McDonald's may close hundreds of restaurants

McDonald's may close hundreds of restaurants McDonald's Holdings Co. (Japan) may shut hundreds of outlets next year to boost profit margin after the power shortages following the March 11 earthquake crimped demand for fast food. "We want to close a few hundred stores next year and we expect to increase sales the year after that," Chief Executive Officer Eikoh Harada said Thursday. Japan's largest fast-food chain also intends to renovate larger stores as it increases profit relative to cash flow, Harada said, after eliminating more than 400 unprofitable outlets last year.
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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DPJ's new No. 2 close ally of Ozawa

Azuma Koshiishi, who on Wednesday became secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan, is known for being very close to power broker Ichiro Ozawa.

Koshiishi, the DPJ's Upper House caucus leader, also has strong connections with veterans in opposition parties, which control the chamber. He will be the first DPJ Upper House lawmaker to take up the party's No. 2 post.

The 75-year-old Koshiishi has called on the DPJ to lift the suspension of Ozawa's party membership, imposed earlier this year following the power broker's indictment over a political money scandal.

Koshiishi often speaks in a blunt manner and dislikes being the center of attention.

A native of Yamanashi Prefecture, Koshiishi served as an elementary school teacher for 26 years before being elected to the Lower House in 1990. He has deep ties with the Japan Teachers Union.

Koshiishi was elected twice to the Lower House and is currently serving his third term in the Upper House.

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Nuclear power key topic in close Japan leader race

TOKYO – A former top diplomat vying to become the next prime minister proposed Saturday that Japan stop building new nuclear power plants after the Fukushima disaster and phase out atomic energy over 40 years.

Former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara took the clearest stand against nuclear power at a news conference where five ruling Democratic party members outlined their policy goals in their campaign to replace Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who announced Friday he is stepping down.

The ruling party will vote Monday to pick a new party chief, who will then become prime minister — Japan's sixth in five years.

Nuclear energy is hot topic in Japan following the accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, damaged by the March 11 tsunami. Some 100,000 people have been evacuated from around the plant, and government officials have warned that accumulated radiation in some spots may keep areas off limits for the foreseeable future.

The leadership contest is emerging as a close race between Maehara, a youthful defense expert and the public's top choice, and Economy Minister Banri Kaieda, who secured the backing of the ruling party's behind-the-scenes powerbroker, Ichiro Ozawa.

"In principle, we will not build new nuclear plants; then there will be no more nuclear plants in 40 years," Maehara said, adding that Japan needs to seek "the best energy mix" while it phases out of its nuclear-reliant energy policy.

Before the March accident, Japan derived about 30 percent of its electricity from nuclear plants, and the government intended to increase that to 50 percent by 2030 — a plan that has now been scrapped.

Kaieda, whose minister was broadly responsible for nuclear energy promotion, said he planned to decommission aging nuclear plants found to have problems during stress tests, but did not detail his vision for the future of atomic energy.

He promised to speed up decontaminaton efforts and launch health check programs for concerned residents.

"We will achieve a cold shutdown of the reactors as soon as possible," Kaieda said. "I will take concrete measures to address the residents' concerns about their health."

Kan announced Friday he would resign after serving nearly 15 months that have been plagued by ruling party infighting, gridlock in parliament and clamorous criticism of his administration's reponse to the March disasters and ensuing nuclear crisis.

The Japanese public, yearning for political unity and resolve in the wake of the catastrophe, has grown disgusted with the squabbles and blame-trading that have dominated parliamentary sessions.

"It's embarrassing. It's hard to keep track of who's prime minister these days," said Rie Aoki, a housewife in the Tokyo suburb of Fuchu. "It's so upsetting to see them squabbling in parliament. Elementary students have more interesting conversations."

She said she hoped the politicians would focus on the northeastern coastal region — called Tohoku — that was devastated by the tsunami. "I really want them to work together to think about what Tohoku needs," she said.

The five candidates generally agreed during the two-hour press conference that the central government needed to spend more money on disaster reconstruction in the tsunami zone, possibly raising money through special bond sales.

Given the slow economy, all agreed it was too early to consider raising Japan's 5 percent sales tax.

But the gathering also helped bring out some policy differences between the five, which also includes Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, considered a fiscal conservative, former Transport Minister Sumio Mabuchi and Agricultural Minister Michihiko Kano.

Maehara said he would favor reaching out to key opposition parties to form a limited "grand coalition" on certain key policies, such as tsunami reconstruction, social security and tax reforms. Maehara also said he would support a U.S.-backed free trade zone called the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Kaieda, a 62-year-old former television commentator on economic matters, said the so-called TPP needed to be studied more and rejected the idea of a grand coalition, saying the party had not even discussed such a proposal.

A China hawk, Maehara, 49, gained prominence by taking a firm stand toward Beijing during a territorial spat last year over some disputed islands in the East China Sea.

He defended his decision to run despite having quit as foreign minister in March after it was discovered that he had unknowingly received a relatively small political donation from a foreigner — a Korean permanent resident and a childhood friend — which is illegal in Japan.

"I don't have anything to hide," he said. "I haven't done anything that tainted my own hands."

___

Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report.

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Australian teachers in Japan may be placed too close to leaky nuclear reactors - NEWS.com.au

Children from Fukushima, where a tsunami-stricken plant triggered a nuclear crisis, travel to Tokyo to pressure the government to protect them from radiation. Simon Hanna reports.

The reactors in Japan's northern Fukushima area were damaged by a massive tsunami, which triggered the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl / AP Source: AP

A LEADING Japanese recruiter of teachers from Australia is placing recruits closer to leaky nuclear reactors than recommended by Canberra's radiation safety agency.

The move by the Japanese Government-sponsored JET program reflects the gulf between what Japanese and other nations' authorities constitute a safe distance from nuclear reactors.

The reactors in Japan's northern Fukushima area were in March damaged by a massive tsunami, which triggered the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

JET is mostly known for recruiting native English-speaking teachers for Japanese schools. It maintains no teacher will be placed in an area the Japanese Government deems "unsafe".

Teachers will be placed no closer than 30km to the disaster-struck nuclear reactors at Fukushima, in line with Japanese safety guidelines. No teachers will be placed in areas "under watch for possible evacuation", JET says in an explanation document.

The program confirmed to The Courier-Mail that 31 new JET participants from English-speaking nations were offered placements within 80km of the nuclear plants. Three who took up the offer were Australians, JET said.

The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency recommends Australians keep at least 80km away from the reactors.

"As a precautionary measure ... Australians within an 80km zone from the Fukushima nuclear power plant (are recommended to) move out of the area," an advisory guide says.

"The US had made a similar recommendation in accordance with the standard guidelines of their Nuclear Regulatory Commission."

JET's explanation document details that it might place participants closer to reactors than advised by foreign governments.

Asked about people who refuse to go within the 80km zone, Hisashi Ueno of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said participants, placed inside a boundary recommended by their own governments, could re-apply for the program next year.

If a participant's government would not allow them to go into restricted zones, they could become substitutes to replace any departing JET participants in other locations, he said.

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