The top of most interesting stories from Japan for the weekend of the 24th of January
– Haruna Yukawa, a Japanese citizen held hostage by ISIS, has most likely been executed with new video emerging of his fellow-captive, Kenji Goto, holding a photo of Yukawa’s body. (The Japan Times, The Japan News)
ISIS are threatening to kill Goto within 72 hours (from Saturday) unless the Japanese government secures the release of Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi, a Jordanian would-be suicide bomber. Al-Rishawi who is in Jordanian prison, was one of three suicide bombers who attacked a hotel in the capital Amman, but when her belt failed to detonate she was apprehended.
In that same piece, Japanese experts on the Middle East argue that this situation should be a “wake up call” to Japan’s relationship and foreign policy in the Middle East and the country’s reliance on that part of the world for oil. The previous ransom video was released to coincide with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s tour of the Middle East last week.
Japan is now contacting Jordan to look into ISIS’ demands.
– Thousands gathered outside Japan’s national parliament, the Diet, to protest the planned move of a US military base from Futenma to Hekono Bay. Speakers argued that the US military presence is harmful to Okinawa’s people; the base move would cause extensive damage to the local environment and that Okinawan Prefectural Police have used excessive force to clamp down on anti-base protestors.
– Executives from Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) have managed to avoid an indictment over alleged negligence as to their handling of the Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown in the wake of 3/11.
The three execs dodged a previous attempt in 2013 but may still face another attempt in the future. (The Japan Times, Wall Street Journal)
– Amazon’s offices in Japan have been raided after suspicion of assisting the sale of child pornography. It’s alleged Amazon Japan allowed several books with pictures of nude minors, posted up by private sellers, to remain for sale on the website after learning of their presence.
The company has stated they are fully cooperating with police.
– A sort of ‘only-in-Japan’ headline: The Japanese government will look into further deregulation of Japan’s robotics sector, allowing more labor shortages to be filled with robots in the wake of Japan’s shrinking population and therefore shrinking labor pool.
– In 1958, the US considered giving Japan nuclear weapons during the Cold War; little more than a decade after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
– According to a government survey, 80% of Japanese support the death penalty.
