June 30, 2010
By a GenomeWeb staff reporter
NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) — Japan's Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology has begun a search to fill approximately 15 faculty positions, as it pursues accreditation as an independent university, and prepares to welcome its first class of graduate students in September 2012.
In a statement on its website, OIST said it is seeking to hire principal investigators and independent new investigators for five-year periods that would be renewable following a scientific review. The investigators could either enhance existing areas of research or establish new ones, the institute said.
"New research areas include structural biology, biological physics, biological chemistry, marine sciences, ecology and evolutionary biology, and microbial and plant genetics," OIST said in the statement.
The deadline for submitting applications is July 31. Interviews will be set for August and September, with appointments expected to be made by early 2011. Additional information and an application are available here.
"The ratio of Japanese to non-Japanese will be maintained at approximately 50:50," according to the six-page information supplement on the faculty positions.
OIST has launched 23 research groups in four major areas — neuroscience, molecular sciences, mathematical and computational biology, as well as marine ecological science. As of April, the institute had more than 170 researchers, and more than 70 administrative staffers whose positions support the researchers, the supplement stated.
The institute is led by Founding President and First President Sydney Brenner, a co-winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine, for research that identified key genes regulating organ development and programmed cell death in worms. He also helped discover messenger RNA.
Once the institute completes its transition to a graduate university in 2012, OIST said, the faculty members' positions will be changed to traditional tenure-track professors, assistant professors, and associate professors. Some faculty members will be hired part-time or jointly with other research institutions, the institute added.
Earlier this year, OIST completed the first construction stage — including a hub building and one of three planned laboratory buildings — for its permanent Onna-son main campus.
Established in September 2005, OIST is funded by the Japanese government but develops and conducts its academic and research programs independently. The institute's budget — a combination of operations and facilities subsidies from Japan's national government — has risen over the past year to ¥13.3 billion ($150 million) in the current fiscal year that began April 1, up from ¥11.2 billion a year earlier and more than double the ¥5 billion of 2005.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Brenner's Okinawa Institute Seeks to Fill 15 Faculty Positions
Okinawa mourns victims of 1959 US fighter crash
June 30, 2010
Click for Video
A remembrance ceremony has been held to commemorate the victims killed when a US fighter jet crashed onto a school in Okinawa 51 years ago.
The gathering took place on Wednesday at an elementary school in Uruma City, where on June 30th 1959 the aircraft from nearby US Kadena Air Base crashed and burst into flames. Most of the18 victims were school children. Many others were injured.About 500 participants, including students and families of the victims, offered a moment of silence, and 6th graders from the school recited a poem praying for peace.
At the end of the ceremony, all the students sang a song about a school tree that had survived the crash and subsequent fire.
2010/06/30 19:52(JST)
(JST: UTC+9hrs.)
FOCUS: Hatoyama's negative legacy on Futenma confounds Okinawa before poll
June 30 2010 18:44
NAHA, Japan, June 30 KYODO
Even though former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama broke his promise to move a U.S. Marine base out of Okinawa Prefecture, that was it for him once he left government.
But for the people of Okinawa the story is not over, and the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, which Hatoyama led until early June, may have to pay a high political price to clean up the mess left by the ex premier.
The DPJ gave up fielding a candidate in Okinawa for the July 11 upper house election, fearing the party would garner little support following Hatoyama's announcement in May that most of Futenma Air Station's functions would stay on the island following eight months of fruitless efforts to find an alternative site for the base.
Naoto Kan's rise to power has even worried the subtropical island as the new premier immediately vowed to follow the bilateral accord that the Hatoyama government concluded with Washington in late May, which basically adheres to the original 2006 agreement to move the facility to a less crowded area in Okinawa.
''I had hoped the party would bring about a change, but it didn't,'' a 63-year-old woman from the prefectural capital of Naha said of the DPJ, which won a historic election victory last year. She added that she did not know which party to vote for in the House of Councillors election.
In a bid to capitalize on Okinawa's intense anger at the DPJ and reel in voters, all the candidates from opposition parties running in Okinawa are calling for the relocation outside the prefecture, or closure, of the Futenma base, which currently sits in a crowded residential area in Ginowan.
Political pundits predict that the latest national poll will see a low voter turnout in the prefecture -- the only constituency in Japan with no candidates from the ruling party -- noting that voters are being offered virtually no options.
''Voters are also skeptical as to whether their ballots would exert any influence on the management of the government,'' given that the DPJ will likely stay in office for a few more years at least, Masaaki Gabe, professor at the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa, said.
