Category Archives: Japan

Five Eyes alliance could expand in scope to counteract China

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Plans mooted to pool strategic resources and lessen west’s dependency on China

The Five Eyes intelligence alliance could be expanded to include Japan and broadened into a strategic economic relationship that pools key strategic reserves such as critical minerals and medical supplies, according to centre-right MPs working internationally to decouple the west from China.

The coronavirus crisis has revealed the west’s key strategic dependencies on China, and plans will be announced shortly under Five Eyes auspices for a major increase in production of rare and semi-rare metals from Australia, Canada, and America in order to reduce dependency on Chinese stocks.

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US envoy to South Korea posts video shaving off his controversial moustache

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The US embassy in Seoul has posted a video on Twitter of Harry Harris visiting a barbershop to remove his moustache months after his facial hair became the subject of unusual criticism. The US ambassador says he shaved it off because of the summer heat and having to wear a face mask.

He has faced criticism for his moustache before. Commentators have said his facial hair reminded South Koreans of that of Japanese governor generals when Korea was a Japanese colony from 1910-45 

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The Guardian view on population growth: a small planet needs big solutions | Editorial

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New research suggests that the global peak may be lower than expected. But the challenges will still be immense

In 1798, Thomas Malthus wrung his hands as he contemplated the growing mass of humanity, warning: “The power of population is so superior to the power of the earth to produce subsistence for man, that premature death must in some shape or other visit the human race.”

A few years after he wrote that essay, the global population hit 1 billion. Now, thanks to the exponential growth which he described, it is closing in on 8 billion. The scholar’s direst warnings, echoed by others through the years, have not come to pass. But his concerns about the strain on resources have been multiplied by the climate crisis, with greenhouse gas emissions rising, and global heating in turn causing land loss and deterioration.

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Why is Xi Jinping pitting China against the world?

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Xi has stifled dissent at home and is increasingly willing for China to assert itself abroad

Earlier this week, Chinese leader Xi Jinping held a rare meeting in Beijing with business leaders. Admitting that the Covid-19 pandemic had a “huge impact” on the country’s economy, Xi used a Chinese idiom to assure his listeners.

“While the green hills last, there will be wood to burn,” he said. “If we maintain our strategy … we will find opportunity in crisis and turbulence. The Chinese people will surely prevail over all difficulties and challenges ahead”.

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A year to go, but does Tokyo still want to host the Olympics after Covid?

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Public enthusiasm for next year’s Games is waning, as city believes Covid-19 infections will ‘flare up’ if it pushes ahead

This Wednesday the reset Olympic countdown clock will show there are 365 days to go until the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Games. But with a year left to finalise arrangements, the prospects for a traditional Olympic spectacle in the city are looking grim.

Even if Japan, which has seen a comparatively low number of infections and deaths, could contain the outbreak, the virus is expected to rampage through the US, Brazil, India and other parts of the world.

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Global report: coronavirus infections in India pass 1m as outbreaks flare globally

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Country becomes third in world to reach figure; alarming peak in French region of Brittany

India has become the third country to record more than 1m coronavirus infections, following the US and Brazil, as it reported 34,956 new cases in the past 24 hours, taking the national total to 1,003,832.

New peaks continue to appear around the world, including an alarming rise in the Brittany region of France.

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Japan police seek to stop yakuza handing out Halloween sweets to children

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Concerns about a turf war in Kobe prompts police to seek legislation to halt traditional handout

Police in Japan are planning to deprive children of their trick-or-treat goodies this Halloween – but only because the gifts come from members of the country’s biggest underworld organisation.

Yamaguchi-gumi gang members, based in the western port city of Kobe, have been distributing sweets to local children at Halloween most years since 2013.

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Global report: Barcelona facing new lockdown as Tokyo raises alert level

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Tensions over how to quell outbreak in Catalan capital as cases flare up around the world

Part of the northern Spanish region of Catalonia has gone back into lockdown, with Barcelona suggesting it might also follow suit with restrictions in some districts, as authorities sought to control a resurgence of coronavirus cases emerging just weeks after a nationwide lockdown was lifted.

As a judge overturned a previous court decision to approve the stay-at-home order for the Lleida area, west of Barcelona, friction was emerging over how to handle an increase in cases in a suburb of the Catalan capital.

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In Japan wearing a mask is habitual – can the UK follow suit?

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Japan has avoided Covid-19 disaster and people here accept masks – making the debate in the UK even more bewildering

As a resident of a country where not wearing a mask is now akin to venturing out in one’s underwear, I’ve watched with growing exasperation the debate in the UK over whether wearing a face covering is a potentially effective defence against Covid-19.

Although the benefits of hand hygiene and social distancing – two habits promoted by the World Health Organization in the early days of the pandemic – are widely accepted, it will take time to establish which combinations of factors, both official and cultural, have spared some countries while leaving others battling high numbers of infections and deaths.

