For all that I have done in 2006 and for all the many things I have left undone, have mercy on me my readers (Did you know that in the Japanese version of the Confiteor, there is no sin of omission? I could say something really snide about that but won't).
May we all have a better year in 2007.
Source: Sankei ShimbunJapan's top daily forces war reappraisal
Financial Times
By David Pilling - Published: December 27 2006 - Pinpointing the true source of power in Japan is a notoriously slippery task. In a society where decisions tend to emerge through a drawn-out process of consensus, even prime ministers are sometimes little more than figureheads, articulating policies engineered by anonymous others deep in the bowels of the body politic.
One man, however, who has enjoyed undisputed influence is Tsuneo Watanabe, now 80, chairman and editor-in-chief of the Yomiuri newspaper, which with a circulation of 10m is the world's largest daily. Mr Watanabe, who took charge of the Yomiuri empire in 1991 after starting as a political reporter, has long had the ear of prime ministers, business leaders and elite bureaucrats, including other "shadow shoguns" who have helped shape Japan.
The country's most powerful media executive, who is also the force behind the Yomiuri Giants, the nation’s most successful baseball team, has wielded his enormous influence to promote a consistently conservative agenda.
The wealth he has amassed, unusual for someone who worked up the ranks as a reporter, has invited criticism; so have the uses to which he has put his power, which some argue have lent respectability to the strident nationalism heard increasingly in Japan these days. His causes have included a long public campaign, now closer to fruition than ever, to rewrite the postwar pacifist constitution. His newspaper has been a champion of Japan's armed forces and an advocate of the country standing taller in international affairs.
This made all the more remarkable a recent about-face by Mr Watanabe, often referred to as "God" by his awestruck underlings at the Yomiuri. It began in 2005 when the Yomiuri shook the political establishment by decrying in an editorial the visits of Junichiro Koizumi, then prime minister, to Yasukuni shrine, where 2.5m war dead, including 14 Class A war criminals, are honoured. Those visits were unnecessarily provocative to China and showed a wilful ignorance of Japan's dark wartime history, the newspaper thundered.
"If anything, the Yomiuri has been more damning than the Tokyo Tribunal"Horse feathers!!! Beaver biscuits!!!
Reform minister's political organization accused of submitting false reportsOh, those construction companies! Always getting into mischief!
Mainichi Online
A defunct political organization overseen by Administrative Reform Minister Genichiro Sata has come under suspicion of stating in official government reports that it paid 70 million yen to an office that in reality didn't exist.
The "Sata Genichiro Seiji Kenkyukai" organization, which was disbanded in October this year, reportedly told the former Ministry of Home Affairs in a report on political funds that it paid 70 million yen to the office between 1990 and 2000.
Speaking to reporters following a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Sata said, "I've instructed my local secretary to examine the matter thoroughly. I want to file a report once I know about the situation."
According to the government gazette and officials at Sato's office, the political organization was founded in 1990. The organization reported that it set up an office at the Tokyo branch of Sata Kensetsu, a construction company whose president was Sata's father, but in reality the office was not operating.
In spite of this, the organization reported to the Ministry of Home Affairs that it paid a total of about 70 million yen in rent and other costs to operate the office between 1990 and 2000. In one year, the payments reportedly totaled 14 million yen.
The organization was headed by an official from a company in Tokyo that was related to Sata Kensetsu, and a government-funded secretary was in charge of work at the office.
"They're absolutely like Hitlers in there! What the members of the Council said and what is in the draft from the staff are completely different. We all expressed our opposition to it. The staff has imposed a gag order. In this day and age, when we should be open to the media!"Other members of the Council used less dramatic language but all expressed their shock at how nearly every single one of the Council's recommendations had been ignored. During the meeting, Watami Co., Ltd. president Watanabe Miki challenged Prime Minister Abe:
"What we have discussed is not even touched upon (in the draft). This meeting should be open to the press. If that is the case and this (draft) represents the judgment of the PM, then I can grant my approval."To which the PM responded:
"Pulling together everyone's opinion will take a tremendous amount of work. However, little by little, I am sure things will converge."Whoa Nellie! What the hell is he talking about? What does he mean by "converge"? What kind of convergence can take place when the Council's opinions are not even printed out on the page?
"First, whether or not what all of you are honorably saying will be put before the Diet is up to the government to decide.
Then, on top of that, what the law will actually say will have to be decided."