Even Aiko Shimajiri, an incumbent upper house member of the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, has claimed that Futenma should be moved outside Okinawa. It was the LDP-led government that signed the original bilateral accord on U.S. forces realignment in May 2006.
Neither her campaign office nor the LDP's local branch are hesitant about pushing for a completely different pledge from the party's headquarters, and the branch has even mapped out a separate manifesto for Okinawa, home to about one million eligible voters.
If Shimajiri wins, the branch will press the party's Tokyo office to seek full-fledged support from other prefectures for reducing the base-hosting burden on Okinawa, Sunao Ikema, secretary general of the LDP Okinawa branch, said, while stressing that the risks Futenma poses to local residents must be removed immediately.
Shimajiri, 45, is the LDP's lone Diet member representing Okinawa. The LDP lost all House of Representatives seats from the prefecture in last summer's election, which ended the party's almost unbroken rule in Japanese politics since 1955.
But Hiroji Yamashiro, 57, an independent candidate who is backed by the Social Democratic Party and has long taken the lead in anti-base protests in Okinawa, has denounced Shimajiri for changing her stance just to gain votes.
Advocating the outright removal of what is often claimed to be one of the most dangerous U.S. military facilities in the world is Tadayuki Ijyu, 59, a doctor running with the support of the Japanese Communist Party.
''We should not force pain on people in other areas and our party is the only one that can make a clear demand to the U.S. government,'' he said in a stump speech in Naha in late June.
Further complicating the contest are harsh criticisms leveled by Shokichi Kina of the DPJ, who is seeking his second term on the party's proportional representation ticket, against the Kan administration for sticking to the May accord to relocate Futenma within Okinawa.
''I am the one who is pursuing what the party initially advocated and the party is the one that has changed its stance. How can I ensure consistency?'' said the musician-turned-politician who heads the DPJ's local office, displaying little hesitation in building up a ''Tokyo versus Okinawa'' stance.
Hatoyama's flip-flopping not only shattered Okinawa's hopes, however tiny, that the DPJ would bring about a long-awaited breakthrough in the stalled base relocation issue -- devastating local confidence in politics -- but also made Okinawa feel even more discriminated against and isolated from the rest of the country.
''This time, I became more aware than ever before that people on the mainland don't want to get their own hands dirty,'' said the woman from Naha, who as a former official of the Okinawa prefectural government asked not to be identified by name.
The residents of Okinawa have complained that they were sacrificed during the closing days of World War II and are still compelled to bear the uneven burden of hosting U.S. forces today, with about 75 percent of U.S. military facilities in Japan located on their island.
Hiroshi Ashitomi, who for years has led a sit-in protest against the construction of a replacement facility for Futenma on the coast of Henoko in Nago, said Hatoyama's decision helped shed light on the ''political discrimination'' against Okinawa.
Ashitomi said he felt frustrated when Kan expressed his appreciation to Okinawa for hosting U.S. forces during a June 23 ceremony to mark the 65th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Okinawa.
''It's nothing but an insult to us,'' he said. ''Despite his background as a civil activist, it doesn't seem like he sympathizes with our feelings.''
Amid the backlash from Okinawa, Gabe at the University of the Ryukyus said the Kan government is unlikely to win local approval for implementing the May deal, no matter who is chosen in the local gubernatorial election in November, further clouding Tokyo's prospects of meeting the 2014 deadline for completing the realignment.
While many people on Okinawa said they credit Hatoyama with bringing the Futenma issue to the forefront of the political stage, they also hold him responsible for snuffing out their hopes like a candle.
==Kyodo
Mainichi :: Wednesday, June 30, 2010
- The Mainichi Daily News
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- National government officials' average summer bonus reaches 577,500 yen
- DPJ legislators wary of Ozawa's criticism of party leadership
- Lawmakers' average income hits record low (Kyodo News)
- Okada negative about G-8 expansion to include China (Kyodo News)
- U.S. intercepts ballistic missile in test off Hawaii (Associated Press)
EDITORIAL :: Mr. Kan meets Mr. Obama
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
At their Sunday meeting on the fringe of the G20 summit in Toronto, Canada, Prime Minister Naoto Kan and U.S. President Barack Obama agreed that the Japan-U.S. alliance is a cornerstone of peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region. Their first meeting took place after bilateral ties had become somewhat awkward under the administration of Mr. Kan's predecessor, Mr. Yukio Hatoyama, over the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Okinawa.