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Worm found in tonsil of Japanese woman with sore throat

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Near-4cm-long nematode roundworm is thought to have come from raw fish

An unpleasant sensation at the back of the throat can be a sign that a cold is on the way. But for one Tokyo woman, the cause of the pain was not a sniffle but a live worm that had lodged itself inside one of her tonsils.

Doctors at St Luke’s International hospital in the Japanese capital removed the long black worm with tweezers after the patient had complained of throat pain and irritation, according to a case study published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

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Global report: Tokyo hits Covid-19 high as Australia limits arrivals

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Japan reels from resurgence of virus while Australia restricts admissions to 4,000 a week

Tokyo hit another record daily high number of new cases, Australia is to halve the number of citizens it allows to return each week and Hong Kong’s schools have closed early for the summer as countries around the world struggled to contain fresh coronavirus outbreaks.

Amid growing signs of a resurgence of the virus in Japan, the capital reported 243 new infections on Friday, more than the previous day’s 224 and the first time that more than 200 cases have been confirmed for two consecutive days.

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Tokyo pays clubs and hostess bars to close after spike in coronavirus cases

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City authorities, which cannot legally force closures, offer incentives after Japan capital reports a record 224 new cases

Nightclubs and hostess bars in Tokyo are to be paid to close after the Japanese capital recorded 224 coronavirus cases on Thursday, the highest daily tally since the pandemic began.

Authorities had previously refused to give nightlife businesses economic support during the pandemic, but have changed tack after 80% of Thursday’s infections were among people in their 20s and 30s. Many of them were identified after more than 3,000 tests were carried out in Tokyo entertainment districts, including Shinjuku and Ikebukuro.

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Flooding and landslides in Japan leaves scores dead on Kyushu – video

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Torrential rain and floods in the southern island have left at least 50 people dead or missing. Rescue workers are still combing through the wreckage of houses hit by flooding and landslides in after extreme weather hit the region. The death toll on Kyushu is expected to climb further

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Rescuers search for survivors of Japan floods as more heavy rain expected

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At least 50 people have been killed after the river Kuma in Kyushu burst its banks, triggering floods and mudslides

Rescue workers were combing through the wreckage of houses hit by flooding and landslides in Japan after extreme weather left more than 50 people dead or missing on the southern island of Kyushu.

The Kyodo news agency said 40 people had died in the floods and at least 11 were missing. Among the dead were 14 residents of an elderly care home in Kuma village, Kumamoto, where the nearby Kuma river flooded. More torrential rain is forecast for coming days.

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Japan floods leave dozens dead, including nursing home residents

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Record rainfall triggers landslides in western Kumamoto region, stranding hundreds

Deep floodwaters and the risk of further mudslides have hampered search and rescue operations after heavy rain in southern Japan, including at elderly home facilities where more than a dozen residents died and scores were left stranded.

Helicopters and boats rescued more people from their homes in the Kumamoto region. More than 40,000 troops, the coastguard and fire brigades took part in the operation.

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Record rainfall triggers floods and landslides in Japan – video

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Record heavy rain in western Japan has caused widespread flooding and landslides, forcing authorities to issue evacuation orders for more than 76,000 residents. Television footage shows homes and vehicles in Kumamoto prefecture partly submerged, and several bridges have been washed away

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Japan: hundreds with dementia who went missing in 2019 yet to be found

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Ageing population in the spotlight as of the more than 17,000 people with the illness who went missing last year, the whereabouts of 245 remains unknown

Hundreds of people with dementia who went missing in Japan last year are yet to be found, the National Police Agency has announced, highlighting the growing problems associated with the country’s rapidly ageing population.

A record 17,479 people with dementia went missing in 2019, with 245 still unaccounted for.

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Scat feels better: digestive health of Japan deer improves as tourist snacks dwindle

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Absence of tourists during coronavirus pandemic has led Nara’s revered deer back to traditional diets and better health

While the absence of tourists during the coronavirus pandemic may have deprived Nara’s famous deer of their favourite snack, it has worked wonders for their digestive health.

Before the outbreak, millions of tourists descended on the western Japanese city – once the country’s capital – to view its shrines and temples, and feed the estimated 1,300 free-roaming deer in the its main park

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‘Comfort women’ crisis: campaign over wartime sexual slavery hit by financial scandal

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South Korean survivor claims support group failed to spend donations on welfare

It began with a call by a South Korean former “comfort woman” to end protests outside Japan’s embassy in Seoul – a rare attempt at reconciliation that has quickly spiralled into the biggest crisis the campaign for justice for survivors of wartime sexual slavery has faced in its three-decade history.

Lee Yong-soo, a 92-year-old veteran campaigner, told reporters last month that she would no longer attend weekly rallies outside the embassy, claiming that they had only engendered hatred between young South Koreans and their Japanese counterparts.

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