"Ōmune hōkōsei ga ryōshō sareta ."
"For the most part, the direction we are taking met with the Council's approval."
Japan hangs 4, including two in 70s
KYODO
TOKYO, Dec. 25 - Four death row inmates in Japan were hanged Monday, the first executions since September last year, informed sources said.
They are Yoshimitsu Akiyama, 77, and Yoshio Fujinami, 75, who were both held at the Tokyo Detention House, Michio Fukuoka, 64, who was held at the Osaka Detention House, and Hiroaki Hidaka, 44, incarcerated at the Hiroshima Detention House.
...yo no tsumi o nozoki tamō shu yo
Lawmaker pushes revisionist history
AFP
TOKYO - Thursday, Dec 21, 2006 - A top policymaker has called for Japan to "correct" its view on World War II sex slaves, saying the government should reconsider its apology.
Shoichi Nakagawa, policy chief for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party, said in an interview with the conservative Sankei Shimbun newspaper that the government should review a 1993 statement of regret.
The government needed to ensure that "what was said more than 10 years ago does not become an accomplished fact," said Nakagawa, who is known for his hawkish remarks, in the interview published yesterday.
In the 1993 statement, then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono admitted and apologized for the Japanese army's involvement in sexually enslaving women in Korea and other countries during World War II.
Abe has said his government follows the apologetic stance set by Kono in 1993.
But Nakagawa said: "During meetings with other parliament members to study it, even young people who were not parliament members when the remarks were made said that the remarks were very inaccurate."
"Unless the government swiftly corrects things if there is anything to be corrected, a wrong message would be sent overseas," he said.
"We need to avoid giving wrong information to children, too," he said.
PIL to stop funds for Japan temple
Express News Service
Kolkata, December 19: A writ petition in the form of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed at the Calcutta High Court before a Division Bench of Chief Justice V S Sirpurkar and Justice Arun Kumar Mitra seeking an order directing the Union government to block the flow of public money for the upkeep and maintenance of Renkoji temple in Japan. Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s ashes are reported to be preserved in the Renkoji temple. The PIL was submitted by advocates Asim Kumar Ganguly and Subhas Chandra Bose.
The petitioners appealed before the Division Bench that the government of India should stop funding the Netaji Research Bureau for conducting research on Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose as it is a drain on the public exchequer.
"Reform cannot be stopped. Pollen can be."
"Mask--Yes or No? The Mask NG (No Good) Party"
Hilarious. I especially love the phony party logo in the shape of a nose.
With the discovery of the charred remains of Oda Nobunaga in the ashes of Honnōji in June 1582, the various daimyō of his alliance all rushed to Kyoto in pursuit of both Oda's killer Akechi Mitsuhide and the now-vacant seat at the top of the political order.
As fishmongers, the Tsukudajima residents had to deal with the problem of a quickly devaluing inventory. To put it simply, fish rots. Perhaps due to the extremely limited land area available to them, the Tsukudajima fisherman did not dry their fish. Instead they developed a means of boiling seafood in shōyu, which had recently gone into mass production in the northern Kantō. With the explosion in the sugar trade in the late 17th century, sugar and mirin were added to boiling mixture.
The result is something one eats a lot of this time of year, probably without knowing it is "the boiled food of Tsukuda" : tsukudani (佃煮）.
Three of the traditional tsukudani shops are still operating in Tsukudajima. Tenyasu, the oldest (established 1839) most charming and cheapest, is open is all year round. The other two outlets close one day a week.
There is not much to see in present-day Tsukudajima. Descendants of the original settlers still live in cheaply-built houses squeezed onto the tiny lots doled out to their ancestors. The contruction of the Bridge ended the area's isolation and need for the tiny ferry that ran between Tsukudajima and Akashimachi. The enclave had never been a center of of great prosperity: there is precious little of the "Little Edo" gimcrackery one sees elsewhere.改正教育基本法が成立 「個」から「公」へ転換 制定５９年で大転換Frankly I have already had it with the phrase "beautiful county"--or as it is here " a beautiful country with radiant qualities."
(...)
