Category Archives: Japan

Carlos Ghosn says ‘backstabbing’ Nissan conspiring against him

Posted on by

In video message ex-chairman says he is innocent and talks of fears for company’s future

Carlos Ghosn has accused Nissan executives of conspiring to have him arrested over unfounded fears about his plans for the Japanese carmaker, and saying he had been unfairly portrayed as a “dictator” by “backstabbing” former colleagues.

In a video recorded shortly before he was rearrested in Tokyo last week, the former Nissan chairman said he looked forward to a fair trial – a date for which has yet to be set – and he feared for Nissan’s future.

Continue reading...

Nissan shareholders sack Carlos Ghosn from company board

Posted on by

Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa opened meeting with a speech outlining allegations against his former mentor

Nissan shareholders have voted to eject Carlos Ghosn from the board, as the detained former chairman fights multiple financial misconduct charges that have landed him in custody.

The extraordinary shareholders’ meeting at a Tokyo hotel was the first such gathering since the stunning arrest of the 65-year-old auto sector titan on 19 November.

Continue reading...

Carlos Ghosn criticises ‘outrageous and arbitrary’ detention after fresh arrest

Posted on by

Former Nissan chairman says prosecutors are trying to ‘break him’ with latest move

Carlos Ghosn has been put back under arrest over allegations he misused company funds, prompting the former Nissan chairman to angrily denounce his detention as “outrageous and arbitrary”.

Japanese TV showed prosecutors arriving at Ghosn’s apartment in Tokyo, less than a month after he was freed on bail following more than 100 days in detention.

Continue reading...

Japanese aghast at prospect of extra-long holiday to celebrate coronation

Posted on by

Some workers view special 10-day break with horror, worrying how to fill the time and concerned that tourist sites will be overcrowded

An enforced, extra-long holiday is the stuff that most tired out employees dream of. But in Japan the prospect of an uninterrupted break to mark the emperor’s abdication later this month has been met with a mixture of horror and consternation.

Japan will begin the unprecedented holiday on 27 April, days before Emperor Akihito abdicates to make way for his eldest son, Naruhito, whose Reiwa reign will begin on 1 May. The holiday will finally end on 6 May.

Continue reading...

Japan’s war on whales isn’t over – the Australian government must keep fighting | Darren Kindleysides

Posted on by

Australia’s global leadership on whale conservation will be tested as Japanese hunters move to a different hemisphere

Japan’s whaling fleet arrived back at the port of Shimonoseki on the weekend with a barbaric tally of 333 dead whales that are no longer swimming freely in the Southern Ocean.

If the work of the Japanese whalers is anything like last year, more than 100 pregnant females and 50 or so juveniles will have been killed. But from now on, things are different.

Continue reading...

Tokyo crowds flock for historic newspaper as Japan announces new era – video

Posted on by

Hundreds of people attempted to get hold of special edition newspapers at a station in central Tokyo after the name of Japan's new imperial era was announced on Monday. The government announced the era, beginning when Crown Prince Naruhito becomes emperor on 1 May, will be called Reiwa, which can be loosely translated to 'fortunate harmony'

Continue reading...

‘It’s our time to rise up’: youth climate strikes held in 100 countries

Posted on by

School and university students continue Friday protests to call for political action on crisis

From Australia to America, children put down their books on Friday to march for change in the first global climate strike.

The event was embraced in the developing nations of India and Uganda and in the Philippines and Nepal – countries acutely impacted by climate change - as tens of thousands of schoolchildren and students in more than 100 countries went on “strike”, demanding the political elite urgently address what they say is a climate emergency.

Continue reading...

Fukushima grapples with toxic soil that no one wants

Posted on by

Eight years after the disaster, not a single location will take the millions of cubic metres of radioactive soil that remain

Not even the icy wind blowing in from the coast seems to bother the men in protective masks, helmets and gloves, playing their part in the world’s biggest nuclear cleanup.

Related: Eight years after Fukushima, what has made evacuees come home?

Continue reading...

Concrete: the most destructive material on Earth

Posted on by

After water, concrete is the most widely used substance on the planet. But its benefits mask enormous dangers to the planet, to human health – and to culture itself

In the time it takes you to read this sentence, the global building industry will have poured more than 19,000 bathtubs of concrete. By the time you are halfway through this article, the volume would fill the Albert Hall and spill out into Hyde Park. In a day it would be almost the size of China’s Three Gorges Dam. In a single year, there is enough to patio over every hill, dale, nook and cranny in England.

