYO – Japan's defense chief said Tuesday that the country's largest arms contractor has suffered a cyberattack, but that no sensitive information is known to have been lost.

Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa urged Mitsubishi Heavy Industry Ltd. to strengthen its data security systems.

"We are not aware of any important data having leaked to the outside," Ichikawa said.

The company makes ships, submarines, missile parts and other weapons for Japan's military.

Mitsubishi Heavy said it had been attacked in August with viruses apparently programmed to breach its computers and servers to gain unauthorized access to protected data. It did not say why it waited until this week to disclose the attack.

"We discovered that there had been a possible leak of system information such as network addresses from some of the computers at the company," it said in a statement Monday.

It said it has been working with police and independent experts to contain the damage.

The attack involved more than 80 servers and computers at 11 of the company's facilities related to nuclear power, missiles and submarines, the Nikkei business newspaper said Tuesday.

Attackers allegedly used simplified Chinese characters — the writing system used in mainland China — to remotely control the infected computers, and authorities are investigating the case as suspected spying, the nationwide Yomiuri newspaper reported Tuesday, quoting unidentified sources.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei denied China was involved. "Criticism that China initiated a cyberattack is not only groundless, it goes against development of international cooperation on cybersecurity," Hong told a daily briefing.

An annual U.S. assessment of China's military in August said a number of computer systems, including U.S. networks, were the target of intrusions in 2010 that appeared to originate in China. The breaches were aimed at stealing data, but also exhibited the kinds of skills needed for more destructive network attacks, it said.

Another Japanese defense contractor, shipmaker IHI Corp., also reportedly came under cyberattack in recent months, receiving a number of emails with virus-loaded attachments.

Separately, Japan's National Police Agency said Tuesday that online messages were circulated last week in China calling for attacks on Japanese government websites ahead of the 80th anniversary of the Sept. 18 "Mukden Incident."

The 1931 event led to the Japanese occupation of China's northeast and eventually the invasion of much of the country. The date has in the past been marked by official commemorations and scattered anti-Japanese protests.

The police agency said several government websites were temporarily disrupted over the weekend, without linking the outages to the messages.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said the series of computer problems underscored the need for the government to "further strengthen its information security measures."


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Iwate fisheries continue struggle to recover

MIYAKO, Iwate Pref. — One rainy day in early September, Shigeru Fujita, a 62-year-old fisherman, gazed at the devastated fishing port in Miyako, Iwate Prefecture.

News photoFarm's future: A scallop farmer in Miyako, Iwate Prefecture, holds young scallops on Sept. 8. The quake-tsunami disaster wiped out most of the farm's fully grown scallops, and it will take three to four years before the young ones are ready for sale. KYODO

The huge tsunami spawned by the March 11 quake destroyed two of his fishing boats and his warehouse in a matter of minutes. The town's fish market was also wrecked and piles of debris remain untouched at the port in the city's Taro district.

Fujita has joined with other fishermen to place an order for a new vessel — but doesn't know when it will arrive or even when the port will reopen and he can resume fishing.

"I feel anxious every day," Fujita said. "What is going to happen in the future?"

Iwate's coastal towns are renowned for their fishing businesses, thanks to the Kuroshio Current from the south and the Oyashio and Tsugaru currents from the north that meet off the prefecture.

Taro fishermen primarily catch salmon, and harvest kelp, abalone and wakame seaweed. But the March tsunami destroyed about 900 of the city's 960 boats, along with the fish market, as well as most of the wakame processing factories, refueling facilities and cranes.

It also wrecked portions of the huge tide embankments — locally dubbed the "Great Walls" — that had been erected to protect the city from tsunami.

The March disasters caused an estimated ¥7.5 billion in damage, according to a local fisheries cooperative association, which is trying to rebuild processing facilities, install new cranes and resume wakame cultivation.

But local fishermen have no idea when they will receive their new vessels.

The central and local governments, together with local fisheries associations, are subsidizing nearly the full cost of purchasing new vessels for fishermen in devastated coastal communities such as Miyako.

But this has generated a massive amount of orders for new fishing boats all along the Tohoku region's tsunami-hit coast, and manufacturers are unable to meet the surge in demand, meaning the fishermen have to wait.

"Those in the fishing business can't do anything until they receive their new boats," said Masahiko Hatakeyama, a 43-year-old official in Taro's local fisheries cooperative association in Miyako.

Hatakeyama is worried that less than 100 boats for fishing abalone — compared with the 540 before the tsunami struck — will be built and delivered to the tsunami-wrecked town before November, the peak season for catching abalone.

In Otsuchi, about 50 km south along Iwate's coast, only 30 of the town's 650 fishing boats survived the catastrophe, according to the local fisheries cooperative association.

All sea farm facilities were also destroyed and there are no plans to rebuild two of the town's four fishing ports in the near future, the association said, adding total damages to its fisheries industry are expected to total billions of yen.

The association said it plans to harvest wakame seaweed next spring, but just as in Miyako, a shortage of vessels is preventing the town's fisheries industry from recovering.

According to the Iwate Prefectural Government, out of the 111 fishing ports in the prefecture, 108 had their seawalls or moorings destroyed, and a total of 9,672 fishing vessels were destroyed by the tsunami. Nearly all of Iwate's fish markets, fisheries processing facilities and sea farms were also damaged, it said.

The total amount of damages to the fisheries industry in Iwate Prefecture was estimated at more than ¥371.5 billion as of Sept. 2.

The central government has said that 319 fishing ports in seven prefectures ranging from Hokkaido to Chiba — about 10 percent of the country's 2,914 fishing ports — were damaged in the March disasters.

But the coastal towns in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures bore the full impact of the monster waves, and nearly all of their ports were destroyed or severely damaged.

In addition, debris from the catastrophe, estimated at tens of millions of tons, is still floating off the coast or washing up at ports, the central government said.

Farms that cultivate sea products such as wakame, kelp, oysters and scallops, as well as large fixed fishing nets, were all damaged on March 11, it said.

The Iwate Prefectural Government said it is building temporary tide embankments and other port facilities, and has helped eight fish markets to reopen.

It also said 17 local fisheries cooperative associations are working to resume operations at sea farm facilities.

"We will restore (fisheries industry infrastructure) so that local fishermen can resume their fishing operations," said Koen Osawa, a prefectural government official.

The central government plans to remove debris floating dangerously in ship lanes and near ports by the end of the current fiscal year, which ends next March, and restore most of the ruined port facilities by the end of fiscal 2013. It also aims to rebuild sea farms and large fixed fishing nets by the end of the fiscal 2012.

But the needs of local fishermen are not being fully addressed as central government officials have made few, if any, visits to damaged ports, the Otsuchi fisheries association said.

For example, the government is offering subsidies for fishermen to buy new boats, but while port facilities remain damaged they will be unable to process their catches, the association said.

Masato Koshita, an official at the association, called on central government officials to visit wrecked ports and inspect the damage firsthand before drawing up measures to revive the local fishing industry.

Some fishermen say they have already given up hope of continuing their business.