首相は十五日、同法成立を受けて「改正は新しい時代の教育の基本理念を明示する歴史的意義を有する。基本法の精神にのっとり、個人の多様な可能性を開花させ、志ある国民が育ち、品格ある美しい国・日本をつくることができるよう、教育再生を推し進めます」とする談話を発表した。
Subway flyer for "Cool Japan" Special Edition of Brutus magazineChange the LDP / Change Japan
Restore the Old LDP / Japan Will Not Change
Blood, Sweat and Type O: Japan's Weird Science
The New York Times
By DAVID PICKER--Published: December 14, 2006--In the end, the Red Sox apparently decided to spend more than $100 million to get the Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka in a Boston uniform for the next six seasons, a daring financial outlay for an athlete who has never thrown a pitch in the major leagues or sampled the mildly insane rivalry between the Red Sox and Yankees.
For intrigued baseball fans in the United States, Matsuzaka's relevant statistics are no-brainers: 26 years old, 6 feet, 187 pounds and a 108-60 record with a 2.95 earned run average in eight seasons with the Seibu Lions.
But what many fans, the Red Sox front office and even Matsuzaka's determined agent, Scott Boras, may not realize is that in the eyes of the Japanese, Matsuzaka’s most revealing statistic might be his blood type, which is Type O. By Japanese standards, that makes Matsuzaka a warrior and thus someone quite capable of striking out Alex Rodriguez, or perhaps Derek Jeter, with the bases loaded next summer.
In Japan, using blood type to predict a person's character is as common as going to McDonald’s and ordering a teriyaki burger. The association is akin to the equally unscientific use of astrological signs by Americans to predict behavior, only more popular. It is widely believed that more than 90 percent of Japanese know their blood type.
"In everyday life in Japan, blood type is used as a kind of a social lubricant, a conversation starter," said Theodore Bestor, a professor of Japanese studies and anthropology at Harvard University. “It’s a piece of information that supposedly gives you some idea of what that person is like as a human being.
"Japanese tend to have a fairly strong kind of inherent belief that genetics and biology really matter in terms of people’s behavior. So I think Japanese might be much more predisposed to thinking about a kind of genetic basis for personality than most Americans would."
The U.S.-India Nuclear Agreement Tests Japan's Proactive Diplomacy
Shinjiro Koizumi
India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, will visit Tokyo from December 13 to 16 for a summit meeting with his counterpart, Shinzo Abe. The two are expected to discuss many issues, including an economic partnership agreement (EPA), Abe's interest in promoting four-party talks among Japan, the United States, India, and Australia, and even the U.S.-India nuclear agreement approved recently by the U.S. Congress. This agreement has attracted little public attention despite the fact that Japan will have to take a clear stand on the issue as a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). Will Japan support the deal or veto it? The more accurate question appears to be when Japan will declare its support, given Abe’s proactive diplomatic agenda...
Abe's Honeymoon Ends as Criticism in Japan Mounts
Bloomberg
Dec. 12 -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's honeymoon with the public seems to be ending.
After 11 weeks in office, popular support for Abe's administration dropped in polls by three national newspapers and NHK Television, with one survey showing a 21 percentage point decline since he took office in September.
The plunge is largely due to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's decision to re-admit 11 lawmakers booted out by Abe's predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, in September 2005. Koizumi expelled legislators who opposed his efforts to privatize the postal system, and then won a landslide election weeks later.
Japan PM suffers sharp fall in popularity
Financial Times
Published: December 12 2006 10:28 --The Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's popularity has plummeted in the past few weeks, according to polls published on Tuesday by leading Japanese media organisations.
The polls by the Yomiuri, Asahi and Mainichi newspapers, as well as the public broadcaster, NHK, taken over the weekend show a widespread loss of public faith in the government’s commitment to reform and mounting concerns over Mr Abe's lack of leadership and the direction of his government’s policies.
Courtesy: Jiji PressJapan's Economy Expands at Twice Expected Annual Pace
Bloomberg
By Lily Nonomiya -- Nov. 14 -- Japan's economy grew twice as fast as expected in the third quarter, spurring gains in the yen on speculation the central bank will raise interest rates next month to cool surging corporate spending.
Japan's economic growth revised downward
Business Week Online
By YURI KAGEYAMA - TOKYO - Japan's economy grew at a far weaker pace in the third quarter than previously reported due to downward revisions in consumer spending and capital investment, the government said Friday, raising concerns about the recovery's strength.
Gross domestic product expanded at an annual rate of 0.8 percent, well below the preliminary 2.0 percent announced in November, but marked the seventh straight quarter of expansion, the government said.
