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The Golden Week holidays are over and those foolish enough to
sit in a ten-hour traffic jam to get out of Tokyo and the same
again coming back arelooking for someone to vent their frustration
on. Prime candidate is goodold Suzuki Muneo. Despite the arrest
of his secretaries, he stubbornly refuses to quit the Diet.
A rush for asylum by North Koreans in China has created a diplomatic
mess between the two countries and Japan.
The national soccer team showed they have the nerve to come from
behind, but with their shoddy defense they'll be needing lots
of it against World Cup opposition. Japan's MLB stars, Ichiro
and Ishii Kazuhisa in particular, continue to impress.
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:
There was quite a fuss caused by the run for asylum by five North
Koreans at a Japanese Consulate in north-eastern China. It's not
a new development or the first time something like this has happened,
but the fact that two of the people were reportedly removed by
armed Chinese police from within the consulate raises much more
serious issues. It is feared that the North Koreans could face
execution if returned to their own country. PM Koizumi demanded
that the five be handed over to Japan while Foreign Minister Kawaguchi
Yoriko told the Chinese ambassador that Beijing should apologize.
But questions remain about the involvement of consulate staff
and the reaction of the foreign ministry.
Earlier in the month, there was little progress in talks between
the Japanese and North Korean Red Cross organzations on the whereabouts
of Japanese allegedly abducted in the late 1970s and 80s. The
focus of the discussions was on the fate of Arimoto Keiko, a 23-year
old student who went missing in the UK in 1983. She is one of
11 people believed taken to Pyonyang by the so-called Yodo hijacking
ring. The group is named after a Japan Airlines plane they hijacked
in 1970.
Japan's archaic family register (juminhyo) laws have been receiving
quite a bit of attention recently. There is the issue of foreign
spouses names not being registered, except sometimes a mention
as the head of the household in the remarks column. And also the
ease with which changes can be made to registers, as against the
difficulty of having such changes erased. This has led to cases
where grandparents have registered a newly born child's name without
the parent's knowledge or where people have used faked registers
to sell stolen cars or borrow money. While the issue regarding
non-Japanese is not on the agenda, the Justice Ministry is to
revise the Family Registration Law later this year.
The mission by a flotilla of Marine Self Defense vessels in the
Indian Ocean is to be extended from its original six months to
a year. The government plans to bring the mission back to its
full strength of three destroyers and two supply ships.
Several Japanese passengers were killed in two seperate accidents
in China. One died when a passenger bus went off a national highway,
while three others were among 112 killed in a China Northern Airlines
crash. Meanwhile, it was reported that 224 people died on the
roads in Japan during the Golden Week holiday.
The Japan Coast Guard carried out a search of the vessel they
sank in the East China Sea in December. Divers and a submersible
examined the suspected North Korean spy ship, looking for evidence
of its purpose.
The Tokyo City Air Terminal facility, which allows passengers
departing from Narita Airport to go through check-in and immigration
procedures in downtown Tokyo, is to close later in the summer.
The number of people using the facility has dropped off since
last year, as all luggage must be checked at Narita for flights
to the US, and TCAT connects with the airport only by bus.
Two performers on the TBS's popular "Kinniku Banzuke" (Muscle
Ranking) were seriously injured during filming of the show. The
two university students, a 19-year old Chinese from Kyoto and
a 20-year old from Tokyo, both suffered spinal injuries in seperate
incidents. The show is being investigated for professional negligence.
Government:
Inoue Yutaka (74), who recently resigned as president of the House
of Councillors, quit the Diet 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. After
persuading Handa Yoshio to hand himself in to the Chiba District
Public Prosecutors Office, and following the arrest of five others
in the case, Inoue gave his resignation to his successor Kurata
Hiroyuki on May 2nd.
Suzuki Muneo, who testified to the Diet that he did not interfere
with the bidding procees for the so-called "Muneo House" project,
stubbornly continued to proclaim his innocence even after the
arrest of seven people in the case (see below). He has come under
increasing attack from both inside and outside his former party,
the LDP, though the ruling block has so far voted down motions
calling for a criminal investigation. Especially given the recent
resignations of top figures following illegal activities by their
aides, Suzuki is just digging a deeper hole for himself with his
refusal to "do the right thing". Opposition parties plan to disrupt
parliament unless he appears again as a sworn witness or, failing
that, they will demand that he resigns.