After water, concrete is the most widely used substance on Earth. If the cement industry were a country, it would be the third largest carbon dioxide emitter in the world with up to 2.8bn tonnes, surpassed only by China and the US.

Continue reading...

Okinawa referendum rejects new US military base but Abe likely to press on

Posted on by

Tokyo sees controversial plan for new base at Henoko as key to US security alliance

Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has vowed to push on with the controversial relocation of a US military base in Okinawa, hours after the island’s voters overwhelmingly rejected the move in a referendum.

Just over 70% of voters – or 434,000 people – opposed construction of a new base on Okinawa’s northeast coast that will replace an existing US marine corps base 30 miles away. Just 19% voted in favour of the move, with turnout at 52%.

Continue reading...

Japan’s Hayabusa 2 successfully touches down on Ryugu asteroid

Posted on by

The probe was due to fire a pellet into the surface of the asteroid to try to capture dust

A Japanese spacecraft has successfully touched down on a speeding asteroid 300 million kilometres from the Earth as it attempts an audacious manoeuvre to collect samples and bring them back for scientists to study.

The Hayabusa 2 probe touched down on the asteroid Ryugu at around 11:30pm GMT on Thursday. Data from the probe showed changes in speed and direction, indicating it had reached the asteroid’s surface, according to officials from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Continue reading...

Honda’s decision is a vote of no confidence in Britain’s future

Posted on by

There is a sense that while the Swindon plant’s days were numbered, Brexit tipped the balance

Honda claims Brexit had nothing to do with the decision to shutter its Swindon plant, but almost nobody seems to be buying it.

The consensus among industry pundits is that it suits Honda to avoid dipping its toe into the toxic pool of Brexit.

Continue reading...

Hunt and Fox’s Japanese fumble is a sign of UK’s weakness

Posted on by

Attempt to hustle Japan into a trade deal highlights the problems facing ‘global Britain’

It takes a lot to anger the unfailingly polite, anglophile Japanese. But Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, and Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, appear to have managed it with their ill-judged attempt to hustle Tokyo into a quick-fire Brexit trade deal.

The diplomatic fumble has highlighted rapidly escalating difficulties facing “global Britain” – the government’s nebulous vision for life after the EU – in forging new business and trade relationships around the world without an agreed post-Brexit strategy.

Continue reading...

Japan almost cancelled Brexit talks due to ‘high-handed’ letter – report

Posted on by

Trade talks will go ahead despite reported dismay at language used by Liam Fox and Jeremy Hunt

Japanese officials have reportedly accused Jeremy Hunt and Liam Fox of taking a “high-handed” approach towards a post-Brexit free trade deal, and briefly considered cancelling bilateral talks due to take place this week.

The Financial Times cited unnamed officials in Tokyo who reacted with dismay to a letter sent on 8 February in which Hunt, the foreign secretary, and Fox, the international trade secretary, insisted that “time is of the essence” in securing a trade deal with Japan, the world’s third-biggest economy.

Continue reading...

Same-sex couples in Japan launch Valentine’s Day bid for marriage equality

Posted on by

Five lesbian and eight gay couples seek damages from government for denying them same rights as heterosexual spouses

Chizuka Oe and Yoko Ogawa have been together for 25 years, but when they submitted their marriage registration at a Tokyo town hall they knew it would be rejected.

“We were told that they cannot accept our registration because we are both women,” said Ogawa, standing in the winter sun outside the building in Nakano in western Tokyo.

Continue reading...

Taiji dolphin hunt: activists to launch unprecedented legal challenge

Posted on by

Exclusive: lawsuit in Japan contends that dolphins are wrongly classified as fish and should be protected as mammals

Animal rights activists have launched an unprecedented legal challenge to the slaughter of dolphins in Japan, claiming that fishermen are routinely violating animal welfare laws and exceeding government-set quotas.

The London-based organisation Action for Dolphins and the Japanese NGO Life Investigation Agency on Wednesday submitted evidence they hope will halt the annual dolphin hunts in Taiji, a whaling town on Japan’s Pacific coast, the Guardian can reveal.

Continue reading...

Japanese women push back against Valentine’s tradition of ‘obligation chocolate’

Posted on by

For many, pressure to avoid causing offence by spending thousands of yen on treats for coworkers is becoming intolerable

Japanese women are pushing back against a tradition that dictates they must give chocolates to male colleagues on Valentine’s Day, with growing anger at the practice of “forced giving”.

Until recently, women in the workplace were expected to buy chocolates for their male workmates as part of a tradition called giri choco – literally, obligation chocolates.

Continue reading...