They include a 77-year-old Otsuchi fisherman who lost his job when his employer's vessel was swept away by the tsunami. As his employer has been hospitalized since the disasters, the prospects of restarting his business appear dim.

His 75-year-old wife said she often sees people on television encouraging tsunami-hit communities to hang in there, but what they need to survive is money, not kind words.

The fish market near her temporary housing unit was completely destroyed in March, and all that remains are mountains of debris and twisted iron bars used to reinforce concrete.

"As there are no longer any fishing boats, (the local fisheries industry) will not survive," she said. "No one can survive nature's power."


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Japan cigarette prices should rise 75%: Health Minister

Enlarge image Japan's Health Minister Yoko Komiyama Japan's Health Minister Yoko Komiyama Yoko Komiyama, Japan's health, labor and welfare minister.

Yoko Komiyama, Japan's health, labor and welfare minister. Photographer: Akio Kon/Bloomberg

Enlarge image Japan's Health Minister Yoko Komiyama Japan's Health Minister Yoko Komiyama Yoko Komiyama, Japan's health, labor and welfare minister.

Yoko Komiyama, Japan's health, labor and welfare minister. Photographer: Akio Kon/Bloomberg

Japan Tobacco Inc. (2914), the world’s third-biggest publicly traded cigarette maker, climbed to the highest in three years on speculation it can lift prices more than the tax increases proposed by the health minister.

Japan Tobacco rallied 5.4 percent to 368,000 yen, the highest since October 2008, at the 3 p.m. close of trading in Tokyo. It had the second-biggest advance today on the broader Topix index, which declined 1.7 percent.

Tobacco taxes in Japan should be raised until the average price of a pack of cigarettes is about 700 yen ($9.15), or 75 percent higher than the current level, to cut medical costs, Health MinisterYoko Komiyama said. Smoking in Japan was responsible for at least 4.3 trillion yen in medical costs and economic losses in 2005, according to the Institute for Health Economics and Policy.

“Tax increases will lead to Japan Tobacco’s profit growth,” said Mikihiko Yamato, a research partner at Japan Invest KK who recommends buying the stock. “If the price is over 500 yen, it will damage the sales of tobacco, but cigarette companies can still raise profit when their price increases reflect the higher costs.”

The ministry, which is participating in a tax panel session, will push for increasing tobacco levies by 100 yen annually for three years, Komiyama said in a Sept. 16 interview. Most panel members agreed with the idea last year, she said.

“At that level, we can expect people who want to quit smoking to stop, while maintaining the level of tax revenue,” said Komiyama, 63, who became minister on Sept. 2. “It’s also the best way to prevent underage smoking.”

Almost 10 percent of Japanese under 20 years old had smoked at least once, with 1.2 percent of them smoking every day, according to a study funded by the health ministry in 2007.

Efforts to raise duties have been complicated by government ownership of a controlling stake in Japan Tobacco and concerns that tax revenue may decline for a country facing the world’s largest public debt.

“When raising prices because of a tax increase, Japan Tobacco will offer prices that obviously exceed taxes they pay,” Yoshifumi Kikuchi, head of dealing at Nissan Century Securities Co., said today by phone. “If there’s a tax increase this time, though unrealistic, sales volumes will decline, but the amount of sales will grow.”

The tax panel, led by Finance Minister Jun Azumi, proposes reducing the government’s stake in Japan Tobacco to a third from about half, he said Sept. 16. The maker of Mild Seven and Camel cigarettes has gained 22 percent this year in Tokyo trading, giving it a market value of 3.7 trillion yen, or $48 billion.

A sale of the government stake in Japan Tobacco “will make it easier for the company to do business,” Japan Invest KK’s Yamato said.

The average price of a pack of 20 cigarettes increased by 33 percent last October to 400 yen, or about $5.20. That compares with the average price of $10.80 in New York City, where taxes were raised in July 2010.

Japan Tobacco forecast an 11 percent increase in profit this fiscal year after raising prices in Russia and other overseas markets. Net income in the year ended March rose 4.7 percent to 145 billion yen, beating analysts’ estimates.

Japan Tobacco Executive Deputy President Masakazu Shimizu said the government should “think cautiously” before raising taxes. Tobacco consumption is declining by 4 percent to 5 percent annually, and this may accelerate to as much as 7 percent if taxes are raised, he said.

One of every four adults in Japan smoked in 2009, according to Japan Tobacco. That’s down from one in three in 2000. Cigarette sales volume fell after a tax increase in October pushed up prices, Japan Tobacco has said.

The proposal to increase taxes is in accordance with the manifesto of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, Komiyama said. The manifesto calls for abolishing a law that the government own more than half of Japan Tobacco’s outstanding shares and says tobacco-related issues should be included in the “health agenda,” she said.

The cigarette maker said Sept. 6 it wants the government to sell its shares and use the funds to finance reconstruction after a March 11 earthquake and tsunami left more than 20,000 people dead or missing. The Children’s Investment Fund Management UK LLP, the London hedge fund founded by Christopher Cooper-Hohn, has been lobbying for Japan Tobacco to buy back shares and raise dividends.

Central and regional governments raise about 2 trillion yen in tax revenue each year from tobacco, according to the finance ministry.

In the U.S., one of every five adults smokes cigarettes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smoking was estimated to be responsible for $193 billion in annual health-related economic losses in the U.S. between 2000 and 2004, according to the CDC.

Tobacco-related illnesses comprise one of the biggest public-health threats and kill almost 6 million people a year, including 600,000 non-smokers, according to the World Health Organization.

Japan’s health ministry also will submit legislation at the session requiring businesses to ban smoking or provide separate smoking sections, Komiyama said. “I’m not stopping people from shortening their lives themselves,” she said. “But I don’t want to let them cause trouble for others.”

Komiyama, an anchorwoman for public broadcaster NHK for more than 20 years, began advocating anti-smoking measures when she became a lawmaker in 1998 and found other legislators smoked in the parliament buildings and at meetings.

“I walked around with a sign that said ‘no smoking at my table’ to every meeting I attended,” Komiyama said. “Then many lawmakers who didn’t enjoy the smoke began sitting near me. That’s how this started.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Kanoko Matsuyama in Tokyo at kmatsuyama2@bloomberg.net; Shunichi Ozasa in Tokyo at sozasa@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Frank Longid at flongid@bloomberg.net; Jason Gale at j.gale@bloomberg.net


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Pressure builds in Japan's nuclear divide

Pressure builds in Japan's nuclear divide
By Daniel Leussink

TOKYO - Following the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant six months ago, nine prominent Japanese intellectuals have launched a popular movement that seeks to abolish nuclear power and the closure of all nuclear power plants in Japan.

The group, which includes Nobel literature prize laureate Kenzaburo Oe and musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, plans to collect 10 million signatures in support of their proposal for a nuclear-free Japan. On Monday, the group organized a colorful demonstration followed by three vocal protest marches through Tokyo, attracting about 60,000 people.