Mr. Kan told Mr. Obama that he will make serious efforts to implement a May 28 bilateral accord, which stipulates that Futenma's heliport function will be moved from the crowded urban area in Ginowan to the less densely populated Henoko coastal area in Nago, farther north on Okinawa Island.
Both agreed to try to lessen the burden on Okinawa Prefecture. Mr. Obama said he understands that the Futenma relocation won't be easy, adding that he will make efforts to help U.S. forces gain more acceptance in the region. The two also took up the March 26 sinking of a South Korean corvette and Iran's nuclear program.
As Mr. Obama indicated, resolving the Futenma issue won't be easy, although both leaders' express determination to lessen the burden on Okinawa is welcome. Japan and the United States are to decide on the specific location of the Futenma replacement facility, its configuration and the construction method by the end of August. Okinawan people's opposition to the Henoko plan is so strong that both governments must realize that without getting the people on their side, the Futenma relocation will not materialize. Opponents of the plan could win in the Nago assembly election in September and in the Okinawa gubernatorial election in November.
Mr. Kan must persevere in reaching the Okinawan side. To push the relocation plan without doing so could lead to an uncontrollable situation. Some Japanese question the roles of U.S. Marines stationed in Okinawa, in the security situation surrounding Japan. Tokyo and Washington have the task of convincingly explaining American military roles to people. More importantly, neither should rule out the possibility of rethinking the May 28 accord.
Japan Times :: Wednesday, June 30, 2010
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Kan's diplomatic debut in Canada a chance to show leadership skills
By TAKUYA KARUBE, Kyodo News
TORONTO — Naoto Kan may think he is curiously connected with Canada as part of Japan's top political echelon — but not because the sound of his surname conjures up the name of the country where he just made his diplomatic debut as prime minister.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20100630a6.html - [NATIONAL NEWS]
Noda slams Ozawa for rapping DPJ
Kyodo News
Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda lashed out Tuesday at Ichiro Ozawa, the former No. 2 in the Democratic Party of Japan who criticized the current DPJ leadership for rolling back some pledges ahead of the July 11 election.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20100630a8.html - [NATIONAL NEWS]
Foreign Ministry seeks aid-policy revision to enhance efficiency
Kyodo News
The Foreign Ministry called Tuesday for revision of the development assistance charter, which stipulates Japan's basic aid policy, to enhance efficiency as foreign aid has been reduced for the 11th straight year.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20100630a9.html - [NATIONAL NEWS]
Diet almost freed up Net campaigning
By DAISUKE YAMAMOTO, Kyodo News
Political parties and candidates hoping to use the Internet to appeal to today's tech-savvy voters were disappointed when the Diet failed to make it legal in time for the July 11 Upper House election.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20100630f2.html - [JT EDITORIAL]
Mr. Kan meets Mr. Obama
At their Sunday meeting on the fringe of the G20 summit in Toronto, Canada, Prime Minister Naoto Kan and U.S. President Barack Obama agreed that the Japan-U.S. alliance is a cornerstone of peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region. Their first meeting took place after bilateral ties had become somewhat awkward under the administration of Mr. Kan's predecessor, Mr. Yukio Hatoyama, over the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Okinawa.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/ed20100630a1.html
Curtis: Responsible leadership elusive
BY ROY K. AKAGAWA STAFF WRITER
2010/06/30
A leading American scholar of Japanese politics on Tuesday painted a pessimistic picture of the political situation ahead of the July 11 Upper House election.
Gerald Curtis, a political science professor at Columbia University and visiting professor at Tokyo's Waseda University, predicted the ruling Democratic Party of Japan will fail to win sufficient seats even for a coalition majority in the Upper House.
"If the election were held today, my guess is that the DPJ would win 50 or 51 seats," Curtis told the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan.
The figure is below the 54 seats that Prime Minister Naoto Kan has set as a minimum goal for his DPJ. It also falls short of the 60 seats the DPJ would need to gain an outright majority in the chamber.
"A single party majority is the best outcome for Japan in my view because it creates a responsible government that voters can hold accountable for its actions in the next election," Curtis said. "That is also the least likely outcome."
Curtis blamed the party's current dire straits on the way in which Kan first broached the possibility of raising the consumption tax rate.
"First, he thought it was politically safe to come out with a dramatic statement about raising the consumption tax rate because the (Liberal Democratic Party) had already proposed an increase to 10 percent," Curtis said. "But all this did was make it look as though he had no ideas of his own and was borrowing those from the LDP."
