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We're into the Golden Week holidays, which for the lucky ones
means ten straight days off. Foreign travel is off last year's
numbers but recovering since last September. Politics is still
where the juicy news is. Another major figure bit the dust, yet
another is in the doghouse and this was all shortly followed by
more tears in the Diet.
Not everyone is coming to Japan for the soccer and geisha. Some
big names in the rock world are also headed this way over the
next few months. And what do you get when you cross Glay with
Puffy? Read on.
Mark McBennett
Webmaster, Japan Zone
Contents
1. What's going on in Japan
2. Sports news
3. Gei-noh news
4. Links we like
5. Unsubscribe
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1. What's going on in Japan
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General:
Two Japanese tourists unwittingly took their lives in their hands
when they absent-mindedly walked into the middle of a warzone.
The couple said they had been travelling for six months and not
following the news before they walked into the West Bank city
of Bethlehem. Unaware of the standoff between Palestinians and
Israeli troops at the Church of the Nativity, the pair failed
to notice the curfew and deserted streets because they were too
focussed on their guidebook. Commentators have reacted with acute
embarrassment, describing the couple as "all-too-typical" Japanese.
Recently, there has been another spate of news stories and features
on medical incompetence and malpractice. Examples include untrained
people operating heart/lung machines during surgery and unauthorized
mercy killing. A health Ministry report on 82 of the nation's
top hospitals revealed that only three had no accidents over a
recent 22-month period, and one hospital had almost 3,000. While
the majority of Japanese people have traditionally been very trusting
of the medical profession, they would be wise to develop a more
western, questioning approach to their own health care. In fact,
it is very common for western people here (myself included) to
feel that, if serious medical treatment becomes a necessity, the
first step is to buy a plane ticket home.
The dike in Isahaya Bay, Nagasaki Prefecture was controversial
from the word go. It is part of a now dubious land reclamation
project which went ahead in 1997 in the face of protests from
local fishermen. A poor seaweed harvest in the Ariake Sea, of
which the bay is part, led to increased public antagonism to the
project. The drainage gates of the dike were opened for the first
time last week in order to carry out further studies.
Fukuoka District Court ruled that Mitsui Mining must pay 11 million
yen to each of 15 Chinese men forced to work for the company in
Japan during WWII. The government has insisted that all reparations
were completed as part of the peace treaties signed after the
war. The men were among about 40,000 slave laborers brought from
occupied China. The decision, which Mitsui will appeal, may mark
the beginning of many more claims, though previous similar rulings
in favor of so-called "comfort women" were overruled.
The 54th meeting of the International Whaling Commission opened
in Shimonoseki in western Japan. It is the first time since 1993
that Japan has hosted the monthlong meeting. Fierce debate is
expected over Japan's plans to increase research whaling levels
and import whale meat from Norway.
Following crackdowns on the so-called "wan-giri" phenomenon, mobile
telephone spammers have switched from the single ring calls to
two or three rings. When phone users return the call, they are
charged exhorbitant rates to listen to erotic or other dubious
messages. The new scam is called "tsu-giri".
The sale of hallucinogenic magic mushrooms in head shops and on
the streets of the bigger cities has always been something of
a surprise, given Japan's strict drug laws. Even some foreign
over-the-counter cold medicines have been routinely seized at
airports due to the stimulants they contain. The legal loophole
that made the mushrooms legal, while the psilocybin chemical they
contain is illegal, will be closed from June 6th. Hurry while
supplies last!
Government:
Inoue Yutaka, president of the House of Councillors, stepped down
in the wake of a financial scandal involving his policy secretary.
It is alleged that Inoue's secretary took a 60-million yen bribe
from a construction company. Finding an untainted replacement
within the LDP was a major task. They finally settled on Kurata
Hiroyuki (64).
Three elections were held on April 28th - by-elections for seats
in each of the two Houses and the gubernatorial election in Tokushima
Prefecture. Candidates backed by the ruling parties won just one
of the three, which is seen as a vote against the current cabinet.