Crime:
At the beginning of Golden Week, police arrested Miyano Akira
(53), top aide of Suzuki Muneo, and six others in connection with
the construction of the so-called "Muneo House" facility on the
island of Kunashiri, part of the Russian-held Northern Territories.
The bureaucrat allegedly conspired with the executives of construction,
engineering and consulting firms to ensure that the job went to
their joint venture of companies and at an inflated bid.
Sato Saburo (61), former top aide to Kato Koichi, has been rearrested
on tax evasion charges. Former LDP Secretary General Kato, who
resigned from the Diet last month following Sato's first arrest,
told prosecutors that he knew nothing of Sato having been paid
150 million by the head of the Rising Production talent agency
in 1997. Rising president Taira Tetsuo, fearing police investigation
of his gambling, allegedly paid Sato the money to hush up the
case.
The case of the "black widows", four women arrested in Fukuoka
for the murder of one's husband for 30 million yen in insurance
money, has become even more lurid. Another of the women's husbands
died under similar circumstances - apparent acute alcohol poisoning
- in 1998, and the mother of another may have been the victim
of an attempted murder two years ago. It seems that the ringleader
was Yoshida Junko (42), who used her control over the other women
to extort money and coerce them into committing the crimes. The
rather shy Ishii Hitomi (43) went to the police last summer, saying
she was the victim of extortion. More recently she started making
confessions about ther role in her husband's murder.
Faith healer Eto Sachiko (54) was given the death sentence for
the killing of six of her followers in 1994-5. She repeatedly
beat the six with drumsticks on the pretext of exorcizing evil
spirits. Three of her followers were given prison sentences for
their involvement in the deaths.
A 31-year Briton was arrested at Narita Airport with a record
haul of ecstasy and cocaine. Nicholas Baker was stopped after
arriving on a flight from London with a suspiciously heavy suitcase,
found to contain over 200 million yen's worth of ecstasy and cocaine
worth nearly 60 million.
The deputy mayor of Kiryu, Gunma Prefecture was arrested for dropping
his pants in front of a young female ticket inspector on a train.
Kikuchi Minoru (44), a career bureaucrat on loan to the city from
the Construction and Transport Ministry, said he was just adjusting
his clothes.
The Economy:
With industrial production and exports both up in March, the Bank
of Japan gave an improved forecast for the economy but remained
cautious about predicting a full recovery.
Mizuho Bank officials must have heaved a huge sigh of relief when
no major glitches were reported with their computer systems on
April 30th. There were an estimated 12 million automatic transactions
on the last day of the month. But the Financial Services Agency
is far from finished in its investigations into the problems that
Mizuho has been having since its merger became official last month.
The FSA is expected issue a warning to the bank later this month,
but given the damage already done to its image and the precarious
state of the major banks, severe penalties are unlikely.
There is to be a changing of the guard at Fast Retailing, the
parent company behind the hugely successful Uniqlo brand. President
Yanai Tadashi (53) will step aside to concentrate on new business
areas while his post will be filled by 39-year old Tamatsuka Genichi,
currently head of the company's UK unit. Yanai wil remain as chairman
and CEO, but will work in areas such as electric cars and his
proposed take on the supermarket retail system.
The Foreign Community:
Remarks by the mayor of Kawasaki to the effect that foreign residents
should not be given the same rights as Japanese drew protests
from many citizens and organizations. Abe Takao said in a magazine
interview that only Japanese could be considered real members
of society with, for example, the right to vote because other
residents were basically "associate members".
Phillipe Troussier has refused to coment on rumors of his move
to French first division side Olympique Marseille. He has already
stated his intention to step down as manager of the national team
after the World Cup.
World Cup
The pitches at the training camp to be used by the Russian team
were found to have been vandalized. Aerial views of the pitches
showed streaks where some kind of chemical, thought to be weedkiller,
had been spread on the grass. Officials have said they'll repair
or replace the turf and have the camp ready for when the team
arrives on May 26th. Russia is Japan's toughest opponent in Group
H.
Plans to televise games or even game results on large outdoor
screens have been cancelled in Osaka, due to worries over crowd
control. There were plans to show games on a giant screen near
Ebisubashi in the Dotonbori area, but authorities fear scenes
of fans jumping into the river, as when the local Hanshin Tigers
baseball team has a rare success.
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2. Sports news
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Soccer
Three times Japan's shaky defense let Honduras in the door and
three times their talented midfielders got them off the hook.