Curtis said Kan's subsequent wavering on the consumption tax issue had only worsened matters. He said the issue pointed to a potential weakness of Kan, especially in comparison to his predecessor, Yukio Hatoyama.
"Kan has the opposite problem of Hatoyama," Curtis said. "Hatoyama's problem was he could never decide anything. Kan's problem is that he tends to decide things too quickly."
Curtis said Kan raised the issue of a hike in the consumption tax rate without considering how to persuade the public the move was necessary and that voters could trust him to implement policy that would be in the long-term interests of the nation.
Using a term first used by the American economist Joseph Schumpeter of "creative destruction," Curtis said the Japanese political system was now undergoing such change.
"The process of destroying the old to make way for the new is not yet over," Curtis said.
Curtis said Junichiro Koizumi, whose term as prime minister ended in 2006, was the protagonist of the creative destruction process and not its victim like his four successors.
"Koizumi was supremely confident that the old system had to be destroyed and he thought he knew what should replace it," Curtis said.
Curtis suggested there were positive consequences from the change in government engineered last September by the Hatoyama-led DPJ.
The DPJ victory "further undermined the traditional political machine, weakened the entrenched interests and accelerated the collapse of the old type of politics," Curtis said.
Since taking over government, the DPJ has also "put a big dent on the amakudari system, changed the relationship between politicians and bureaucrats" and brought in a new corps of leaders who are learning how to run government, Curtis said.
He said the appointment of DPJ lawmakers to the top positions of central government ministries would have a potential long-term impact on Japanese politics comparable to the purge of Japanese politics during the U.S. occupation of Japan.
Curtis said the changes represented the creative side of the creative destruction of the Japanese political world.
He said his overall pessimism about Japan was mainly due to the fact that political leaders were not addressing a range of pressing issues, from reforming the taxation system to immigration and national security.
Curtis added that in many ways, such as the need for a consumption tax rate hike, the public was ahead of politicians in understanding and accepting the need for change.
"The public is ready to be led, but it has no leaders," Curtis said.
EDITORIAL: Kan-Obama meeting
2010/06/30
Japan's relations with the United States were "reset" Sunday, so to speak, with Prime Minister Naoto Kan's first summit with President Barack Obama in Toronto.
The two leaders reconfirmed the bilateral alliance as "a cornerstone" of peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region. Kan told Obama of his intention to visit the United States in September while the United Nations General Assembly is in session.
The issue of relocating the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma triggered the collapse of the Cabinet of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama born of last year's historic regime change. Hatoyama's mishandling of this issue was largely to blame for this sorry outcome.
Seen from the larger picture of Japan-U.S. relations, it was unfortunate for both partners that it took just one base-related issue to sour their relationship, not to mention that it also resulted in the replacement of Japan's top leader.
Because of this background, both Kan and Obama must have positioned their meeting in Toronto as the first step toward rebuilding a relationship of trust.
Kan promised to honor the Japan-U.S. agreement made by his predecessor. Obama responded that he appreciates the difficulty this matter poses for Tokyo, and that he will strive to make the U.S. military presence more acceptable to the region.
Obama urged Kan to visit the United States. We presume Obama wants to rebuild summit diplomacy with Japan that fell into dysfunction during the Hatoyama administration.
But the political challenge of relocating the Futenma base has not become any easier for Tokyo.
The great majority of Okinawans are opposed to the proposed move to the Henoko district in Nago under the current Japan-U.S. agreement. Should the Kan administration go along with this plan and decide on the location of the new runway and the method of construction by the end of August without obtaining the understanding of the people of Okinawa, the Okinawans are naturally going to resent this bitterly.
And should the Okinawa gubernatorial election in November be won by a candidate opposed to the relocation within the prefecture, the prospects of executing the plan will become even more remote.
Kan is hoping to win the understanding of Okinawans by doing his utmost to lighten their burden while proceeding with the plan under the Japan-U.S. agreement. In Toronto, he personally sought Obama's cooperation.
But Kan should have been more direct in his conversation with Obama. He should have told Obama frankly how hard it is for Okinawans to accept the present situation and why it is absolutely necessary to alleviate their burden, if the Japan-U.S. security framework is to be stably maintained.
We understand it was their first meeting, and the time was limited, too. Still, we got the unmistakable impression that playing hardball with Obama was the last thing Kan wanted. But how can the two leaders build an ideal relationship for their countries if they dodge any difficult issue?
