Asahi :: Friday, April 24, 2009

• Mayor gave alleged bid-rig order (4/24)
  CHIBA--Chiba Mayor Keiichi Tsuruoka, arrested Wednesday on suspicion of taking a bribe from a construction company in 2005 to help it win a public works contract, had instructed city officials to include the firm in a bid, sources said. continued ...


• Anti-piracy bill for foreign MSDF missions passes Lower House (4/24)
  A government-sponsored bill that would enable the dispatch of the Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) on anti-piracy missions abroad cleared the Lower House without amendment Thursday, despite continued resistance from opposition parties. continued ...


• Minshuto to ban politics as family pursuit (4/24) ★
  Taking a swipe at nepotism within the ruling party, the main opposition Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) declared Thursday it would ban the practice of Diet members allowing relatives to "inherit" their political constituencies.
  Minshuto said it hoped the policy would set it apart from the Liberal Democratic Party in the minds of voters, adding that the policy would take effect from the next Lower House election and be included in its campaign manifesto. continued ...


• EDITORIAL: Aso offering to Yasukuni (4/24) ★
  Prime Minister Taro Aso offered masakaki, a ritual implement, to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo for its spring festival that began Tuesday. It cannot be overlooked as just an innocent offering to a Shinto shrine.
  The gift was actually a 50,000-yen potted sakaki, a low evergreen tree, with a nameplate saying "Prime Minister Taro Aso." Aso paid for the item out of his own pocket.
  Also in October last year, Aso offered masakaki to the shrine for its autumn festival. Two years ago, then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe did the same. Before Abe, however, no incumbent prime minister had made such an offering to the shrine since former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone did so more than two decades ago. continued ...