Domestic demand -- which includes consumer spending, government spending and private investment -- had contracted 0.2 percent from the previous quarter instead of inching up 0.1 percent, as previously thought.
Corporate capital investment was weaker than initially estimated, while consumption dropped more than the first reading.
"The big change was in private investment," said Hiromichi Shirakawa, chief economist at Credit Suisse First Boston Securities.
But he expects better results in the fourth quarter because the consumer mind-set was discouraged by a number of factors during the previous quarter, including higher energy costs, an interert rate hike by the Bank of Japan, a faltering Tokyo stock market.
Economy Minister Hiroko Ota blamed the downward revision mostly on weak consumer spending, but assured the public that Japan's economic revival was on track.
"The lower GDP was mainly caused by weak consumption," she said. "I don't have any concerns that the economy will fall into a downward trend. Nor do I see any signs of its entering a lull."
Road funds debateEveryone involved in this fight knows that this is a death match. Once the gasoline tax receipts are folded into the general account, they will never be pulled out and reserved for road building again.
Asahi Shimbun
In recent weeks, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been stressing his "unwavering" commitment to reform far more frequently than before. Now, Abe faces the first major test of his political will to push through his reformist agenda. Talks between Abe and his ruling Liberal Democratic Party over a proposal to funnel tax revenues currently earmarked for road construction into general-purpose funds have reached the final phase.
The focus of the debate is what to do with the 3 trillion yen or so in gasoline tax revenue, which accounts for 80 percent of overall state tax receipts set aside for road projects. Given the nation's fiscal crunch, there is undoubtedly a strong case for scrapping this system under which a sizable portion of the government's tax take is used exclusively for building new roads.
By incorporating the earmarked tax collections into the general revenue account, it should be possible to use the funds for any purpose, including road construction and repair projects.
But this policy change is not as easy as it sounds. Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi promised to do the same thing when he swept into office in 2001. But this turned out to be a formidable political challenge because of strong opposition from LDP lawmakers with ties to road construction-related companies, as well as local governments, ministries and the auto and oil industries. In the end, Koizumi's attempt was thwarted.
Late last year, amid the political euphoria that followed the ruling party's overwhelming victory in the Lower House election over the single issue of postal services privatization, the LDP agreed with the government to make the road funds available for general use.
But the task of shaping a specific policy was left to the new administration. So it came as no surprise that Abe would reaffirm this agreement when he reiterated his pledge to push through the reform late last month.
He said at the time, "We must accomplish this reform on behalf of the people to ensure we never again build unnecessary roads." Abe needs to push forward with the policy without allowing the initiative to be watered down.
Will he stick with his plans to advance structural reform or will he steer the LDP back to its old self by making unseemly political compromises with special-interest politicians?
Interesting how the text posits the return of "DISAPPROVAL RATING" as a natural phenomenon, like the return of the birds (from Siberia, I suppose) at the end of the year.
Then again, staggering, stultifying, bludgeoning unpopularity was the natural state of the most recent string of LDP prime ministers until the celebrated Mr. K came along.
You cannot get the one (restore the LDP of old) without the other (public disgust).
A Nuclear-armed North Korea: Accepting the ‘Unacceptable’?
Perhaps the least noted and most astonishing aspect of the entire diplomatic process involving North Korea during the past few years has been the almost complete inability of four of the world’s strongest military and economic powers – the United States, China, Russia and Japan, which include three nuclear weapons states and three members of the UN Security Council – to shape the strategic environment in Northeast Asia. They have proven thoroughly incapable of preventing an impoverished, dysfunctional country from consistently endangering the peace and stability of the world’s most economically dynamic region. This has been nothing less than a collective failure. Only when the other parties to the Six-Party Talks undertake a fundamental reassessment of the costs and benefits of their current policies will there be a chance to rein in, never mind reverse, Pyongyang’s nuclear-weapons programme.
Governor Ando resigns
The Asahi Shimbun
(...)
In 1993, when the Diet passed a resolution to promote decentralization for the first time, the nation's political community was rocked by a corruption scandal involving general contractors. The scandal led to the arrests of the governors of Ibaraki and Miyagi prefectures. This time, the arrests of the governors have come just when a bill to promote reforms for decentralization is about to be passed.
What an irony that in both cases the revelations about corruption and collusion in local governments surfaced when a political move toward decentralization was under way.
