The wrap from Japan – February 3

– The Supreme Court of Japan has upheld a death sentence for 32-year old Tomohiro Kato. In 2008, Kato drove his car into a crowd of people in Tokyo’s Akihabara district (a place famous for being a haven to Japan’s geeks or otaku), before getting out of the car and stabbing people as they fled. Killing seven and injuring ten, Kato was 25 at the time with the prosecution saying he long planned the rampage. Kato is sentenced to death by hanging. (The Japan Times, Asahi AJW)

– UPDATED: The Asahi Shimbun writes on how the Japanese government had little room to negotiate with ISIS for the release of Kenji Goto.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Abe has condemned what appears to be the execution of the Jordanian pilot, Mu’ath al-Kaseasbeh, who became embroiled in the Japanese hostage crisis after Japan asked the Jordanian government for their assistance.

It has emerged the execution of al-Kasesbeh actually predates the hostage crisis, being filmed on Jan 3, confirming what Jordanian intelligence had already understood to be the case and hence the government’s hesitation to proceed with deal.

– Local elections in Japan’s Aichi Prefecture returned Governor Hideaki Omura of the Liberal Democratic Party (the same as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe) as Governor. However, only 35% of voters bothered to show up. Just recently, barely 50% of Japan voted in a December 14 snap election called by Abe.

– The Japan Times‘ Eric Johnston has written on why Japan has little political satire, especially in comparison to the US’ The Daily Show With Jon Stewart or France’s Charlie Hebdo.

– After the manger of Japan’s nation soccer team was named in a Spanish court’s match-fixing case, the Japan Football Association (JFA) decided to fire him, with the news breaking on Tuesday afternoon.

The JFA decided to fire Javier Agguire, one of 41 defendants in a case stretching back to 2011, when they feared his image may damage their chances for a 2018 World Cup bid. (The Japan Times, Asahai AJW)

 

The wrap from Japan – January 31 – February 1

The top or most interesting stories from Japan for the weekend of January 31

– After being granted a deadline on Thursday for a prisoner swap, the negotiations to release ISIS-hostage, Kenji Goto, seem to stall and then reach deadlock. But, early Sunday morning, it was revealed Goto had been executed.

World leaders joined Japan’s in condemning the execution with expressions of solidarity and some promising to continue taking the fight to terrorists.

Rinko Goto, Goto’s wife, released a statement on Thursday pleading for her husband to be released. Now in the wake of it, she expresses pride in her husband’s work but deep loss. She was joined by former colleagues and friends of Goto in celebrating his life’s work on reporting the suffering of children in conflict.

In the wake of the execution, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will look to debate on allowing Japan’s Self Defence Forces to come to the rescue of its citizens overseas (The Japan Times, Reuters). Even before Goto’s death, Prime Minister Abe’s Liberal Democrat Party (LDP) colleagues expressed belief the crisis would ‘stiffen’ Abe’s resolve to wind back Japan’s pacifist constitution.

Journalist and author, Jake Adelstein, wrote in The Japan Times on Sunday – which went to print before it was clear Goto had been exectued – that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his government had shown a lack of foresight, care or tact in dealing with the crisis, long before the first ransom video went online.

It will be interesting to see – considering how this execution will potentially change Japan’s pacifism and foreign policy – how the nation will use its recently reappointed seat on the United Nations Security Council.

If you’re interested in reading more on the crisis, The Japan Times created a special feed on its website.

– In other news, a survey of Japan’s female parliamentarians revealed 54% of them felt uncomfortable about sexist acts committed by fellow male lawmakers. Surprisingly, 115 of the 964 polled had been victims of sexual harassment themselves.

– The author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Thomas Piketty, has called on the Abe government to raise taxes on high earners whilst in Japan to promote the publication of his book in Japanese

Piketty even met with the leaders of Japan’s top opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), to discuss economics and ‘Abenomics’. The DPJ have been strong critics of Prime Minister Abe’s proposed economic reforms and after having recently elected a new leader after a disastrous result at the recent December 14 snap elections, they may be interested in presenting a strong fight in the Diet.

 

The wrap from Japan – January 28

The top or most interesting stories from Japan for January 28

– News wires in Japan went into full gear on Wednesday when it was announced Deputy Foreign Minister, Yasuhide Nakayama would be doing a press conference from Jordan. However, when the time came, Nakayama had “no new information” but stated Japan couldn’t confirm if Goto was alive.

However shortly afterwards, it was reported the Jordanian government had signalled a willingness to swap death-row inmate Sajida al-Rishawi for their captured Air Force pilot, Mu’ath al-Kaseasbeh. They did not mention Goto.

