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Society

According to the UN Development Program’s Human Development Index, Japan is the seventh best country in the world to live in. Japan has moved up four spots after having slipped to eleventh place last year. Last year’s eleventh place ranking was Japan’s first appearance outside the top ten since the index was first published in 1990. In terms of women’s advancement, Japan moved up one spot from 43 to 42. Of the top ten ranked countries in the Human Development Index, Japan remains the lowest ranked by this indicator.

On Wednesday, Donald Johnston, the former chief of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, urged Japan to improve its immigration system and boost foreign direct investment as part of efforts to ensure greater economic growth. Johnston cited the example of the United States as a model Japan could use in an attempt to draw top talent as immigrants from other nations.

After receiving letters from seven students threatening to commit suicide over bullying, including five letters on Friday, Minister of Eductaion Ibuki Bunmei told young people not to write to him, saying it would only “confuse” their parents and teachers. Despite the threats, Saturday passed without any of the threatened incidents having taken place. One is left to wonder if the problem of bullying in Japan’s schools has been solved.

Parents of junior and senior high school students certainly do not seem to think that the problem has been solved, as increasing numbers of them have been hiring private detective agencies to watch their children. To pick up on any signs of bullying, private detectives tail students to and from school, and sometimes plant small IC recorders inside their bookbags to record conversations with classmates.

Meanwhile, Japan’s Ministry of Justice has jumped into the problem by demanding that schools do more in order to prevent incidents of bullying in the future. According to the ministry, in 15 cases from 2001 to 2005 where a student had experienced bullying, the school had violated the students human rights by not providing adequate support and protection.

Scandals continue at the administrative level of Japan’s schools: On Sunday, a 56 year old elementary school principal was found hanged in a forest, in an apparent suicide. Kenji Nagata, who ran a school in Kyushu prefecture, had been admonished for reporting to the local school board that a problem at his school was merely a case of ‘financial trouble.’ The real problem? Eight fifth graders had been found to have extorted over 100,000 yen from a female classmate.

Politics

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has ordered NHK, the national broadcaster, to produce and air more content on North Korea’s abductions of Japanese nationals as part of its international shortwave radio service. Predictably, the unprecedented order has stirred up discontent within Japan’s media circles. NHK Chairman Genichi Hashimoto said that NHK would, “stick to its basics of independent and autonomous program editing in its international broadcasting.” The Daily Yomiuri, Japan’s (and the world’s) largest daily newspaper and bastion of conservatism, strongly disagreed with the ministry’s decision.

The ministry’s order was made almost concurrently with Friday’s announcement that the government has begun the final steps toward acknowledging Kyoko Matsumoto, who disappeared in Yonago, Tottori Prefecture, in 1977, as an abductee taken to North Korea. If she is acknowledged as an abductee, Ms Mastsumoto, who was 29 years old at the time of her disappearance, would be the 17th person to be officially recognized by the Japanese government as having been abducted to North Korea.

According to the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryun), US-led inspections of North Korean ships in international waters, in line with the recently enacted U.N. resolution, could violate the armistice that ended Korean War hostilities and spark a new war. On Thursday, So Chung On, director of the pro-Pyongyang Chongryun’s international affairs bureau, said in English, “…If the U.S. tries to inspect our country’s ship in the ‘public’ sea, that will cause a serious matter. If something happens illegally toward North Korea by the U.S., that means the U.S. withdraws the armistice treaty, that means the start of war.”

After opposition parties protested calls by LDP policy chief Shoichi Nakagawa and foreign minister Taro Aso to have a national debate on whether or not to build nuclear weapons, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said, “It would be going too far to say that there can be no debate at all.” Abe, who previously said that there would be no debate whatsoever on the issue, has seemingly come to side with his party members rather than public sentiment on the issue.

On Saturday, the govenment announced plans to expand the currently limited participation of Japanese civilians in U.N. peacekeeping operations in the hope of enhancing the country’s image as a contributor to the international community. Japan, who is a member of the UN Peacekeeping Commission, currently accounts for 20 of the approximately 15,000 UN peacekeepers stationed around the world.

Business

After months of hype, speculation and waiting, Sony launched it’s Playstation 3 gaming console in Tokyo on Saturday. Bic Camera, Japan’s largest electronics retailer, said that all units had been sold by noon, though it refused to disclose exact figures. Masashi Morita, a game and Internet industry analyst at Okasan Securities in Tokyo, said, “Sony needs PlayStation 3 to save the company. A lot depends on this one product.” (Video uploaded to YouTube by user digitalworldtokyo)

On Friday, Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Hiroko Ota said that she is concerned about weak consumer spending. According to Ota, consumer spending, which accounts for approximately half of the Japanese economy, has been slowed by bad weather and sluggish wage gains.

In an attempt to block a hostile takeover bid by a subsidiary of a US company, Myojo Foods Co. is negotiating a capital alliance with Nissin Food Products Co. Steel Partners Japan Strategic Fund, the US-based player, currently holds a 23% stake in Myojo, and announced plans to launch a takeover bid by November 27th. Should Nissin jump in and buy out Myojo, the resulting entity would control over 50% of the Japanese market for instant noodles, and perhaps be in violation of Japan’s anti-monopoly laws.

Finally, bid-rigging by politicians and construction companies is back in the news. On Friday, the Tokyo High Court ordered 23 bridge-building firms to pay a total of 6.48 billion yen in penalties for rigging bids for bridge construction projects ordered by the central government and the defunct Japan Highway Public Corporation.

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