A 35-year old rookie backed by three oposition parties won the
House of Councillors seat in the Niigata area, home to popular
former foreign minister Tanaka Makiko, whose January sacking triggered
a sharp slide in PM Koizumi's popularity and called into question
his commitment to reform.
The private life of LDP Secretary General Yamasaki Taku is under
the spotlight following magazine exposes of his extramarital activities.
Yamasaki has sued the weekly Shukan Bunshun for 50 million yen.
Commentators quipped that the relatively small amount reflects
the fact that he is unlikely to win the case. Yamasaki is the
man responsible for election strategy and may have to take the
blame for the poor showing by LDP-backed candidates in the recent
elections. He left the country the day after but will be back
in the spotlight when the Diet resumes on May 7th.
Former lawmaker Tsujimoto Kiyomi (41) appeared as an unsworn witness
in the Diet to answer questions about the secretarial salary scandal
that forced her resignation last month. Lacking her usual fire
and even bursting into tears, Tsujimoto denied the involvement
of her party, the SDP, in the case. She was encouraged and finally
applauded by the mostly male committee. The hearing had been scheduled
for two weeks earlier but was postponed due to Tsujimoto's poor
health. It has been reported that Tsujimoto, until recently a
rising political star, has said she won't return to politics.
We'll see.
PM Koizumi again visited the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, this
time on the first day of the shrine's spring festival. He said
that he would not visit around the August 15th anniversary of
the end of WWII as he had last year. While the recent visit drew
compulsory criticism from Korea and China, it has been a bit more
low key. Chinese leader Jiang Zemin, meeting in Beijing with New
Komeito party head Kanzaki Takenori, said that the visit was "impermissible".
Koizumi is currently on a tour of Southeast Asia and the Pacific
region, while Foreign Minister Kawaguchi Yoriko is on a 4-country
tour to the UK, Belgium, Afghanistan and Iran.
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/koizumi_junichiro.shtml
A cornerstone of Koizumi's reform plans has always been deregulating
the postal service and several bills are finally coming up for
debate in the Diet. But a prerequisite for success of the plans
is that private companies want to enter the mail business. This
has been questioned since Yamato Transport, the largest home delivery
service and the only private company that had been strongly in
favor of a new system, said they had serious doubts about the
viability of the proposed changes. Aritomi Keiji, Yamato president,
went so far as to say that his company would not enter the business
if the bill is passed in its current form. Koizumi bypassed the
traditional LDP approval process for the bill so if it fails,
as seems likely, it will be a particularly big blow for him.
Another bill that has received a lot of media attention calls
for greater protection of human rights. Though the bill mainly
seeks to protect people from discrimination based on sex or race,
the focus has been on its provision to prevent intrusive journalism.
Comparisons have been made with the restriction of press freedom
during the buildup of military power prior to WWII.
The new Prime Minister's Office was opened April 22nd. The building
has five floors above ground and one below. It is sheathed in
bullet-proof glass. While it is very high-tech, it retains an
traditional ambience thanks to the use of natural materials. Official
functions will move from the original, 73-year old building this
week.
Prior to the arrival on the scene of PM Koizumi, Tokyo Governor
Ishihara Shintaro was often touted as an ideal candidate to lead
the country. Recent scandals have hurt the current cabinet and
politics in general and Ishihara's name is again floating around.
He has not committed himself to a second term and there has even
been the idea of a new party, led by Ishihara from the metropolitan
government.
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/ishihara_shintaro.shtml
Crime:
A senior Osaka prosecutor was held for tax fraud in a case that
revealed his links to local yakuza. Mitsui Tamaki (57) was arrested
along with two gansters and a businessman. Mitsui made a lot of
money buying property at auction following the bubble economy.
His wheeling and dealing earned him the nickname "Mitsui Estate",
after the leading real estate company.