The theme of the demonstration was "Sayonara genpatsu," "Goodbye nuclear power plants."

Satoshi Kamata is one of the intellectuals behind the movement. The 73-year-old author and freelance journalist covered Japan's

 
nuclear industry for over four decades, also publishing articles and books on Toyota and the citizens' movement against the construction of Narita airport, Japan's primary international airport. He was a speaker at the event on Monday.

Kamata spoke with Asia Times Online about the historical significance of the demonstration in a coffee shop near Kiyose station, a 25-minute train ride from central Tokyo, on Sunday. That was a day before the demonstration took place.

Asia Times Online: What are your expectations of tomorrow's demonstration?

Satoshi Kamata: Demonstrations in Japan are a little bit different from demonstrations in the United States or Europe, where hundreds of thousands protesters might protest against nuclear energy. In Japan, nationwide demonstrations attracted 10,000 or 20,000 protesters in total so far. This time, we hope 50,000 protesters will come.

We are collecting 10 million signatures against nuclear energy and have invited many well-known writers and thinkers to take part in this protest. There are around 100 supporting figures including Yoji Yamada [a famous filmmaker) and Masazumi Harada [a doctor known for his treatment of sufferers from the industrial Minamata disease] who back our movement in addition to the nine of us who called out publicly.

On March 24 next year, we will hold a follow-up rally in Hibiya Park. That rally will be held to present the 10-million signature petition against nuclear energy to the national government. We'll also hold other demonstrations and cultural events, such as concerts, before then.

ATol: What are the main issues against which the demonstration is directed?

SK: Japan should stop the nuclear power plants it already has, refrain from building new plants and shift to renewable energy. Earlier this year, [then prime minister Naoto] Kan decided that the Hamaoka nuclear power plant [in Shizuoka prefecture] would be stopped. But all nuclear plants should be stopped.

And if this happens, the order through which it happens is very important because there are many types of nuclear power plants and some plants are older than others. The Monju fast breeder reactor [a temporarily-suspended MOX fuel plant in Fukui prefecture] and the Rokkasho reprocessing plant [in Aomori prefecture, undergoing test operations] should be disabled.

The government should make a schedule to decide the month and year by which nuclear power plants will be stopped.

ATol: Could you indicate some of the crucial issues that nuclear energy in Japan faces at this stage, half a year after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off the coast of Tohoku?

SK: The new government of [Prime Minister Yoshihiko] Noda said that the nuclear power plants will be restarted after conducting safety checks on them.

But in August, only 12 out of 54 reactors were running normally. All of them will go offline for regular maintenance checks before May next year. If the current situation continues, all nuclear reactors in Japan may be offline before then. [Before the Fukushima accident, Japan depended on nuclear for about a third of its power supply, but the government has now abandoned plans to increase that to 50%.]

Eighty percent of the Japanese public opposes nuclear energy. The people will have to raise their voice in order to stop the operation of these nuclear power plants.

ATol: Some critics say that Japan would face a severe energy shortage if every reactor in each nuclear power plant will be stopped. What are your thoughts on this?

SK: Only 12 out of 54 reactors are operating normally at the moment, 42 reactors are not running. But Japan has avoided an energy shortage so far.

In addition to that, Japan has a reserve of thermal power plants and other types of plants such as natural gas plants and coal plants. These could provide a solution for the time being, as long as the move to renewable energy will go faster, even if it is only a little bit. But the government and power companies have not invested enough in renewable energy so far.

A crucial point will be to find out if [outside] experts could become more involved in enlarging the role of renewable energy.

ATol: Shifting away from nuclear power completely might also lead to higher electricity rates?

SK: If electricity becomes a little bit more expensive there is nothing we can do about it. But if nuclear power plants continue to be operated like they are operated now, radioactive nuclear waste will be created and the problem of what to do with that will be thrown on future generations. The moral problem is whether that is good or not.

If you only think about cheap energy, radioactive waste will gradually build up. The question is whether or not that should be allowed.

ATol: How did Japan historically come to rely on nuclear energy as the only nation on earth to suffer atomic bomb attacks?

SK: The nuclear energy policy started under the influence of [then minister of Science] Yasuhiro Nakasone after he returned from the United States in around 1960. [Nakasone served as prime minister from 1982-1987.] After the introduction of technology, the government came to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and made it look very different from the atomic bomb. It was viewed as a clean energy. A bright image of prosperity was promoted with it.

The atomic bomb victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki never came together with those who opposed nuclear energy. But that changed as a result of the disaster in Fukushima. The suffering from the atomic bombs and the development of nuclear power were two things that were opposed until now.

ATol: What is your view of the nuclear energy industry?

SK: The government promoted nuclear energy as a favorable thing and local communities received financial benefits for accepting nuclear power plants.

The nuclear industry is like the big bad wolf from the fairy tale. [Little Red Riding Hood] Grandma won't open the door to let him in the house. But when she looks under it, she thinks it is not the wolf but her granddaughter. So she opens the door and the wolf eats her. The house is Japan and grandma the local communities.
It might be hard for foreigners to understand, but there is not a single organization in Japan that judges nuclear power objectively.
Eisaku Sato [former governor of Fukushima prefecture] said that police and the thieves are the same people. He was made into a scapegoat over illegal financial dealings of his brother's company. He gave up his post. I say that the Ministry of Economics, Trade and Industry [responsible for developing nuclear energy] and the Nuclear Safety Commission work together like the pitcher and umpire in baseball.

ATol: What is the long-term relevance of the demonstration of September 19?

SK: There won't be the same number of protesters as at demonstrations opposing nuclear energy in Germany or France, but it is a start. For Japanese citizens, it is very uncommon to express their private views in public. Many citizens are hesitant to comment on politics openly. And we don't have a history of demonstrations, so we have to build a new history of joining them. Tomorrow is a start.

When South Korea was ruled by a military dictatorship, many citizens resisted it. Some of them were given the death penalty as a result of their resistance and of course that was not good. But eventually the actions of these protesters changed the government.

Daniel Leussink is a Dutch journalist in Tokyo. His website is www.danielleussink.com.

(Copyright 2011 Asia Times Online [Holdings] Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)


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Japan tells arms supplier to probe cyber attack (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan told its biggest weapons supplier, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, to investigate a cyber attack on its computers on Tuesday, warning it may have breached contracts to supply billions of dollars of equipment by keeping quiet about the online assault.

Under the terms of an agreement the government imposes on all contractors, companies are obliged to inform it promptly of any breach of sensitive or classified information, a defense official said. Defense officials learnt of the August attack from local press reports Monday.

"It's up to the defense ministry to decide whether or not the information is important. That is not for Mitsubishi Heavy to decide. A report should have been made," a spokesman for the ministry told Reuters.

Professor Yoshiyasu Takefuji, a cyber-security expert at Keio University, said this was the first example of defense-related cyber attack in Japan and had to be taken seriously.

"This happened a month ago, and it's just in the last few days they realized how bad it was," he said. "They've been dozing for the past month."

There was no clue as to who was responsible. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman dismissed suggestions the hacking could have originated in China.

