Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on March 2011

Aftershocks

• A motorist in quake-hit Iwate died of carbon monoxide poisoning while waiting for gasoline in a line that stretched longer than a kilometer. The man had been trying to keep his car warm with a kerosene heater.
• Billionaire US investor Warren Buffett apparently believes that the earthquake “is the kind of extraordinary event that creates a buying opportunity for shares in Japanese companies.”
• It was reported that Kansai Electric Power Co. will invest up to ¥100 billion in an effort “to make its nuclear plants more resistant to earthquakes and tsunami.” Maybe they could ask Warren Buffett for some help.
• The speaker of the Osaka Prefectural Assembly was forced to apologize after calling earthquake-inflicted damage at a local government office “a divine fortune.” The pol had opposed a plan to move all municipal offices to the damaged building.
• It was reported that some teachers and school officials in Tohoku are holding graduation ceremonies at evacuation centers. Others are visiting their students’ homes to hand-deliver diplomas.
• The central government is mulling whether to establish a full-fledged federal agency that would specifically deal with post-quake reconstruction.

You’ve come a long way, baby

Shane Busato

• Five women were arrested for fraud for their role in a now-defunct Tokyo company that provided “supernatural services such as exorcisms.” The authorities cited one case in which a customer was told that she had been possessed by the spirit of a fox.
• All Nippon Airways has designated 17 female employees as “Appearance Leaders” based on their looks and demeanor. One lucky winner said, “I’m extremely honored. I’ve been careful especially about how I wear my uniform.”
• The National Police Agency said that the number of cases of reported domestic violence in 2010 skyrocketed by 20 percent to its highest level ever.
• A 49-year-old security guard from Yokohama was busted for dressing as a woman and entering a female public bath in Kawasaki.

Looking up

• For the fourth consecutive month, sales at convenience stores rose compared to a year earlier. In total, conbini around the nation raked in nearly ¥570 billion in February.
• A Tokyo-based marketing research firm expects that “online supermarket sales [will] increase by 60 percent from fiscal 2009, to ¥46.8 billion in fiscal 2013.”
• The Real Estate Economic Institute said that the number of new condominiums for sale in Tokyo rose 24.9 percent from a year before.
• Police declined to file charges against former sumo wrestler Kotomitsuki over a baseball-betting scandal, though five other active wrestlers were indicted.
• Stop the presses! The Kyodo news agency reported that a player on the Yokohama F Marinos soccer team was fined ¥250,000 for driving without a license last fall.
• Sentence of the Week: “A man denies he was outside running around pretending to be a ninja, but acknowledges he did leave his 4-year-old son home alone sleeping while he went jogging earlier this month.” (via The Mainichi Daily News)

All China, all the time

• It was reported that China’s Spring Airlines may become the first foreign carrier “to offer low-cost, domestic services in Japan.”
• Housetec Inc., a Japanese manufacturer of baths, has inked a deal with China’s largest bath maker to produce and sell Japanese-style ofuro in China.
• At the same time, Hitachi is building a sewage purification system in the Chinese city of Chengdu, and plans to enter “the water-related business in China on a major scale.”
• Not to be outdone, Mitsubishi is establishing a division in Jiangsu province to manufacture power steering equipment and other automotive equipment.

On the road

• Good news, bad news: although auto dealerships around the nation have reported a slight uptick in new car sales, it seems that many consumers are “switching from luxury cars, which carry big profit margins, to smaller vehicles or hybrid cars.”
• It was reported that Honda and other automakers are devising iPhone-friendly route planners as an alternative to vehicle navigation systems.
• A scooter jointly developed by Suzuki and a British company became the first fuel-cell vehicle to earn Whole Vehicle Type Approval from the EU. The designation “reflects a high level of environmental performance and safety.”
• During an official visit to Kyoto, China’s foreign minister invited Japanese PM Naoto Kan to visit his country “at an appropriate time later this year.”

And finally…

• A survey by British and German researchers has found that Japanese ranked last among 18 nations “in terms of both the desire and need to have children.”
• The LDP has backed Yuji Kuroiwa, a former TV anchorman, as its candidate in next week’s gubernatorial election in Kanagawa.
• A bit of trivia: newly installed Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto is a direct descendant of Hirobumi Ito, Japan’s first prime minister, who served from 1885-1888.
• Twenty-one Tokyo Metro employees observed a moment of silence late last month at Kasumigaseki station in commemoration of the 16th anniversary of the sarin gas attack, which killed 13 people and sickened thousands in March 1995.

Compiled from reports by Bloomberg, Jiji, AP, Japan Today, The Japan Times, The International Herald Tribune/Asahi Shimbun, The Mainichi Daily News, Daily Yomiuri, and Kyodo