Four middle-aged, former nursing school classmates were arrested
on suspicion of killing one of the women's estranged husband for
30 million yen in insurance. The women got the man drunk and then
forced a bottle of whiskey into him through a tube. He later died
in hospital of breathing difficulties. Two of the women were also
arrested for blackmailing another nurse for 5 million yen after
they found out she had made a mistake at work.
Police are on the wrong side of the law again. It was revealed
that four Saitama police officers had conspired to free a yakuza
member after he complained that he had seen them altering investigative
documents. The alteration itself was fairly minor but the gangster
managed to intimidate the police into releasing him. The case,
which had a three-year statute of limitations, took place in 1997
and two of the officers are no longer with the force, but all
four will be held. There were also two other cases of police involved
in sexual crimes. A senior inspector in Kawasaki was given a two-year
suspended prison sentence for sexually assaulting a high school
girl. A Fukushima police clerk was arrested on suspicion of spying
in a women's toilet.
In a case that reveals the darker side of "entrance exam hell",
three men were arrested for swindling parents who tried to buy
their children's way into prestigious schools. Parents paid sums
averaging over 30 million yen (about $230,000) to the so-called
"education critics", who claimed that they had contacts in the
Diet who would ensure the children got into the schools they wanted.
The Economy:
The heads of the country's four major banking groups were summoned
to appear before the Diet. The hearing was called to hear the
executives' response to recent Financial Services Agency inspections,
carried out to assess the extent of the bad-loan problem. Needless
to say, the focus was on Maeda Terunobu, president of Mizuho Holdings,
whose ongoing technical problems have been causing problems across
the country. April 30th, a business day though it falls during
the Golden Week holidays, was the biggest test to date for Mizuho
with some 12 million transfers, a quarter of them salary payments.
While the forecast for the world economy is looking brighter,
Japan and Argentina were cited at a recent G-7 meeting as still
being trouble spots. Both the US and the IMF made calls for greater
efforts from Japan, which were met with indignation by octogenarian
Finance Minister Shiokawa Masajuro (popularly known as "Shio-jii").
The number of people out of work reached a record 3.79 million
in March, mostly due to the recent batch of new graduates. The
number is an increase of 360,000 over last year.
On a positive note, carmaker Nissan, which has turned around its
business under head Carlos Ghosn, plans to hire 4,000 new workers
worldwide to support its expanded production and moves into new
technologies.
Some 900,000 workers took part in the annual May Day rallies (actually
held on April 27th!). The rallies were organized by the Japan
Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) and were markedly less confrontational
in theme than last year. The focus was on peace, human rights,
labor and the environment.
Shareholders of Snow Brand Foods agreed to dissolve the company
after reconstruction efforts had failed. The company was at the
center of a recent false meat-labeling scandal.
The Fair Trade Commission has approved the proposed merger between
Japan Airlines and Japan Air System, after the companies revised
their original plan. As the merger will reduce competition to
just two major airlines, All Nippon Airlines being the other,
they had to agree to cut all fares by 10% as part of the new plan.
J-Phone has said that they will postpone the launch of their third
generation (3G) mobile phone service from June to December. J-Phone,
a unit of Japan Telecom and affiliated with Vodafone of the UK,
will launch a test service in Tokyo in June.
Nintendo's popular GameCube is to go on sale in Europe from May
3rd. Due to reduced costs, it will be priced at 199 Euro, 50 less
than planned.
The Foreign Community:
Hamid Eshagi, an Iranian businessman resident in Osaka, was elected
president of the elementary school attended by his two sons.
Lewis Booth became the fourth Ford executive to head Mazda Motor
Corp, taking over from Mark Fields, who brought the country's
No.4 carmaker back to profit during his two years at the helm.