The final 3-3 scoreline in the second Kirin Cup friendly certainly
kept the fans entertained. But they had reason to be thankful
for the skilled setpieces of Nakamura Shunsuke and Santos Allesandro's
first goal, from the penalty spot. The weakness of the three-man
flat defense sticks out like a sore thumb and Phillipe Troussier
must be praying for the return from injury of Morioka Ryuzo. The
manager is to announce his World Cup squad on May 17th.
Troussier had little to smile about after Japan went down 1-0
to Real Madrid in a rain-soaked game at the Santiago Bernbeu stadium.
He was disappointed with the timidity of his players in the first
half. No doubt they were awed by the location and the stature
of players like Luis Figo and Roberto Carlos, but they'll have
to overcome those kinds of obstacles if they're to survive the
opening round of the World Cup.
A new casualty in Japan's frontline is Nishizawa Akinori, the
25-year old Cerezo Osaka striker. He was diagnosed with appendicitis
while with the national team in Spain for their friendly with
Real Madrid. But he was said to be recovering quickly after surgery
and will stay with the team for its upcoming friendly against
Norway. Takahara Naohiro is out with a blood clot in his lung,
while Yanagisawa Atsushi is nursing a broken finger from the Honduras
game.
Ono Shinji didn't fulfill his dream of being on the pitch for
the final whistle but played a key role in the first 85 minutes
of Feyenoord's UEFA Cup final win over Borussia Dortmund. The
22-year old former Urawa Reds midfielder became the first Japanese
to lay on a European title-winning team.
Ono's success was followed yesterday by that of Nakata Hidetoshi.
Japan's star player was a member of the Parma team that beat Juventus
1-0 in the second leg of the Italian Cup. Nakata scored in the
first leg, which Parma lost 2-1, and his away goal was the deciding
factor.
clear at the top of their division with his current batting average
of 0.348.
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/nakata_hidetoshi.shtml
Baseball
The Hanshin Tigers are still atop the Central League but the Yomiuri
Giants are in hot pursuit. The Giants rode an eight-game winning
streak to close to within a fraction of their old rivals. This
season looks like being a good one for the media, who love the
widespread support of the Tokyo-based Giants and the fanaticism
of their Kansai rivals.
The winning streak of LA Dodgers pitcher Ishii Kazuhisa (28) continued
to six, making him the first Dodgers rookie in 21 years to to
do so. He was less lucky in his most recent start but avoided
taking the loss. US media reports of Ishii carrying his hefty
wallet and mobile phone in a leather "purse", a common enough
sight in Japan, hardly make him seem intimidating.
Irabu Hideki had a record of two losses and seven saves for the
Texas Rangers before getting his first win in two years against
the Chicago White Sox. The overweight and petulant Irabu has been
less than successful during his few years in the US but has redeemed
himself somewhat so far this season.
Ichiro is maintaining his own high standards, helping keep the
Seattle Mariners well clear at the top of their division with
his current batting average of 0.348.
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/suzuki_ichiro.shtml
Other Sports
In the second round of the Byron Nelson Classic, Maruyama Shigeki
matched his best PGA round of 63 to head into the weekend with
a two-stroke lead.
Marathon star Shibui Yoko (23) set a new national record in the
10,000 meters while running the fastest time of the year at an
meet in California. Running in the event for the first time in
two years, Shibui set a mark of 30:48.89.
Boat racer Ando Hiromasa (39) came last in his first official
race as a man. Formerly registered under the female name Chinatsu,
Ando is a successful 18-year veteran of the sport who, as reported
here some time back, has had a gender disorder for many years.
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3. Gei-noh news
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Many people, including her estranged son, were disappointed that
TV personality Nomura Sachiyo (70) avoided a prison sentence in
her tax evasion case. In addition to paying the taxes, Nomura
and the companies she runs were fined a total of 53 million yen.
She was given a two-year sentence, suspended for four years.
Pop star Utada Hikaru (19) has been hospitalized for a thorough
medical examination. This follows an operation a month ago to
remove a benign tumor from her ovary. She had been working but
suffered side effects from her treatment. The story received a
lot of media attention, which didn't hurt the sales of her new
single "Sakura Drops". It went straight to No.1 in the charts
with triple the sales of the second-ranked single, racking up
750,000 on the first day alone. You can hear it at her official
site.