They agreed on continuing to discuss ways to "deepen" the bilateral alliance. The discussions are expected to be mainly about how to deal with new global threats such as terrorism, nuclear proliferation, climate change and major disasters, but these discussions could also develop into a review of the roles of the U.S. forces and Japan's Self-Defense Forces.
Kan told Obama, "It is important for the Japanese public themselves to think really about the significance of our alliance, and for them to think about the decisions for the future of our alliance." We, the people, need to keep seeking a solution to Okinawa's base-related problems in the bigger picture.
The deepening of the Japan-U.S. alliance and the alleviation of Okinawa's burden must be discussed as a package, and the entire nation must start the discussion. And it is Kan's responsibility to lead the discussion.
--The Asahi Shimbun, June 29
Asahi :: Wednesday, June 30, 2010
- Curtis: Responsible leadership elusive (06/30)
- Seoul faces difficulty having N. Korea named in sinking (06/30)
- U.S. decides to keep N. Korea off terror list (06/30)
- China fends off Obama pressure over North Korea (06/30)
- EDITORIAL: Kan-Obama meeting (06/30)
- POINT OF VIEW/ Heizo Takenaka: Upper House ought to be a bastion of wisdom (06/30)
WWII battlefields soon to get additional protection
Date Posted: 2010-06-24
Inspections of World War II battlefield will begin this fall, with an eye to better protecting the battlefields while making more practical use of the cultural and historic sites.
Okinawa Prefecture is creating an investigation committee in August to oversee the process of developing standards of how to research and investigate the Battle of Okinawa sites to better assess cultural assets. The prefecture began studying the battle sites more than seven years ago, and has already confirmed 979 different wartime fighting locations. To date, none of those investigations have led to designations as cultural assets.
“This is the first time to make a basic standard for battlefields,” said one official, noting “it might be good reference to other prefectures.” He said one goal is to enhance studies for academic value, and predicts the project will take five years to complete. Initial investigation study subjects are the Japanese Navy Commander’s underground air raid shelter headquarters in Tomigusuku City, and the Okinawa Army Hospital in Haebaru, also an underground air raid shelter.
Okinawa Prefecture says it’s commissioned cultural assets studies of 13 battlefield sites in eight municipalities. The centralized effort is hoped to be more effective and less costly than each municipality addressing the investigations individually.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
MSDF to join multilateral antipiracy drills
Jun 29 09:34 AM US/Eastern
TOKYO, June 29 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force will join multilateral antipiracy drills under a U.S.-led Pacific Rim military exercise, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday.
It will be the first time that the MSDF participates in a multilateral session of the Rim of the Pacific Exercise, or RIMPAC, it said. Japan has previously only held bilateral drills with the U.S. Navy when participating in the biennial exercise, given the constraints of its pacifist Constitution.
The government interprets the Constitution as prohibiting Japan from exercising the right to collective self-defense and participation in multilateral drills is viewed as contravening the ban.
The ministry said, however, that it views international antipiracy efforts as a policing action that is not categorized as collective defense. The planned drills are not aimed at military action against a specific nation, it added.
RIMPAC 2010, hosted by the United States, began last Wednesday in waters off Hawaii with the participation of allied military forces from 13 other countries. It is scheduled to last until August 1.
Okada negative about G-8 expansion to include China
Jun 29 08:19 AM US/Eastern
TOKYO, June 29 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada on Tuesday expressed a negative view about expanding the Group of Eight forum to include China as a member, saying the forum should maintain its principle of bringing together "developed countries that share the same (democratic) values."
Prime Minister Naoto Kan proposed during a working dinner of G-8 leaders in Canada on Saturday that the forum invite China "in some cases" to help make Beijing more responsible in the international community. Okada told a press conference that the premier had no intention of asking China to join the forum as an official member.
The foreign minister said he believes the G-8 framework is "very important" for discussing topics such as development and political matters including how to deal with North Korea.
"In talks on economic matters, it would be effective to have emerging economies as members, but it is not necessarily appropriate to discuss issues such as development and climate change at meetings of the Group of 20" advanced and emerging economies, Okada said.
China, a G-20 member, has often taken part in outreach sessions of the G-8 meetings. Okada said the G-8 needs to invite nonmembers occasionally, but that those guests will not become permanent members.
The G-8 countries are Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States. The G-20 is composed of the eight major nations plus key emerging countries, including Brazil, China, India, South Africa, Mexico and Saudi Arabia.