World Cup
The media still seem to feel it necessary to include scare stories
about hooligans in every feature on the big event. The focus is
almost always on England's fans, the team's training camp and
the city of Osaka, venue for the game with Nigeria. The camp is
located on the Inland Sea island of Awaji, across Osaka Bay from
the Kansai International Airport. The town of Tsunacho has a 75
million yen budget, of which 40 million is to be spent on security.
The town has also built a World Cup museum that houses, among
other things, the ball from the controversial final of 1966.
Some 160,000 unsold tickets for games in South Korea, including
those involving France and Brazil, will go on sale via the Internet
from midnight, April 30th (Japan time). It seems ticket sales
have not been going too well in Korea and various promotion efforts
haven't helped much.
Japan's star striker Takahara Naohiro (22) will miss the World
Cup with what has been diagnosed as Economy Class Syndrome. Specifically,
the 22-year old Jubilo Iwata player was found to have a blood
clot in his lung and could be in treatment for up to a year. Takahara
returned to play in Japan this season after a less than successful
stint in Argentina.
The famous Three Tenors - Pavarotti, Carreras and Domingo - are
to perform at the Yokohma Stadium on June 27th, three days before
the World Cup final.
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2. Sports news
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LA Dodgers pitcher Ishii Kazuhisa (28) continued his strong start
to the season, becoming the first Dodgers rookie in 21 years to
win in his first five appearances on the mound - the record is
eight. Teammate Nomo Hideo (33) has showed his usual erratic form,
going 2-3.
This year's Kirin Cup opponents are Slovakia and Honduras. The
usual round-robin format has been changed to just two friendlies
so there is no title at stake. The Slovakia game was seen as a
good preparation for Japan's World Cup game against Belgium. The
home team won easily enough, though the 1-0 scoreline reinforced
worries about the lack of finishing. The big surprise was striker
Yanagisawa Atsushi (24) being put on the right wing, a strange
experiment that seemed to just frustrate the Antlers star. But
playmaker Nakamura Shunsuke (23), who is fighting for a spot in
the starting eleven, put on a sparkling display.
Yokohama F Marinos entered the first-stage break at the top of
the J-League table but fell at the first hurdle in the Nabisco
Cup. Surprise contenders Vegalta Sendai also continued their good
run and are third in the league, just a point behind.
It remains to be seen whether Yokozuna (Grand Champion) Takanohana
(29) will break the record for consecutive basho (tournaments)
missed. "Taka", who has 22 yusho (championships) to his name and
is the best wrestler of his generation, has sat out the last five
basho with a knee injury. Favorite for this month's summer Tokyo
basho will be fellow Yokozuna Musashimaru. Veteran Terao (39),
now fighting in the second-tier Juryo division, will move into
second place all-time in his 138th basho.
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3. Gei-noh news
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Can't seem to have an issue without her! It's been announced that
popster Hamasaki Ayumi will play to 40,000 people at a pair of
outdoor concerts in Tokyo's Odaiba seafront area on June 29th
and 30th. The "Ayu Matsuri" event coincides with the 3rd-place
playoff and final of the World Cup. Hamasaki will then fly straight
to Fukuoka and "kick off" (sorry!) her national arena tour.
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/hamasaki_ayumi.shtml
Rock band B'z are to fulfill a dream when they play with Aerosmith
in the FIFA World Cup "International Day" concert at Tokyo Stadium
in Chofu on June 27th. There are also plans to promote the band
in the US following the summer event.
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/bz.shtml
It seems that negotiations between troubled popster Suzuki Ami
(20) and the Yoshimoto agency are coming to an unhappy end. There
was talk that the singer was asking for too much money and demanding
excessive royalties. It is felt that, even at such a tender age,
maybe her time has simply passed.
Takarazuka Flower Troupe lead Takumi Hibiki, who is due to retire
this month, has been diagnosed with myelitis, a serious disease
of the spinal cord. Her role in what was to be her farewell show
"Cocktail" has been taken by her successor Haruno Sumire.