"The Chinese government has consistently opposed hacking attack activities. Relevant laws strictly prohibit this," spokesman Hong Lei told reporters.

"China is one of the main victims of hacking ... Criticizing China as being the source of hacking attacks not only is baseless, it is also not beneficial for promoting international cooperation for internet security."

The hacking furor may widen after a second military contractor, IHI Corp, which supplies engine parts for fighter planes, said its employees had been subject to a growing number of suspicious e-mails.

PUNITIVE ACTION

A spokesman didn't elaborate on the nature of the e-mails. The Nikkei business daily had said earlier the company had also been the victim of a cyber attack.

Mitsubishi Heavy, which has built the U.S.-designed F-15 fighter jet and missile systems including Patriot batteries under license, said on Monday that computer systems had been accessed and some network information, such as IP addresses, may have been leaked.

Should Mitsubishi's probe reveal the loss of sensitive data, the defense ministry could impose penalties on its main domestic arms supplier, a business that accounts for a tenth of Mitsubishi Heavy's revenue.

As much of that equipment is built in partnership with U.S. companies including Raytheon Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp., the impact of any punitive action could spread.

Mitsubishi Heavy won 215 deals worth 260 billion yen ($3.4 billion) from the Defense Ministry in the year to last March, or nearly a quarter of the ministry's spending that year.

Besides surface-to-air Patriot missiles the weapons included and AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missiles.

Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa said he had so far received no reports of classified information being stolen. He did not say what information was at risk.

An investigation by a computer security company revealed connections were made to 14 overseas sites, including at least 20 servers in China, Hong Kong, the United States and India, the Yomiuri newspaper reported earlier, citing unidentified sources.

Overall 83 computers and servers at 11 locations including its head office, factories and R&D center were accessed in the attack, a Mitsubishi spokesman confirmed.

If Mitsubishi's probe reveals the loss of classified data, it would represent the third major breach in security at the company in less than a decade following the loss of nuclear reactor test data in 2006 and the leak of information on its fighter jets in 2003, local media reported

The Mitsubishi spokesman declined to comment further on the August cyber attack, saying it aims to conclude its investigation by the end of September. He declined to discuss the company's supply contract with the government.

A Japanese defense white paper released last month urged better protection against cyber attacks after a spate of high-profile online assaults this year that included Lockheed Martin and other U.S. defense contractors.

That call for vigilance came after the United States revealed in July that 24,000 files had been stolen by a foreign intelligence entity from a U.S. defense contractor in March.

"No country takes this seriously until something bad happens. But if they don't take it seriously this time, there will be another big incident," Keio University's Takefuji said.

Mitsubishi Heavy shares fell 3.7 percent to 317 yen in Tokyo, compared with a 1.6 percent fall in the benchmark Nikkei average.

($1 = 76.405 Japanese Yen)

(Additional reporting by Isabel Reynolds, Lisa Twaronite and Kiyoshi Takenaka in Tokyo and Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Writing by Tim Kelly; Editing by Nathan Layne and Nick Macfie)


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Flash report system to detect tsunami

Flash report system to detect tsunami Japan will develop an emergency flash report system to tell people when Pacific coast tsunami will arrive, officials said Wednesday. The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry will seek ¥7 billion initially for the project as part of the fiscal year's third supplementary budget, the officials said. Under the project, cables incorporating tsunami-measuring equipment will be laid on the seabed stretching from an area off Tokachi, Hokkaido, to Chiba Prefecture in the Boso Peninsula, surrounding the Japan Trench, which is vulnerable to major quakes, they said.
23 Sep A man found 10 million yen ($131,000) in cash Sept. 22 in a bag thrown away in a garbage dump at the city of Kasai in Hyogo prefecture, police said. The 56-year-old employee of a Kasai Municipal Government-run waste disposal center found the bag while separating garbage for the disposal. Center officials handed the bag into the police and will be entitled to claim the cash if its rightful owner does not emerge within three months. (majirox news)
22 Sep Following the request that the name Tokyo Electric Power Co. appear on a receipt for a sex club in Sapporo's Susukino red-light district earlier this month, the establishment has decided to ban patronage from that firm, reports daily tabloid Yukan Fuji (Sept. 17). On September 14, the fuzoku shop Olive Garden announced on its blog that it would not honor patrons hailing from TEPCO - in fact, it joked that the nuclear meltdown at Fukushima had sapped some of their virility in any case. (Tokyo Reporter)
22 Sep Mika Sato has found that two dolls resembling her 6-year-old daughter, who died in the March 11 tsunami, have helped soothe her emotional scars. "It was like my daughter came back to me," said Sato, 36, recalling the day earlier this month when she received the two dolls from the nonprofit organization Tamezo Club. Omokage bina are dolls that resemble people who have passed on. They are made by craftsmen who work from photographs of the deceased person. Since early August, Tamezo Club, a welfare services NPO based in Iwatsuki Ward, Saitama, has been donating them to people who lost loved ones in the March 11 disaster. (Yomiuri)
22 Sep A 71-year-old Japanese man died in Honolulu after falling off a trolley during a tour. The man, who name was not released, was taken to a hospital after falling Monday afternoon, where he was listed in critical condition and died later that day, police said. The man was standing next to an exit on the trolley and fell onto the road when the vehicle made a left turn out of a shopping center. A police spokeswoman said the accident is under investigation but that drugs and alcohol are not considered to be factors. The trolley was not speeding and traffic was moderate at the time, she said. (Japan Times)
21 Sep To promote forthcoming anti-gang legislation, the superintendent general of Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, Tateshi Higuchi, threw out the first pitch before the Yakult Swallows faced the Yomiuri Giants at Tokyo Dome last night, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Sept. 21). Beginning on October 1, business transactions between citizens and members of organized crime, such as the paying mikajimeryo (protection money), will be prohibited. The law will be enforced nationwide. (Tokyo Reporter)

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Softbank faces setback in Japan iPhone 5 shakeup (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) – Softbank Corp's (9984.T) lucrative gig as the sole iPhone vendor in Japan faces trouble as rival KDDI (9433.T) hammers out a deal with Apple, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday, while worries of lost sales sent Softbank shares sliding 12 percent.

The deal could be a boon to Apple (AAPL.O), whose customers would end up with a better network, but is expected to trigger a huge shake-up in the domestic mobile phone market over the next six to 12 months.

"Softbank may cut prices to prevent users who are unhappy about its network quality from fleeing to bigger KDDI, which could in turn lower rates," said Michito Kimura, a senior market analyst at IDC Japan.

A new price war would likely embroil NTT DoCoMo (9437.T), which commands half of Japan's cellphone market and has the potential to squeeze profits at handset makers.

The source said KDDI is working on a deal with Apple to sell the iPhone 5 in Japan. The online version of the Nikkei Business magazine had reported earlier that KDDI would begin sales of the iPhone 5 in Japan around November.

That report prompted investors to dump shares in Softbank, wiping out 354.5 billion yen ($4.6 billion) in market value. The 12 percent slide to a one-year low was the stock's biggest single-day percentage drop since November 2008.