Yet there is no stopping the trend toward a more decentralized society where decisions on local affairs are made by the local communities. In such an age, it is only natural that governors and mayors must be prepared to be more harshly held accountable for their actions. All these revelations about crimes committed by governors should trigger serious efforts to root out the deep-seated culture of collusion in local politics.
宮崎知事辞職 談合体質の一掃こそNow this all makes a lot more sense--even the bit about the heretofore "unstoppable trend" which, it turns out, is merely "the trend that will not be stopped."
朝日新聞
振り返れば、初めて衆参両院が分権推進の国会決議をした９３年には、茨城、宮城県知事が相次いで逮捕されるゼネコン汚職があった。今度は国会で地方分権改革推進法が成立しようとしているさなかに、知事逮捕の連鎖である。汚職や談合と分権のなんと皮肉な巡り合わせか。
だが、地方のことは地方で決める分権型社会への流れはもう止まらない。そうした時代には、知事や市町村長らの責任がいっそう厳しく問われるのは当然だ。
知事の犯罪の相次ぐ発覚を機に、いまこそ、長年の談合体質を一掃しなければならない。
Coffee Shop Sector Branches Out With Multipurpose Outlets (no link)
Nikkei Net Interactive
TOKYO -- More and more coffee shops are being equipped with showrooms for bathroom and other housing fixtures, radio studios and travel agencies in an attempt to lure customers by offering them more than just a cup of premium roast.
復党反対６７％ 内閣支持率は５０％下回る ＦＮＮ世論調査
産経新聞社はＦＮＮ（フジニュースネットワーク）と合同で１１月３０、１２月１の両日、「政治に関する世論調査」を実施した。郵政民営化に反対して、自民党を離党した「造反組」議員１１人の復党について「反対」と回答した人が６７．２％に達し、賛成の１７．３％を大きく上回った。世論の厳しい反応を裏付けた結果で、安倍内閣発足直後の９月に実施した前回調査で６３．９％だった内閣支持率は、４７．７％と１６．２ポイント低下した。
... the people
Had forfeited the confidence of the government
And could win it back only
By redoubled efforts. Would it not be easier
In that case for the government
To dissolve the people
And elect another?
Source: International Herald Tribune. November 30, 2006.
Courtesy: The Nihon Keizai Shimbun
Courtesy: The Asahi Shimbun
Courtesy: The Mainichi Shimbun
See the world in green and blue
Chapter closes in saga of LDP postal rebelsSo Nakagawa Hideanao (I am toying with calling him Nakagawa the Good, differentiating him from the head of the policy research council, Nakagawa the Barking Mad) held his ground, saving the LDP's shreaded reputation from annihilation.
The Yomiuri Shimbun
With their readmission, the latest development in the saga of the Liberal Democratic Party's postal rebels can be considered the close of a chapter.
The 12 postal rebels were among those ousted last year by the LDP over their opposition to the party's postal privatization policy. The group, which includes former Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Takeo Hiranuma, submitted a joint petition Monday, seeking to rejoin the party.
Of the 12, 11 also submitted written pledges to support postal privatization and reflect on their past antiparty conduct. The exception was Hiranuma who has not changed his stance of opposing the privatization of Japan Post. The 11 legislators are to be readmitted to the party.
While they had a difference of opinion with the party over the privatization of the postal services, the postal rebels share the party's views when it comes to political principles and basic policy issues such as national security, education and the Constitution.
As such, it was only reasonable for some to point out the absurdity of their being apart from the party.
Nonetheless, the turmoil within the party over the issue of readmitting the postal rebels has made it difficult for voters to understand the situation.
Support rating for Abe Cabinet plummets to 53 percent
Mainichi Interactive
The approval rating for the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plummeted 14 percent from the previous poll to 53 percent, according to the results of a Mainichi Shimbun survey.
Behind the decline appears to be the government's slow response to the rise in suicides by schoolchildren after they were bullied at school and other problems related to education, as well as the LDP's move to allow rebellious legislators to rejoin the party, observers said.
Some experts pointed out that the public has been disappointed with Abe's lack of leadership, which has caused a split within the governing party.
Courtesy: Yahoo Japan News
Japan needs a more robust advisory body on national security at the prime minister's left elbow. However, membership in such a body cannot be just a reward for past glories and recent episodes of multiple aggravations of top bureaucrats.
An example of what I am talking about?
