Asahi :: Thursday, April 23, 2009

• Chiba mayor arrested in bribery probe (4/23)
  CHIBA--Police on Wednesday arrested Chiba Mayor Keiichi Tsuruoka on suspicion of accepting a 1-million-yen bribe from a construction company vying to win a lucrative road project commissioned by the city.
  Because the three-year statute of limitations on giving bribes had expired, no one connected with construction company Azuma Kigyo Co., based in Tokyo's Koto Ward, was arrested. continued ...


• Aso makes offering at Yasukuni (4/23)
  The prime minister disclosed Wednesday he made an offering of a sacred sakaki plant to war-related Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo as part of a Shinto spring festival.
  According to aides, Taro Aso paid 50,000 yen out of his own pocket for it. They said the offering was made in the name of "Prime Minister Taro Aso."
  Although the governments of China and South Korea criticized the action, their remarks were restrained compared to outcries when former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited the shrine six times from 2001 to 2006.
  The shrine, which honors the war dead, is controversial because it also regards 14 Class-A war criminals as deities.
  Meanwhile, 87 Diet members visited Yasukuni on Wednesday to make their own offerings. No state minister of the Aso Cabinet participated.(IHT/Asahi: April 23,2009)


• EDITORIAL: Anti-piracy measures (4/23)
  Piracy remains rampant off the coast of Somalia. U.S. and French commando operations to rescue hostages resulted in deaths among hostages and pirates alike.
  Warships from about 20 countries, including those of Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force, have been deployed to the troubled waters. continued ...


• Opinion/INTERVIEW WITH TIMOTHY GEITHNER: Era of G-2, U.S. and China, appears on the way (4/23)
  Hanging in the office of the U.S. treasury secretary is a portrait of Alexander Hamilton, the first person to hold the formidable role of leading this key department of the U.S. federal government. continued ...