August 18, 2011

August 18, 2011

August 18, 2011

This week's required reading

By

Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on August 2011

SIC TRANSIT

  • ANA unveiled a passenger jet festooned with images of the Pokemon character Pikachu at Sendai Airport. The aircraft, dubbed the “Peace Jet,” is intended as a pick-me-up to the victims of the March 11 disaster.
  • Authorities in Thailand deported a Japanese man who is accused of bilking an insurance company out of ¥11 million in an arson scheme in Sapporo.
  • JR West was ordered to pay ¥6.2 million in compensation to 61 employees for “psychological distress” caused during a disciplinary program. The staff were forced to “clean toilets and cut weeds” as punishment for bad behavior.
  • A visually impaired man from Yokohama was killed after being hit by a Den-en-toshi line train at Tsukushino station in Machida. The man, who was seen “walking unsteadily” before the accident, fell onto the tracks and was trying to climb back up when he was pinned between the train and the platform.
  • Police from Hokkaido raided the offices of an aviation school in Miyazaki in connection with the crash of a light plane that killed two people and injured a third during a training session in Obihiro.

GOLDEN GIRLS

  • For the first time in five years, Japanese women saw their life expectancy drop, by 0.05 years.
  • Even so, women in Japan have the highest average life expectancy in the world, at 86.39 years. They’ve held the record for 26 consecutive years.
  • Hong Kong women were second (85.9 years), followed by France (84.8).
  • Meanwhile, the life expectancy of Japanese men improved by 0.05 years, to 79.64 years. Overall, Japanese men moved from fifth to fourth on the worldwide list, trailing only Hong Kong (80.0), Switzerland (79.8) and Israel (79.7).

PHO TO GO

  • Family Mart announced that it will open conbini in Vietnam after entering into a joint venture with a Hanoi-based distribution company.
  • An economic partnership agreement between Japan and India that took effect August 1 has eliminated tariffs on 94 percent of goods traded between the two countries.
  • Yamada Denki announced that it will open a shop on Taobao Mall, China’s leading online retailer. The Gunma-based electronics giant is aiming for annual sales of ¥10 billion from the venture.
  • Honda Motor Co. said it was thinking about building a new manufacturing plant in Mexico for exporting compact cars to the US.

THIS JUST IN…

  • Emboldened by the recent listing of the Ogasawara Islands as a World Heritage site, the Japanese government says it will lobby UNESCO to have Mt. Fuji included as well.
  • Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano expressed hopes that the Chinese military will become more transparent in communicating information, “such as the exact purpose of possessing an aircraft carrier.” Uh, Yukio, we’re pretty sure the purpose of that is to launch aircraft at sea.
  • Police in Osaka busted 42 people for their involvement in a string of robberies of car navigation equipment. The cops say the thieves took a whopping ¥356.8 million worth of goods.

GETTING THE HELL OUT OF DODGE

  • A group of 23 victims of the March 11 disaster arrived in Taiwan for a free two-week vacation sponsored by the local tourism board. The program, which runs through mid-November, will eventually host 1,000 people from the affected regions.
  • Meanwhile, a group of 35 children aged 5-12, mostly from Fukushima, arrived in Rome for a five-week visit sponsored by an Italian NPO.
  • The SDF concluded its 144-day relief operations in Miyagi Prefecture. Its mission there included rescue operations, debris removal and pest control.
  • According to the justice ministry, the population of areas directly affected by the earthquake and tsunami dropped by 10.5 percent from March 11 to March 31.
  • JTB says it has invited 100 Chinese journalists and travel agents on a six-day jaunt to Tohoku next week.

MILESTONES

  • Sci-fi author Sakyo Komatsu died of pneumonia in Osaka at the age of 80. Komatsu was best-known for the novel Nippon Chimbotsu (“Japan Sinks”), which took nine years to write and which sold over 4 million copies. It was also made into a blockbuster film and TV series.
  • The oldest elephant in captivity in Japan died at a zoo in Tama “after apparently crushing her lungs with her own body weight.” The elephant, named Mako, was 46.
  • The SDF decided to extend its 46-member peacekeeping operation in the Golan Heights through next March.
  • The government’s rejuvenated “Cool Biz” casual clothing campaign is being credited with helping Japan’s top four depato operators enjoy “year-on-year growth in same-store sales in July.”

AND FINALLY…

  • Here we go again: a government panel warned that Japan would face a 9.2 percent power shortfall next summer if all nuclear reactors were halted for mandatory inspections.
  • Justice Minister Satsuki Eda said he was putting a temporary kibosh on all executions, proclaiming that he is “studying the thorny punishment.”
  • A group of governors from prefectures hosting US military bases asked the Cabinet to come up with a procedure for informing victims of crimes committed by servicemen about criminal proceedings.
  • The internal affairs ministry announced that the average Japanese household spends ¥265,807 on living expenses each month.

Compiled from reports by AP, Japan Today, The Japan Times, The International Herald Tribune, The Asahi Shimbun, TheMainichi Daily News, Daily Yomiuri, AFP, Reuters and Kyodo