Spokesmen for KDDI and Softbank declined to comment, but Softbank said there was no clause in its contract with Apple that would prevent another carrier from offering the iPhone.

Analysts said KDDI's success in wooing users away from Softbank, which has outpaced its competitors for the past 17 months in new signups, depended on pricing and how dissatisfied iPhone users were with Softbank's network.

Softbank's profits have ballooned since it introduced the iPhone in 2008, upsetting a market that had long been dominated by domestic handset makers.

Operating profit at the company, which bought Vodafone's Japan business in 2006, rose to a record 629 billion yen ($8.2 billion) in the year ended in March 2011.

But many iPhone users in Japan have complained about the patchy network, stirring speculation that Apple would eventually allow other carriers to distribute its phones in Japan, a strategy it is already pursuing in the United States.

Expectations grew after media reported Apple was using a Qualcomm (QCOM.O) CDMA chipset for the iPhone 5, opening up the way for CDMA2000 network users such as KDDI to sell the popular gadget.

Apple has already expanded its vendors in the United States to Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications (VZ.N), which also uses the CDMA200 network.

Shares of KDDI, which have risen more than 20 percent since mid-August, ended down 0.8 percent after gaining as much as 6 percent, while DoCoMo fell 3.2 percent.

"Selling the iPhone will bring more users to KDDI, but could also mean higher sales and maintenance costs," one market participant at a securities firm said.

KDDI would likely need to adjust its network to support the iPhone, and this could mean that Softbank will begin selling the iPhone 5 before KDDI can.

Attention now is on whether NTT DoCoMo will also supply the iPhone in the future, said Hideyuki Ishiguro, a strategist at Okasan Securities, adding that this possibility was weighing on KDDI and Softbank shares.

DoCoMo's smartphone lineup now includes handsets made by Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), Sharp (6753.T), Sony Ericsson and Toshiba (6502.T).

($1 = 76.420 Japanese Yen)

(Additional reporting by Hirotoshi Sugiyama, Isabel Reynolds, Lisa Twaronite and Natalia Konstantinovskaya; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)


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Rugby: Japan has slim hopes dashed at World Cup

WHANGAREI, New Zealand — Japan fly-half James Arlidge might have won the hearts of Rugby World Cup spectators as man of the match against France, but facing Tonga, Arlidge's boot proved to be unreliable for the Brave Blossoms.

Arlidge missed conversions that ensured the Japanese would fall from striking distance as the game went on. Japan fell 31-18 to the Tongans in their third match at the Rugby World Cup, before a sellout crowd of 17,364 at tiny Northland Events Centre.

A fire ignited in the final 10 minutes, just above the northern terrace stands, adding to the excitement in a Tonga-dominated second half. Arlidge and the Japanese could have used some fire of their own as they hunted for a victory.

Instead, local officials contained the blaze quickly, before any spectators fell into harm's way, and Japan's winless World Cup run continued.

The game was an exciting affair, where two clearly different styles clashed, with a physical Tonga dominating in the forwards, and a dynamic Japan trying to break away in the backs. However, this time, Tonga was more up to the task.

Japan's reputation as one of Group A's speediest sides forced the Tongans to play a disciplined brand of rugby. The Brave Blossoms didn't fully live up to expectations on that front.

"We expected them to be faster," Tongan lock Paino Hehea said. "We knew they were going to be quick, and we were really organized."

An early handling error put the Japanese team under pressure deep in their territory, yielding Tonga's first try in the seventh minute by No. 8 Viliami Ma'afu.

However, Japan was quick to counterattack, with a rolling maul over the try line in the 14th minute that Italian Television Match Official Giulio de Santis awarded as a try to Japan prop Kensuke Hatakeyama.

Just one minute later, Tonga's answer was an exciting runaway, from which Tonga lock Tukulua Lokotui touched down in the wide left, and Morath converted.

Japan, meanwhile, struggled with conversions, which haunted the Brave Blossoms later as the Tongans were able to pull away.

Turning tables 10 minutes later, Japan's openside flanker Michael Leitch finished a very well-orchestrated try where the ball was passed down to the far right from Arlidge, to Webb, setting up Leitch for the finish.

However, Arlidge missed both this conversion, and his previous attempt, only to be sent to sin bin two minutes later for repeated offside infringements.

Arlidge left his team for ten minutes, and the Blossoms endured two penalty kicks from Morath against one by Japan fullback Shaun Webb, that sent the two teams to halftime with Tonga leading 18-13.

The Braves Blossoms impressed again in the 64th minute, when Japan's outside center Alisi Tupuailei, himself of Samoan descent, crashed through Tongan defense to score Japan's final try. Once again, Arlidge failed to convert.

Otherwise, Tonga dominated the second half, Morath keeping a good form with the boot, placing two penalties in the 50th and 68th minutes as well as converting right wing Fetu'u Vainikolo's try in the 54th.

Morath's precision contrasted with Arlidge's bad day with the boot, sealing the game for Tonga. The Tongans' dominance at the breakdown was also unmatched by Japan, who still seeks to win a Rugby World Cup game after 20 years.

"I feel so bad about this. It's not like they were too strong or unbeatable. Each and every play of the game just added up in the end," Japan scrum half Fumiaki Tanaka said. "We didn't feel like we were under that much pressure. We couldn't play our usual Japanese style."

While Japan's original aim was to beat Tonga and Canada, and thereby automatically qualify for the next World Cup, the Brave Blossoms can still try to bring home one victory, and entertain the crowds with their flowing style, against the Canadians. The Blossoms will close World Cup play on Tuesday, at McLean Park in Napier.


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5 localities to drop from evacuation zone

The Yomiuri Shimbun


The government has notified five municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture their designation as evacuation preparation zones will end later this month.

The five municipalities are, from north to south, Minami-Soma, Tamura, Kawauchimura, Narahamachi and Hironomachi. They are located between 20 and 30 kilometers from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

The government earlier said it would end the designation across the board when rebuilding plans, including those for decontamination of radioactive substances, are worked out by the five municipalities.

Hironomachi, the last municipality to do so, submitted a rebuilding plan to the central government Monday. The town had faced difficulties coordinating timing of the decontamination work.

The emergency evacuation preparation zone, set by the central government on April 22, encompasses the five municipalities either partially or completely. Before the nuclear crisis caused by the March 11 disaster, they had a population of about 58,000, with about 30,000 evacuating the zone.

Officials of the municipal governments concerned said they were notified by central government officials earlier this month that the designation would be lifted within the month.

In their rebuilding plans, the municipalities specified areas for decontamination work and expected implementation dates. As for the timing for residents to return home, Kawauchimura mentions "by next March" while Minami-Soma does not give any date.

Narahamachi, most of which is located within the 20-kilometer restricted area, has no formal plan to have residents return as there were very few residents in the area before the nuclear crisis.

However, a few companies in the Naraha-Minami industrial complex, a portion of which lies in the evacuation preparation zone, have expressed their intention to resume operation after the designation is lifted. They hope to resume operation by March.