US: N.Korea won't be blacklisted over sinking
June 29, 2010
Click for Video
The US government says it will not place North Korea back on its list of state sponsors of terrorism over the sinking of a South Korean patrol ship.
A multinational team of investigators has blamed a North Korean torpedo for the deadly sinking in March.
On Monday, US Assistant Secretary of State Philip Crowley told reporters that the incident was a clear violation of the armistice between the 2 Koreas.But he said it was an action taken by one state's military against another, and by itself does not constitute an act of international terrorism.
Crowley said the US will continue to watch North Korea carefully, and will not hesitate to take action if there's information that the country provided support for acts of international terrorism.
2010/06/29 09:38(JST)
(JST: UTC+9hrs.)
Tokyo, Washington, Okinawan island want SDF troops deployed, but for different reasons
June 29, 2010Japan, the United States and the local government on Yonaguni Island, Okinawa Prefecture are calling for deployment of Self-Defense Forces (SDF) troops to Japan's westernmost island, but for different reasons.
Tokyo and Washington believe SDF troops should be deployed to Yonaguni, the island on Japan's boundary with Taiwan, to counter China's military expansion, while the Yonaguni Municipal Government wants troops as part of the revitalization of the local community.
"We must consider some deployment to the island," Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa said in response to the municipal government's request for deployment of about 200 Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) troops. Kitazawa announced that he will seek allocations from the fiscal 2011 state budget to cover expenses of conducting a survey on the issue.
When he assumed the post in September 2009, Kitazawa expressed reluctance to deploy troops to the island on the grounds that it would provoke "a neighboring country," an apparent reference to China.
However, he changed his mind after inspecting the island in March this year, and decided to seek to deploy troops to the island to counter China's military buildup.
Moreover, a Chinese fleet of 10 warships passed through waters near the island in April as if to demonstrate the country's military capacity, an act which has apparently convinced Kitazawa.
The United States will apparently welcome the deployment of SDF troops to Yonaguni, which it believes will help counter China's military expansion.
In a speech in Washington on June 7, Jeffrey Bader, senior director for Asian affairs on the U.S. National Security Council, said the United States has decided to sell weapons to Taiwan out of concern over China's growing military strength. Tokyo and Washington have agreed to relocate U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa Prefecture also to counter uncertainty in East Asia.
Former Okinawa Vice Gov. Masanori Yoshimoto, who was born and raised on Yonaguni Island, said the United States has an eye to Japanese-U.S. joint use of a base on the island.
"Washington often uses the issue of Taiwan to contain China. The U.S. is obviously considering joint use of an SDF facility on the island," he said.
There was a debate on the issue of deploying SDF troops to the island during a session of the municipal assembly on Yonaguni.
"Could you tell me about your position on whether SDF troops should be deployed here?" asked Kenichi Itokazu, a member of the Yonaguni Municipal Assembly.
"We've constantly asked the national government to deploy troops. We'll welcome it if the national government allocates funds from its state budget for that purpose," Mayor Shukichi Hokama replied.
"There is no organization on the island that defends the country. Is it all right that the security situation on an island on a national boundary remains so loose?" a high-ranking official of the municipal government stated.
However, the mayor admits that is not the true reason why Yonaguni is calling for deployment of GSDF troops.
"We rarely think about deterring China. Our goal is to revitalize the island. The SDF is a kind of industry," Hokama said.
However, Yonaguni residents are divided over the pros and cons of stationing GSDF troops there. In the mayoral race in August last year, Hokama defeated his anti-deployment rival Chiyoki Tasato by only a narrow margin.
