Politics

On Monday, during a visit to Japan, Ban Ki Moon, the current foreign minister of South Korea and the incoming U.N. secretary general, voiced concern over discussions concerning the possibility of Japan developing nuclear weapons in response to the recent nuclear test by North Korea.

Could he be the voice of reason in politics? Rupert Murdoch has called for the US, Japan and China to take part in a joint summit, hosted by US President George Bush. In Tokyo on Monday, Murdoch announced: “China, Japan and the U.S. have much business to get through. There are too many misunderstandings and misread signals among these countries.”

US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, Okinawa and its planned relocation are taking center stage in the run up to Okinawa’s November 19th gubernatorial election. The ruling coaltion’s man, Nakaima Hirokazu, says he’d accept the relocation plan, but demand a reconsideration of a controversial V-shaped runway design. Itokazu Keiko, a former member of the House of Councilors, would demand that the base be moved out of Japan; and longshot Yara Chosuke of the Ryukyu Dokuritsuto, the Okinawan Independence Party, is, of course, calling for the archipelago’s independence from Japan. Considering criminal acts including a number of rape charges, a helicopter crash on a college campus last year, the noise of the coming and going of military aircraft, and the large percentage of prime real estate occupied by bases, the Marine Corps does not enjoy widespread popularity in Okinawa.

Society

As our listeners surely join TPR in being disturbed by news of bullying and bullying-related suicides, it is with regret that we inform you that the problem is far from resolved.

After hesitation in fear of copycat incidents, the Education Ministry called a rare midnight press conference to announce that it had received Monday morning an envelope of seven letters, believed to be mailed from Tokyo’s Toshima-ku on Saturday, bearing no name, school name, or other indication of origin, in which a student explains that he has been bullied at school and will commit suicide at the school on Saturday if the torment has not stopped by Wednesday. Today.

The seven letters were addressed to the student’s classmates, classmates’ parents, his teacher, his school principal, his local education board, the Education Minister, and his own parents.

Speaking to the student, believed to be a junior high school or high school boy judging by the handwriting and range of kanji used, Education Minister Ibuki Bunmei said, “You have only one life. When you were born, your father and mother embraced your life. Please carefully communicate your feelings to someone. Please understand that the community is not ignoring you.”

Ibuki added that schools, education boards, and teachers had been ordered not to conceal or ignore incidents or bullying. The Ministry was praised by Life Link, a suicide prevention hotline, for its direct, open, and prompt handling of the crisis.

The results of a Justice Ministry survey released on Tuesday showed the recidivism rate for those convicted of sex crimes against children under 13 exceeded 20%, well over double the recidivism rate for those convicted of sex crimes against people over 13 years old, despite recent efforts to reduce repeat offenses.

In better news, the number of cases police turned over to prosecutors dropped 1.8 percent from last year, indicating decreasing crime, which continues a trend of decreases since the number of non-vehicular crimes peaked in 2002. Despite an increase in cyber crime, primarily Internet auction fraud, and an increase the absolute number of non-vehicular, non-visa crimes committed by foreigners, crime dropped in most categories. Police attribute the drop to increased neighborhood vigilance following a spate of crimes against children.
Business

Japan’s Softbank and News Corp. have agreed to team up in order to develop a Japanese version of MySpace. The two companies intend to set up a 50-50 joint venture in order to compete directly against Mixi, Inc., which is currently the market leader in Japan’s nascent social networking site industry. Shares in Mixi fell 5% upon the announcement.

Both Japan Air Lines and All Nippon Airways are expected to cut their fuel surcharges by up to 2,200 yen on round-trip flights. The cut will eat into both companies’ revenue, as fuel supplies were purchased when prices were higher.

On Tuesday, Toyota announced a 44 billion yen capital and operational tie-up with Isuzu Motors to work on small diesel engines and emission-control technology in an effort to meet more stringent emission-control regulations worldwide. The tie-up came on the heels of Toyota’s alliance with Fuji Heavy Industries and an announcement that the automaker had set two new records for a Japanese corporation - a projected annual group operating profit of over two trillion yen and first half group profits of 1.09 trillion yen. Toyota, currently the world’s second-largest automaker, is expected to overtake GM, who once owned a sizable portion of Isuzu, in group sales for the year ending in March.

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