In the evacuation preparation zone, a policy of staying indoors or evacuating is in place in case of an emergency. Children, hospital inpatients and those requiring nursing care are asked not to enter the zone.

Primary and middle schools in the area have been closed and classes are conducted outside the zone.


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Son, 22, held over father's murder

MAEBASHI, Gunma Pref. — A 22-year-old man was arrested Monday night on suspicion of killing his father at their home in Tatebayashi, Gunma Prefecture, police said.

The son, Koki Kameda, allegedly killed his father, Hiroshi, 50, when he pushed his head and neck against a concrete slab outside the home at around 10 p.m. Monday, the police said.

According to investigators, the father often became violent at home after bouts of heavy drinking. The son has denied any intent to kill his father, indicating that he only tried to subdue him.


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Typhoon Headed for Stricken Japanese Nuclear Plant - New York Times

TOKYO — A powerful typhoon struck Japan’s main island on Wednesday, stranding thousands of commuters in Tokyo and poured heavy rain on the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in the nation’s tsunami-ravaged northeast.

Typhoon-powered waves exploded against a breakwater in Kiho in central Japan on Wednesday.

Evacuation advisories went out to more than one million people across the main island of Honshu as torrential downpours caused flash floods in low-lying areas. As of Wednesday evening, six people had been found dead and seven others were missing, according to Japan’s national broadcaster, NHK.

The storm, called Typhoon Roke, directly hit greater Tokyo, briefly shutting down Japan’s commercial and political center. Strong winds and rains brought most subways and commuter trains to at least a temporary halt, stranding tens of thousands at stations. Bullet train and airline service was canceled.

Even so, most of Tokyo continued to have electric power even as the eye of the storm passed through the city on Wednesday evening, a testament to Japan’s generally robust basic infrastructure. According to Tokyo Electric Power, about 20,000 homes lost electricity in Tokyo, a city of almost 13 million residents.

Roke was the second powerful typhoon to strike Japan in the last month. Typhoon Talas, which made landfall in western Japan on Sept. 2, left 106 people dead or missing, the worst toll in decades.

Roke’s path was expected to take it over the Fukushima plant, which was crippled by the massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11. The storm’s approach raised concerns that heavy rains could increase the risk of a leak of contaminated water from the crippled reactor buildings into the nearby Pacific Ocean. But Takeo Iwamoto, a spokesman for Tokyo Electric, the plant’s operator, said before the storm hit that the plant could weather it without further damage or risk of a leak. Company spokesmen could not be reached on Thursday morning.

The storm also threatened to flood coastal areas damaged by the tsunami and earthquake, which lowered the level of the ground by as much as two or three feet in some areas, and to wash radioactivity from the evacuated area around the plant into the sea.


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Japan's tsunami tragedy: already fading from sight? (The Christian Science Monitor)

Tokyo and MinamiSanriku, Japan – In the immediate aftermath of March 11, when Japan was struck by the most powerful earthquake and tsunami in its history, there was a feeling that the country had changed irrevocably. As images of entire communities being swept away were burned into the national consciousness, many believed this represented a "year zero" for Japan, a chance to break from decades of economic stagnation and political malaise.

Six months later, few still hold such high hopes and there is little sign of the promised rebuilding of homes and lives for those in the disaster zones. Some feel that the rest of the country, including the Tokyo political class, is already forgetting.

RELATED GALLERY: The long road to recovery in Japan

The scale of the disaster remains hard to comprehend. At 2:46 p.m. on that Friday in March, a 250-mile-long and 100-mile-wide section of the Pacific tectonic plate suddenly crashed under the plate on which Japan sits. This violent shifting of the Earth's crust moved Japan's main island eight feet in the direction of the US, knocked the Earth off its axis by four to six inches, and shortened the length of a day by 1.8 microseconds. It also set off the tsunami that was to batter more than 500 miles of Japan's northeast coast, reach heights of up to 130 feet, and penetrate as far as six miles inland.

The tsunami claimed nearly 20,000 lives (including the 4,057 people who remain missing half a year later), and set off the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which operators are still struggling to get into a cold shutdown.

The total bill for reconstruction is estimated to be as much as 23 trillion yen ($300 billion) or 6 percent of Japan's gross domestic product, though this will be spread out over five years, at least. With tax revenues down following the disaster, a rise in the already huge national debt – currently around 200 percent of GDP – is inevitable.

While the central government has been criticized for not distributing funds quickly enough, of the 31 municipalities that suffered the most damage, only four have final reconstruction plans.

"Nobody outside the Ministry of Finance knows exactly how much money has been distributed, or of the money that has gone out to local authorities, how much has actually been spent," says Jun Okumura, senior adviser at the Eurasia Group. "It's very frustrating."

There is money being issued, though: 1.2 trillion yen ($15.7 billion) in insurance money has already been paid out, plus the compensation money from Tokyo Electric Power company, the operator of Fukushima, and aid from local and central government, says Mr. Okumura.

Still, the recovery from the vast triple disaster is proving to be painfully slow in many places.

Some of the worst-hit towns still resemble a wasteland. The quake and tsunami left an estimated 22.6 million tons of rubble in the coastal towns. Out of that, nearly half has been moved to temporary storage. Much of the power has been restored to towns and cities, but power outages remain common. Out of the nearly half a million people displaced, more than 80,000 people remain in temporary accommodations. And the debate over whether to rebuild towns in the same locations continues.

"They should think about building the towns again on higher ground, not in the places that could get hit by another tsunami," says Toshifumi Takada, a professor at Tohoku University.

Though that may seem like a good idea to outsiders, it has been difficult to accomplish given that even in towns such as Minami-Sanriku – where 95 percent of the buildings were swept away – many residents, still very much healing their emotional wounds, are conflicted.

Minami-Sanriku: largely uninhabitableOn the morning of Sept. 11, more than 2,200 people traveled to attend a memorial service in the town's Bayside Arena. "We pray for the lost lives and for the missing to be found as early as possible. We hope that people can return to this town and we can hear cheerful voices again," said Jin Sato, the mayor of Minami-Sanriku, at the service. His voice faltered as he spoke about the many friends and colleagues who were lost.

Mr. Sato had been in the town hall along with 130 staff when the tsunami struck. He was one of only 10 survivors when the 50-foot waves came across the roof of the building and washed away 20 of the 30 people who had made it that far.

Most of the residents of the town returned for the memorial service from other areas, as Minami-Sanriku remains largely uninhabitable. Thousands of tons of debris has been piled into mountains of wood, earth, metal, and concrete along the waterfront. But there is no sign of rebuilding.

Red steel girders are all that is left of the town's disaster-response center, where a young local government worker, Miki Endo, famously stayed at her post sounding an alarm and urging residents to evacuate, until the tsunami engulfed the building and she went missing.

People came from as far as Tokyo to pay their respects at the small makeshift shrine that has appeared in the shell of the building, dedicated to Ms. Endo's sacrifice. Some residents want the remains of the building to be turned into a permanent monument to her heroism.