While not the most egregious appointment by any means, I cannot imagine what Sassa Atsuyuki will be bringing to this power conference. I love Sassa-sensei as much as anybody (How could people not think you the bees knees after all the accolades, not the least which is having Yakusho Kōji play you in a motion picture?).
Sassa-sensei, however, has been outside the mainline the security apparat for two decades. The years, furthermore, have also not been kind to him: he struggles to get around with a cane. Advising the prime minister on national security and steering him away from really dumb ideas of some of the panel's more irrepressible hawks will require tremendous reserves of energy--particularly with this Prime Minister, who is as slippery as an elver.
I just do not see that fire in Sassa-sensei anymore, nor in Ishihara Nobuo either.
However, what we have here may be only another example of Abe's love of showy commissions with numbing non-mandates.
See if you can spot the subtle lack of connection between the first and second paragraphs of yesterday's Yomiuri editorial:
Creating 'Japanese NSC' requires Abe to take lead
The Yomiuri Shimbun
China's growing military power, North Korea's nuclear test and other factors have drastically altered the security environment surrounding Japan, making it extremely important for this country to create a unified organ within the government that can pursue a strategic security policy and deal with a national emergency.
An advisory panel chaired by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was launched Wednesday to enhance the functions of the Prime Minister's Office concerning national security.
Sectionalism ties govt's hands
Both the Foreign Ministry and the Defense Agency have been unwilling to help the Prime Minister's Office strengthen its authority over foreign and security affairs, apparently worried that their authorities in these fields could be undermined.
Courtesy: Yomiuri ShimbunUSS McCampbell to replace USS Gary at YokosukaSo the Aegis-equipped McCampbell (DDG-85) (9,217 tons, 153.9 m) replaces the guided missile frigate Gary (4,100 tons, 135.9 m).
Stars and Stripes Pacific edition
Sunday, November 19, 2006 - The guided-missile destroyer USS McCampbell will replace the USS Gary at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, the Navy announced Friday.
The Arleigh Burke-class McCampbell, currently based at San Diego, is scheduled to arrive at Yokosuka in June.
After a turn-over of duties, the Gary will return to the United States, the Navy said.
Ruling bloc-backed candidate wins election seen as test for US military move
A candidate backed by the ruling coalition won Sunday's closely watched gubernatorial election in Okinawa, where thousands of U.S. forces are based, electoral officials announced.
Hirokazu Nakaima, 67, a bureaucrat-turned-former utility president with support from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party-Komeito coalition, collected 347,303 votes, narrowly beating Keiko Itokazu by just over 37,000 votes, said prefectural election board official Maiko Tashiro.
A close race had been expected between the two main candidates, who hold opposite views on Tokyo's plans to relocate a U.S. Marine Corps airstrip to another site on the island.
Itokazu, 59, a former lawmaker backed by opposition parties, opposes the relocation plan and wants the airstrip moved off the island.
"I am happy the candidate we supported won," Abe told reporters in Hanoi, where he was on a state visit after attending a Pacific Rim summit. "We want to continue to lend our ears to the voices of the people of Okinawa."
Wakayama Governor Kimura faces arrestI wonder if Kimura is not feeling at least a little spark of pride at being the first in something.
The Asahi Shimbun
11/16/2006--OSAKA--Prosecutors on Wednesday obtained an arrest warrant for Wakayama Governor Yoshiki Kimura, who faces the dubious distinction of becoming Japan's first incumbent governor arrested for suspected involvement in bid-rigging.
Kimura, 54, on Nov. 2 expressed his intention to resign to take responsibility for confusion in the Wakayama prefectural government related to the suspected collusion. He is expected to step down Dec. 2.
ＡＰＥＣで拉致も提起＝安倍首相 (no link)If and when Prime Minister Abe makes mention of the horrible injustice visited upon the citizens of his nation, I hope Hun Sen passes a note to Susilo Yudhoyono, "This guy is kidding, right?"