(Mainichi Japan) June 29, 2010
Mainichi :: Tuesday, June 29, 2010
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Japan Times :: Tuesday, June 29, 2010
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- [NATIONAL NEWS]
Kan, Obama agree on Futenma
TORONTO (Kyodo) Japan and the United States agreed Sunday to proceed with the relocation of the Futenma air base in Okinawa in line with their accord reached in May, while working closely on responses to North Korea's sinking of a South Korean warship and Iran's nuclear quest.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20100629a4.html - [NATIONAL NEWS]
Defense dialogue with China due for a boost
TORONTO (Kyodo) Prime Minister Naoto Kan Japan and Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed to beef up defense dialogue to build mutual trust amid recent Chinese military activity around Japanese waters, a Japanese official said.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20100629a7.html - [NATIONAL NEWS]
South texts to up Dokdo mentions
SEOUL (Kyodo) South Korea will increase the amount and depth of references to South Korea-controlled islets in school textbooks to counter Japan's repeated territorial claim, the education minister told a parliamentary committee Monday.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20100629b1.html - [NATIONAL NEWS]
No U.S. nukes in port calls: ministry
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. (Kyodo) The Foreign Ministry has told the Okinawa Prefectural Government that no ships carrying nuclear weapons have made port calls at the White Beach U.S. naval facilities, a public document showed Monday.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20100629b2.html - [NATIONAL NEWS]
No regrets about exit: Fukushima
By MASAMI ITO, Staff writer
Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima said she has no regrets about leaving the ruling coalition and will only consider returning if the Democratic Party of Japan rules out the Henoko coast as the relocation site for U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20100629f1.html
Obama, Kan meet, OK Futenma deal
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
2010/06/29
TORONTO -- Visiting Prime Minister Naoto Kan and U.S. President Barack Obama, meeting for the first time on the sidelines of the G-20 summit here, agreed to follow through on a controversial deal to relocate a U.S. base in Okinawa Prefecture.
The two leaders appeared eager to put the sticky issue behind them. It was exacerbated over the past year by strong Okinawan opposition to the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, to Nago on the same island.
Obama said he understood the concerns of Okinawa residents and vowed to do what he could to address the issue.
Acknowledging the difficulties involved, Obama said Washington will try to ensure that the presence of the U.S. bases becomes acceptable to local communities.
However, the base issue has been around for decades and could run aground again. Okinawans are still vociferously opposed to relocating the Futenma airfield within the prefecture, despite the Japan-U.S. agreement in May.
If a candidate opposed to the relocation is elected governor in the November election, the issue could deadlock again and undermine U.S. security policy in the region.
EDITORIAL: Keeping nations in check
2010/06/29
If a country crosses its border to seize territory and other assets by force, it is deemed to have committed an act of aggression that goes against international norms.
This notion became widely accepted in the 20th century. But no established international system is in place to prosecute the leaders of nations who have planned and executed an act of aggression.
The international community has finally decided to rectify this. Member States of the International Criminal Court (ICC), in their recent meeting in Uganda to review the court's role, agreed to adopt the crime of aggression as an international crime.
A number of countries around the world are at risk of getting embroiled in military conflict.
The agreement has opened the door to hold national leaders accountable for acts of aggression. It is significant that the international community has acted to prevent people from becoming victims of war.
The international community has long agonized over how to deal with aggression.
After the end of World War II, the allied powers convened the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and charged wartime Japanese leaders with "crimes against peace." This concept is the origin of the notion of the crime of aggression.
The tribunal shed light on many inhuman acts committed by the Japanese Imperial Army. But from the outset, the Tokyo tribunal drew criticism. Some saw it as a scheme for the victors of the war to condemn vanquished Japan by using a law established after hostilities had ended.
International debate on how to avoid creating the same situation again addressed many sticky issues. One was how to recognize an act as aggression without provoking objections. Another concerned jurisdiction and procedures for prosecution.
The delegates dwelt on these and other key issues at the review conference in Uganda. According to the principles agreed upon at the gathering, the U.N. Security Council must first determine whether a crime of aggression has been committed. Once the Security Council decides that one has, the ICC will investigate the matter and convene a trial.
The accord also allows the ICC to initiate a probe independently of the U.N. Security Council. This provision is a reasonable measure to support international efforts to bring an aggressor to justice, even though it can be invoked only when the Security Council is unable to take effective action because of dissent among the key permanent members, namely the United States, China and Russia.
But the conference also decided that the ICC can exercise jurisdiction only over crimes of aggression perpetrated by its member states. Unfortunately, this provision does not take effect for at least seven years. The concession was apparently aimed at easing wariness about these new rules among countries that have not joined the ICC. They include the United States and China.
The ICC, based in The Hague, was set up seven years ago as the first-ever permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for crimes against humanity.
It has jurisdiction over three categories: crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. It has so far conducted investigations in five African nations. The crime of aggression is to be added to the list.
Japan is the largest contributor to the ICC, financing nearly 20 percent of its annual expenditures. One of the judges is Japanese.
The ICC is headed by a South Korean legal expert.
Even if Japan's national security is guaranteed primarily by its alliance with the United States, ensuring regional peace over the long term requires a shift from the rule of power to the rule of law.
The international agreement to adopt the crime of aggression has huge implications for Asia as well.
--The Asahi Shimbun, June 28
Commentary :: POLITICAL PULSE / Campaign pledges aside, can either party deliver?