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/utada_hikaru.shtml
Actress and singer Imai Miki (38), expecting her first baby this
summer, suffered a double shock over the last week. First her
father died; and on the way to the funeral her husband, world-renowned
guitarist Hotei Tomoyasu (39), slipped in the rain and fractured
his skull. He is expected to leave hospital in two weeks but has
cancelled all concerts and appearances for the next two months.
He was due to start a concert tour next month.
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/hotei_tomoyasu.shtml
Yoshimura Yumi (27) and Onuki Ami (28), who recently married Glay
vocalist Teru, make a very discreet exit from Narita Airport on
their way to begin their North American concert tour. No doubt
they will enjoy, while at the same time try to reduce, their anonymity.
Kyogen star Izumi Motoya (27) was a bit churlish when questioned
by the media at Narita Airport on his return from a performance
in China. His image has suffered as a result of bad press after
he cancelled or was late for several events. His being named as
the "sokei" (head) of the Izumi 'family' without the approval
of kyogen elders has also got him into trouble.
More Bits and Bobs
Disgraced TV personality Tashiro Masashi (45) is making his showbiz
comeback, this time as a director of made-for-video movies. Tashiro
was recently arrested for offenses involving drugs and indecent
behavior.
It was reported that Hano Aki (33), wife of out-of-favor kyogen
star Izumi Motoya (27), gave birth to a daughter at the end of
last month.
Tokyo University graduate Kikukawa Rei (24) is the official CM
queen. the actress has 21 different commercials on the go!
Fans of leggy actress Esumi Makiko (35) will be happy to hear
that the popular Shomuni TV show will be back for a final series
in July.
Lisa (27), vocalist of the three-member m-flo" is to quit the
group and pursue a solo career. Daughter of a Japanese father
and Colombian mother, Lisa met her fellow band members while attending
international school in Tokyo.
Actress Nakayama Miho (32) is to star in her first movie in five
years, with the soundtrack taken care of by composer/musician
Sakamoto Ryuichi.
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/nakayama_miho.shtml
At an exhibition of paintings by TV personality Jimmy Onishi,
all the works - some going for more than a million yen - were
sold within 15 minutes.
The new advertisement for ANA features all five members of SMAP,
appearing together for the first time in a year.
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/smap.shtml
20-year old Johnny's Junior members Takizawa Hideaki and Imai
Tsubasa are to quit the group and go solo this autumn.
Pop "idol" Matsuura Aya (15), a member of the Morning Musume-led
Hello Project, is to throw out the first ball and sing the national
anthem at the first official Japan Pro baseball game to be played
abroad. The Daiei Hawks-Orix Blue Wave game will be played in
Taiwan next week.
Young kabuki actor Ichikawa Shinnosuke (24) was rushed to hospital
with acute laryngitis, as was Fuji TV announcer Tashiro Naoko.
Oricon Daily Single Chart (May 9th)
1. Utada Hikaru - Sakura Drops
2. Chemistry - Kimi wo Sagashiteta: New Jersey United
3. Goto Maki - Te wo Nigitte Arukitai
4. Sayaka - ever since
5. Shimatani Hitomi - Amairo no Kami no Otome
I prepared the Top 5 on May 6th, but found that it had changed
completely by today. I mean a whole different five singles. Anyway,
their spell at the top was short-lived but Kinki Kids, who are
already in the Guinness Book of Records for thirteen consecutive
No.1 singles since their debut, saw the same thing happen when
No.14, "Kanashimi Blue" went straight to the top spot. They've
now dropped to No.9.
The media attention on Utada Hikaru's illness certainly was well
timed (!), helping push her comfortably into the top slot. The
tune is, of course, the theme to a trendy (inane) TV drama series.
Goto is a member of Morning Musume, so you probably know what
to expect there. Sayaka is the much-hyped 15-year old daughter
of pop diva Matsuda Seiko. With a name like that behind you, who
needs a PR team? Shimatani is with the Avex label and this, her
7th single, is typical of the stuff they churn out.
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4. Links We Like
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Paranoid in Tokyo
Sharon Moshavi is a journalist living in Tokyo. Like many foreign
residents of Japan, she has developed her own theories on what
makes Japan so diferent. Or is it just an unhealthy dose of paranoia?
http://www.iht.com/articles/55988.html
Tokyo Toilet Map
Need to find a toilet in Tokyo? Or maybe you're mystified by the
Japanese squat toilet. Either way, you'll find something of interest
here.
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~AD8Y-HYS/
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