A cluster of 20 prefab housing units behind the Bayside Arena, where the service was held, is now home to a fraction of the townspeople who lost their homes.

Kaeko Gyoba and her husband were in a club for Minami-Sanriku's elderly residents when the earthquake struck. They made it up to the fourth floor as the waves swept through the stories below. It was one of the few buildings spared in the town.

"We spent two nights up there until a Self-Defense Force helicopter was able to land at the elementary school nearby and get us out," says Ms. Gyoba.

She stayed with relatives near Tokyo after the disaster, but she returned last month to be with the rest of her family, who now occupy five of the small, flimsy-looking temporary houses.

"It's very tough living here. I just can't get used to it. There's nowhere in the town to shop, you need a car to go anywhere, and I worry how cold it will be in the winter," says Gyoba. "And none of the family have jobs now. They all worked on the ocean, farming seaweed and oysters. Everything was swept away."

Fading from public consciousness?Despite the nationwide attention that the six-month memorials received, some of those still struggling to rebuild their lives say their frustrations are compounded by the feeling that they are gradually fading from public consciousness.

"What the people want more than anything at all is the sense that other people – the rest of Japan – are keeping a careful watch over them and are ready to help," says Yuka Kusano, leader of the Miyagi Jonet aid group for victims. "Instead, they fear that the rest of Japan is watching the baseball and comedies on TV and have forgotten about them."

There is also anger at politicians in Tokyo who they see as more concerned with partisan fighting than focusing on helping the region's recovery.

Even the leadership contest to replace former Prime Minister Naoto Kan – who resigned in part because of heavy criticism for his handling of the crisis – was seen as a self-indulgent distraction by many in the region.

His replacement, Yoshihiko Noda, has already lost his trade and industry minister, who resigned only eight days after being sworn in when the media accused him of insensitive behavior on his first trip to the disaster zone.

"The politicians in Tokyo are fools; their behavior is simply unbelievable. We don't expect much from them. We have to do this ourselves," says Tohoku University's Professor Takada.

It is not only outsiders whose memories of the disasters appear to be fading; some residents of the northeast are starting to worry that the tight bonds that bound survivors are fraying.

"At the time of the disaster," says Ms. Kusano, "acts of goodness gave people a new perspective. The next stage was people helping each other because they didn't have anything," she says.

"There was a sense of community. But now as some semblance of normality is returning," she says, "there are signs that all that has been forgotten."

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Rugby: Japan's 20-year winless run carries on at 2011 RWC

WHANGAREI, New Zealand (AP)—Having only won once in 20 matches in 20 years coming into the World Cup, Japan’s aim to win twice at the 2011 tournament was ambitious in a pool containing New Zealand and France.

Two losses into the event extended that undesirable run further but coach John Kirwan had always targeted Tonga as a winnable match to end Japan’s other dubious World Cup record, failing to win a game in 16 attempts.

Tonga extended that mark by another match Wednesday, dominating at the scrum and breakdown to run out 31-18 victors at Northland Events Centre and keep alive its bid to reach the quarterfinals despite also having lost its opening two games.

“The Tongans, especially in the first half, lived off our mistakes and punished us for those,” Kirwan said. “In the second half, we had an opportunity to get back into the game and we missed that opportunity with the maul down near the left-hand side.

“We probably had more possession and played more rugby, but rugby at this level is about the ruck. That was the critical thing tonight: rucks.”

Tonga won nine turnovers at the breakdown compared to zero for Japan, allowing Viliami Ma’afu, Tukulua Lokotui and Fetu’u Vainikolo to score tries and for flyhalf Kurt Morath to land six kicks from seven attempts and total of 16 points.

Japan captain Takashi Kikutani said his team’s plan to fan out in defense around the breakdown proved costly.

“We tried to have good ball presentation and leg drive and to hit low to win the ruck; we tried to not send many players into rucks,” he said. “But Tonga had many strengths in the ruck and a mismatch happened.”

Japan also scored three tries, through Kensuke Hatakeyama, Michael Leitch and Alisi Tupuailai, but a dismal all-around performance from flyhalf James Arlidge in failing to land one conversion and also spending time in the sinbin wrecked the team’s chances.

But Tonga could only win half its lineout ball and were forced to make 50 more tackles, giving Japan ample opportunity to build pressure.

“I thought when we held onto the ball and put some multi-phases together, we created try-scoring opportunities,” Kirwan said. “For us, it’s important to hold onto the ball so we can run the bigger packs around. Too many errors and not protecting the ball at the ruck cost us dearly. We need to fix that for Canada, otherwise the same thing will happen.”

Even Tonga coach Isitolo Maka was surprised by Japan’s lack of aggression at the ruck.

“I was expecting a lot more confrontation at the breakdown by the Japanese,” he said. “They were so quick to the breakdown, but I didn’t see that tonight.”

Japan meets Canada in Napier next Tuesday but has only an outside chance of finishing third in the pool and earning an automatic spot at the 2015 World Cup, the last edition before it hosts the tournament four years later.

“Japan hasn’t won a game for 20 years,” Kirwan said, referring to the 52-8 victory over Zimbabwe in 1991. “So we wanted to win two games to automatically qualify, and it makes the last game very, very important to win a game.”


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AP Interview: Japan whistleblower at highest court (AP)

TOKYO – Masaharu Hamada is among a handful of whistleblowers in Japan, a nation that has long advocated corporate loyalty and subjected outspoken employees to bizarre punishments such as assigning them closet-sized offices.

The 50-year-old salesman for camera and precision-equipment maker Olympus Corp. is about to become rarer still.

His case alleging he was demoted in reprisal for merely relaying a supplier's complaints is headed to the Supreme Court. It would be the first whistleblower case to reach the nation's highest court.

"Somebody has to do it," Hamada told The Associated Press this week. "It's a miracle I even came this far."

Japan is behind some Western nations in protecting whistleblowers. A law to protect them was enacted only in 2006 and critics say it is inadequate because it does not penalize companies that punish whistleblowers. To pursue legal action, whistleblowers must also stay with the company as the law only applies to employees.

Major Japanese companies provide lifetime employment, although they more freely fire contract and part-time workers. That means employees such as Hamada become targets of cruel harassment designed to silence them or make them quit.

Hamada was shunned to a corner of the office and ordered to take rudimentary tests on quality control designed for new hires. Sometimes the supervisor would give a grade that was minutely short of the passing level, just to get on his nerves, Hamada recalled.

"It is no wonder people commit suicide at Japanese companies," he said, acknowledging he was nearly driven to a breakdown.

Only a handful of whistleblowers have come forward in Japan in the past few decades.

Hiroaki Kushioka, who exposed price-rigging at his trucking company three decades ago, was assigned for years to a closet-like office. He often spent his time gardening and shoveling snow at work, although he had previously overseen contracts with clients.

Another was Toshiro Semba, who blew the whistle on fellow police officers who were forging receipts to wine and dine on public money. His department took his gun away, declaring him too unstable to carry a weapon.