Since then, a new video message has been released with Goto’s voice (still no video since the original ransom video) saying the Jordanians should have Al-Rishawi ready to swap with Goto by sunset or Al-Kaseasbeh will be executed. The Japanese government is taking sunset to mean 11:30pm / 12:00am Japan time.

Meanwhile, The New York Times is asking why does ISIS suddenly care about Al-Rishawi? A militant who has mostly been forgotten after her failed 2005 suicide bombing attempt. (The piece is also a good wrap on the hostage crisis so far.)

– Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has condemned the latest demand by ISIS but has said the Japanese government will continue to work for Goto’s release.

– A vigil for ISIS-hostage Kenji Goto was held outside Japan’s Diet on Wednesday night organised by a colleague of Goto.

– Ben Dooley from The Japan Times writes that China is paying closing attention to Japan’s handling of the hostage crisis, with Chinese papers claiming that Prime Minister Abe may use the crisis as an excuse to ease Japanese constitutional law on self-defence.

– Japan is facing two problems, labor shortage caused by depopulation and a hue amount of elderly citizens, so the government is opening up nursing care to the intern training program to allow more foreign workers to fill the gaps.

Also in aged care, the Japanese government will be investing more money into dementia funding.

The wrap from Japan – January 24 – 25

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.

 

 

The wrap from Japan – January 20

The top or most interesting stories from Japan for January 20

– The terrorist group ISIS has threatened to kill two Japanese hostages if a USD$200 million ransom is not paid withing 72 hours. The hostages, Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa, appeared in the video with the English-accented executioner known as ‘Jihadi John’. (The Japan Times, The Japan News)

Whilst both Goto and Yukawa have been missing since last year, the release of this ransom video coincides with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s current tour of the Middle East. During this tour, Abe has pledged billions in yen of government loans to countries like Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt to help them fight ISIS. The money, it has been stressed, is strictly non-military and to be spent on humanitarian infrastructure but still the executioner says Abe has “proudly donated $100 million to kill our women and children and destroy the home of Muslims”.

It’s believed that this also marks the first time ISIS have directly demanded cash for hostages, before this it was normally demands for the nations to cease operations in ISIS territories. Responding to the video, both Abe and General Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga obfuscated on whether Japan will pay the ransom but have vowed to save the lives of the hostages.

– Government sources have told reporters that the video could be a composite, as the shadows in the video seem to face opposite directions.

– Kenji Goto is a freelance Japanese journalist whose last report was possibly this one dated October 22 for Japan’s public broadcaster, NHK. Goto is a passionate humanitarian and the author of several books on conflict and social injustice, his pastor testified to this.

Goto’s work had him working conflict zones from Afghanistan to Somalia, delivering speeches at UNICEF events or the Foreign Correspondent’s Club of Japan and he was the author of several books, with one winning a Japanese children’s book award.

He also founded his own website ‘Independent Press‘ and is quoted in a story on his fellow captive, Haruna Yukawa, after the Yukawa went missing in August last year. It’s believe that Goto went missing after he went looking for Yukawa in Syria.

Goto was reporting extensively from the areas around Kobani, Syria, a Kurdish town. In October, the time of Goto’s last report, the battle for Kobani was well underway and it’s possible Goto went to cover it. The above report for NHK was filed from Suruc, Turkey, which is less than 20 kilometres from Kobani across the Turkish / Syrian border.

– Haruna Yukawa is, by accounts, a very troubled individual. Profiles indicate he was a loner, struggling with his identity after a series of personal tragedies, including the loss of his wife to lung cancer. Yukawa changed his name to Haruna, a feminine name in Japan, believing he was the reincarnation of a cross-dressing Japanese princess.

In 2013 he founded his own private security company, simply titled ‘Private Military Company‘. Despite some initial confusion, which painted Yukawa as a military contractor, it’s worth noting that he was PMC’s CEO and sole employee. His YouTube channels shows him building up a macho repertoire, including footage of him test firing an AK47, but it also has video of Kenji Goto reporting.

Yukawa was tagging along with Free Syrian Army fighters before they were overun by ISIS in mid-August, with graphic video footage showing his capture by the terrorist group.

– Meanwhile, in other news, two workers have lost their lives in separate accidents at Fukushima Nuclear Plant as its operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) steps up cleanup efforts.

– A man in Osaka has been arrested for attempted murder after stringing up a wire across a path that injured a cyclist.

– On a similar note, cyclists caught evading the road rules may be court ordered to undergo retraining.

– A teenager that sparked a manhunt after posting videos on YouTube of him inserting toothpicks and other objects into foods, ‘planned’ to evade police until till March.

– Japan’s weaker yen has seen a rise in overseas tourists, with a nearly 30% increase in visitors last year.