Where-are-they-now band Guns 'n' Roses have been named to play
at this year's Summer Sonic rock festival in August. It will be
their first visit to these shores in nine years.
The big wedding of the month was between Glay vocalist Teru (30)
and Puffy member Ohnuki Ami (28) on April 28th. The couple intend
to carry on their musical careers and have no plans for a wedding
reception or honeymoon. Glay are currently recording a new album,
while Puffy will play a North American tour in July.
The previously mentioned free show which will feature Oasis is
a joint event between Asahi Beer and MTV Japan. The event will
be held on May 23rd in Tokyo, and the lineup also includes Dragon
Ash, Rip Slyme, Rize and Jay-Z. You can apply for tickets online
(Japanese only) until May 8th at:
http://www.superdry-mtv.com
In a poll in the women's magazine AnAn, SMAP member Kimura Takuya
(29) was voted the most popular man for the 9th year running!
The other four SMAPers were all in the top eight. Voted least
popular man was short comedian Degawa Tetsuro (38).
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/smap.shtml
More Bits and Bobs
Sony Records has recalled and stopped sales of CDs by popular
hip hop group King Ghidora due to lyrics deemed offensive to AIDS
sufferers and gays.
Due to their faltering solo careers, the four female members of
Okinawan pop group Speed are said to be considering reforming.
It is rumored that singer Hitomi has applied for a year off from
June. This amid rumors of her romance heating up with Dragon Ash
vocalist Furuya Kenji. Baby? Wedding bells?
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/hitomi.shtml
After 29 years on the podium, conductor Ozawa Seiji bid farewell
to his adopted home of Boston. He is to take over at the Vienna
State Opera.
Movie director Oshima Nagisa (70) left hospital two weeks earlier
than planned, after a successful recovery from peritonitis.
Tanaka Jun, one of the aspiring boxers on the regular Fight Club
feature of the TBS show Gachinko, was arrested for robbery.
Popular personality and "fat afro dancer" Papaya Suzuki is to
make his movie debut in the 13th installment of the Tsuri Baka
Nishi series.
Matsuda Seiko (40) is said to be romantically involved with singer
Harada Shinji (42) but it's probably just part of the PR for their
new duet "Ai no Uta" (Love Song).
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/matsuda_seiko.shtml
Yoshimoto Kogyo's new theater show in Shanghai has been very warmly
received.
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/yoshimoto.shtml
Johnny's Jimusho boy band V6 became the first Japanese artists
to appear at Korea's biggest music event, Dream Concert 2002,
held at the Olympic Stadium in Seoul. The event drew a crowd of
75,000.
Soft-spoken actor Morimoto Leo (59) was the subject of wide-show
attention after claims that he is having an affair with an art
student younger than his daughter.
In the Family Way
Yoshimoto comedian Yamazaki Hosei (34) became a father for the
first time when his wife Aya had a baby girl. The couple married
last September; singer Oginome Yoko (33), who married tennis player
Tsujino Ryuso (33) last October, gave birth to a baby girl.
Oricon Album Chart (April 29th)
1. Oda Kazumasa - Jiko Best (Greatest Hits)
2. message - Mongol 800
3. 19 - Best (Ao)
4. 19 - Best (Haru)
5. Garnet Crow - Sparkle
54-year old Oda Kazumasa is already the oldest artist to hold
the No.1 chart position. His best hits album also includes songs
from his time with the band Of Course. The two albums by 19 (juu
ku) mark the end of the young duo's brief career.
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4. Links We Like
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BBC News
Koizumi, a year on: A look at the popular prime minister's roller
coaster first year in power.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/asia-pacific/newsid_1947000/1947448.stm
(the long link code may break in some news readers)
Find A Teacher
If you're an English teacher in Japan and looking to make some
extra money, check out this site. You register and students come
looking for you. What you charge them is up to you. Good system,
and free for teachers.
http://www.findateacher.net
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