"There is a substantial risk for people who seek to do the right thing," said Jay Klaphake, associate professor at Ritsumeikan University.

Laws make it difficult for employees to obtain evidence on the reasons for transfers, demotions and pay cuts crucial to prove their case, and they must pay attorney fees, although damages won are tiny by Western standards.

"It is no secret that the Japanese legal system is designed to favor the bureaucracy and big business," Klaphake said.

Hamada sued Olympus in 2008, saying an internal transfer was punishment for relaying a supplier's complaint that its best employees were being lured away by Olympus. Hamada first relayed the complaints to his boss, then to the company's compliance unit.

Last month, the Tokyo High Court reversed an earlier district court decision and ordered Olympus to pay Hamada 2.2 million yen ($29,000) in damages for the transfer from a sales division, where he had a good record, to a more solitary assignment in research, and later in quality control.

Olympus appealed last week, sending the case that pits the little "salaryman" against a giant of Japan Inc. to the highest court. The outcome would set a precedent for how Japanese companies deal with whistleblowers.

Olympus, which has called the Tokyo High Court ruling "regrettable," said it decided to appeal because the court decision was vastly different from its view.

The Supreme Court may decide against hearing Hamada's case. But then, the Tokyo High Court decision will stand — a victory for Hamada.

All Hamada wants is to be a salesman again, the post he had before the reprisals began.

He boasts he won a trophy as the best Olympus salesman in the U.S. during his overseas stint in the late 1990s and early last decade. When he appears in court, he makes a point of wearing a blue tie, the Olympus color.

"I have always wanted to make Olympus a better company and elevate the Olympus brand," he said. "I have no regrets. I have confidence I did the right thing."

___

Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at http://twitter.com/yurikageyama


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White pine trees among symbols of Yakushima

The Yomiuri Shimbun

YAKUSHIMACHO, Kagoshima--The late Fumiko Hayashi wrote in her novel "Ukigumo" (Floating Clouds) that it rained "35 days in a month" on Yakushima island, 60 kilometers south of Kyushu.

The island is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is famous for its rainy weather and yakusugi cedar trees that are more than 1,000 years old. But, according to a leader of a local volunteer group, Yakushima also is home to other symbolic trees.

These are yakutanegoyo, a species of Japanese white pine, which only grow in the wild on Yakushima and Tanegashima islands, according to Kenshi Tezuka, leader of the volunteer group overseeing the white pines on Yakushima.

However, yakutanegoyo are in danger of extinction. Because of pest damage and excessive logging after World War II, the number of trees has declined to about 2,000 on Yakushima and 300 on Tanegashima.

The volunteer group led by Tezuka, 58, was formed in 1999 to share information about yakutanegoyo and promote their protection.

Since then, in cooperation with its counterpart on Tanegashima, the volunteer group has been trying to record the location, diameter and height of every single yakutanegoyo tree on Yakushima. The group has also been labeling each of them and mapping their locations.

On Yakushima, the white pine trees grow naturally in only three areas between 300 meters and 1,000 meters of elevation. These areas are rubble-covered ridges and rocky cliffs.

"[Yakutanegoyo] grow slower than red and black pines," said Seiichi Kanetani, a chief research fellow at the Kyushu branch of the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute. "Since the flora on Yakushima is diverse, they probably lose out to other plants in the growing process and can only grow naturally in places where there are no other plants."

Kanetani, 42, studied yakutanegoyo in graduate school at Kyushu University. He met Tezuka, and they formed the volunteer survey group. A total of 948 group members participated in 118 surveys and located the 1,896 pine trees on the island. The survey data has been utilized at the research institute.

"The end of the distribution survey is already in sight," said Tezuka. However, he is concerned that a significant number of the white pine trees at higher elevations recently died. He suspects the deaths might be directly related to cross-border pollution from China.

"I will keep asking the government to designate [yakutanegoyo] as a national natural monument and will try to clearly have it recognized as another symbol of the island," Tezuka said.


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Typhoon passes Japan tsunami zone - 英文中國郵報

There had been concerns that Typhoon Roke could pose more problems for the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, which was sent into meltdown by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, but officials said the plant weathered the storm without major incident.

Hiroki Kawamata, spokesman for plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co., said several cameras set up to monitor the plant were damaged, but there had been no further leaks of radioactive water or material into the environment.

“We are seeing no problems so far,” he said.

The typhoon had reached the country's northern island of Hokkaido by Thursday morning after weakening overnight, but there were no immediate reports of damage there. The storm was still packing sustained winds of up to 78 mph (126 kph).

The typhoon made landfall Wednesday afternoon near the city of Hamamatsu, about 125 miles (200 kilometers) west of Tokyo, and then cut a path to the northeast and through the capital before bringing new misery to the tsunami zone. It dumped up to 17 inches (42 centimeters) of rain in some areas, triggering landslides and flooding.

Police and local media reported 16 people dead or missing, most swept away by rivers swollen with rains in the southern and central regions. One person died in a landslide in northern Iwate prefecture and two people were swept away in Sendai in the northeast.

Hundreds of tsunami survivors in government shelters in the Miyagi state town of Onagawa were forced to evacuate for fear of flooding.

Strong winds snapped power lines in many areas, and officials said more than 200,000 households in central Japan were without electricity late Wednesday.

Overnight in Tokyo, where many rush hour trains were suspended for hours, thousands of commuters got stuck at stations across the sprawling city and stood in long lines for buses and cabs.

“The hotels in the vicinity are all booked up, so I'm waiting for the bullet train to restart,” Hiromu Harada, a 60-year-old businessman, said at Tokyo Station.

Kyodo said 5,000 people stayed overnight inside Shinkansen bullet trains at Tokyo and Shizuoka stations.

Fire department officials reported three people injured in Tokyo. In the trendy shopping district of Shibuya, winds knocked a tree onto a sidewalk, but no one was hurt. Pedestrians struggled to walk straight in powerful winds that made umbrellas useless.

The storm had set off landslides in parts of Miyagi that already were hit by the March disasters. The local government requested the help of defense troops, and dozens of schools canceled classes.

A magnitude-5.3 earthquake struck late Wednesday just south of Fukushima in Ibaraki state. Officials said the temblor posed no danger to the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, and that it did not cause any damage or injuries in the region.

Heavy rains prompted floods and caused road damage earlier in dozens of locations in Nagoya and several other cities, the Aichi prefectural government said. More than 200 domestic flights were canceled.

A typhoon that slammed Japan earlier this month left about 90 people dead or missing.


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Woman nabbed for counterfeiting bills

A 38-year-old woman was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of making counterfeit ¥10,000 bills using a color copy machine, police said.

Rika Miura, 38, of Edogawa Ward, Tokyo, has confessed to making at least 69 bogus bills between June and October last year, the police said.

The case came to light after an acquaintance of Miura, a 39-year-old man who had lent her an unspecified sum of money, reported to police that the bills Miura repaid him with were being rejected by ATMs, investigators said.


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