Jiji.com
安倍晋三首相は１５日、アジア太平洋経済協力会議（ＡＰＥＣ）参加国の報道各社のインタビューに応じ、「ＡＰＥＣの主なテーマは経済だが、地域の最大の不安定要素として北朝鮮の核、拉致の問題も提起したい」と述べ、北朝鮮による拉致問題も取り上げ、各国に協力を求める考えを示した。
「米向けミサイル迎撃も」・首相、集団的自衛権研究で
日経新聞
安倍晋三首相は14日、米紙ワシントン・ポストのインタビューで、憲法が禁じている集団的自衛権の行使に関連して「ミサイル防衛（ＭＤ）で米国に向かうかもしれないミサイルを撃ち落とすことが集団的自衛権に当たり、（迎撃が）できないのか研究しなければいけない」との認識を示した。
Japanese Premier Plans to Fortify U.S. Ties in Meeting With Bush
Washington Post
By Anthony Faiola -- TOKYO, Nov. 14 -- Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday outlined a vision for a stronger Japan and vowed to fortify the U.S.-Japan security alliance during his first official meeting with President Bush in Hanoi this weekend.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Washington Post, Abe, who succeeded Junichiro Koizumi in September, also said he would push to redraft Japan's pacifist constitution.
In the current charter, which was drafted by the United States during its occupation of Japan following World War II, Tokyo effectively renounces the use of virtually any form of aggression. Abe, saying he hoped to foster a "new spirit" in Japan, said he would seek a new constitution within six years -- referring to the maximum time a prime minister can serve in office.
Few postwar Japanese leaders have secured such long terms. Given new threats facing Japan -- most notably a nuclear North Korea -- Abe suggested that his administration could take the interim step of reinterpreting the existing constitution to increase defensive capabilities.
Abe noted that it is unclear whether Tokyo is permitted under its own constitution to shoot down a ballistic missile flying over Japanese territory en route to the United States. Rules of engagement for Japanese troops on overseas peacekeeping missions are also severely limited by the constitution. Under current interpretations, for instance, Japanese troops are not permitted to defend themselves -- or U.S. or other allied troops -- unless directly fired upon.
But leading Japanese scholars have said policy changes to address such issues may not require the adoption of a new constitution, and could instead be made through official clarifications issued by the cabinet. While declining to provide a timetable for declaring new security protocols, Abe called for options to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis.
"We need to take up each individual example and study whether they . . . infringe upon the constitution," he said.
Japan says its constitution would allow nukes for defense
The Associated Press
TOKYO — Japan's new government said today the country's pacifist constitution allows it to own nuclear weapons for self-defense, a news report said...
Japan's Economy Expands at Twice Expected Annual Pace
Bloomberg
By Lily Nonomiya -- Nov. 14 -- Japan's economy grew twice as fast as expected in the third quarter, spurring gains in the yen on speculation the central bank will raise interest rates next month to cool surging corporate spending.
Gross domestic product in the three months ended Sept. 30 grew an annualized 2 percent, the Cabinet Office said in Tokyo today. Second-quarter growth was revised to 1.5 percent from 1 percent.
Bank of Japan Governor Toshihiko Fukui said last week the central bank needs to act ``in advance'' to prevent the lowest interest rates among major economies from triggering excessive capital investment. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average jumped today on expectations the longest expansion since World War II will increase profits.
``We're seeing an increasing possibility that the Bank of Japan will raise rates'' as soon as December, said Ryutaro Kono, chief economist at BNP Paribas in Tokyo. Confirmation a slump in consumer spending was temporary and a quarterly Tankan business confidence survey that improves would be among factor that may influence sway a decision, he said.
The yen rose to 117.68 per dollar at 10:59 a.m. in Tokyo from 118.04 before the report. The Nikkei 225 advanced 1.6 percent, the biggest gain in more than five weeks. The yield on five-year notes rose 6.5 basis points to 1.225 percent.
Growth May Slow
The median forecast of 33 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for the economy to expand at an annual rate of 1 percent. The economy expanded 0.5 percent from the previous quarter, above the 0.2 percent forecast.
Since the end of the quarter, some data have shown that the pace of Japan's growth may be cooling. Bank lending slowed for a third straight month in October, and machinery orders, an indicator of future capital spending plans, had their biggest drop on record in the third quarter.
Capital spending in the quarter surged 2.9 percent, more than three times the 0.9 percent gain expected. Mizuho Financial Group Inc., Japan's second-largest bank by market value, and Tokyo Electric Power Co., the nation's biggest power company, announced plans this month to invest as the economy grows.
The gain in business spending more than offset a 0.7 percent decline in outlays by consumers, twice as much as the 0.3 percent drop expected. Expenditure slid amid a spell of bad weather that kept shoppers at home and as wages growth stalled.