Akitoshi Muraoka
After a historic change in power, the government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama ended after only 266 days, foundering over issues such as the relocation of Futenma Air Station and money scandals.
Naoto Kan, Hatoyama's successor as Democratic Party of Japan president and prime minister, has sought to thoroughly review the DPJ's policy platform from last year's House of Representatives election since taking office.
As many observers see the July 11 House of Councillors election as a report card on the DPJ-led ruling coalition's performance, what should voters pay attention to during the campaign?
When drafting the DPJ's slogan for the upper house poll, a campaign official reportedly showed Kan earlier this month two alternative slogans, saying, "Can you choose one of these, please?"
One read: "Naoto Kan runs. Japan changes," while the other said, "Let's revive a vigorous Japan!"
Kan is said to have rejected the first option, saying, "It's not good to put me at the forefront [of the DPJ campaign]," giving the nod to the second slogan.
He then wrote, "The DPJ is one team," on the back of a copy of the party's election pledges. Kan apparently believes the DPJ's campaign strategy should focus not on his personality, but on the substance of the party's policies, presumably to rally and inspire the younger ranks of the DPJ.
A few days later, the prime minister put forward the idea of raising the consumption tax rate to 10 percent "for the time being," and declaring his party is "determined to restore the government's debt-ridden finances to revitalize Japan."
Kan has also pushed for major revisions to his party's policies and political ideals. He has chosen to reign in the DPJ's tendency toward handouts that appeal to the public, such as by scaling back on scheduled child-raising allowance increases.
He also has pledged to make Japan's ties with the United States a high priority, saying his government will resolve the Futenma relocation issue "on the basis of the Japan-U.S. accord," which was reached shortly before Hatoyama's resignation in early June.
Furthermore, he has instructed party officials to eliminate slogans hostile to the bureaucracy from the party's manifesto, such as, "From dependency on the bureaucracy toward a politician-led government."
It seems Kan is telling the public that the DPJ is now taking a down-to-earth approach, unlike during the previous administration. However, his party continues to practice the politics of handouts, as it still supports increasing child-raising allowances, making expressways toll-free and income compensation for farmers.
With this being the case, how can the DPJ claim consistency between Kan's pledges for fiscal reform and the continued handouts?
The prime minister should take the time to examine the manifesto and understand its problems and inconsistencies, and then convincingly explain them to the public. Without this, voters will be unable to determine if the DPJ's down-to-earth claims are true or false.
Another focus of the upper house contest will be whether the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party can make any headway toward regaining power.
The beginning of an LDP election platform booklet features a photo of the Hinomaru national flag against a blue sky, with the statement, "We pledge to revise the Constitution to create a nation suited to the new era."
It appears the LDP is trying to emphasize its conservative credentials and distinguish it from the DPJ.
However, when the LDP office in charge of revising the Constitution called for all 188 party lawmakers to meet in early June, only 10 showed up. Because of the small number of participants, senior LDP officials gave up on the original agenda and decided on a private discussion session. With this poor showing, can the LDP truly claim it is committed to revising the Constitution?
The specifics of the DPJ and LDP's policy pledges are being put to the test in the coming election, as is the degree of seriousness the parties have for turning those pledges into reality.
Muraoka is political news editor of The Yomiuri Shimbun.
(Jun. 29, 2010)
Campbell expects stability in Japanese politics
June 29, 2010
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US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell says stability in Japanese politics is in the best interests of Japan and the United States.
Campbell made the remarks in an interview with NHK on Monday.
He said a continuing succession of leaders makes it difficult to establish personal relationships of trust.Naoto Kan is Japan's fifth Prime Minister in four years.
Campbell said a meeting between Kan and US President Barack Obama on Sunday was positive. He said a good relationship at the top will allow for close coordination between the two countries.
Referring to the relocation of the US Futenma Air Station in Japan's Okinawa prefecture, Campbell said the US will handle the issue with sensitivity. Okinawa is strongly opposed to the Japan-US agreement to relocate the base within the prefecture.
2010/06/29 07:29(JST)
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Kan, Obama stress importance of bilateral alliance
June 28, 2010
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Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan and US President Barack Obama have agreed that the bilateral alliance is a cornerstone of peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.
Kan met Obama in Toronto, Canada, on Sunday for the 1st time since taking office earlier this month.
Speaking to reporters after the talks, Obama said the bilateral alliance remains strong and will further develop based on the achievements of the past 50 years.He referred to the sinking of a South Korean warship in March. He said the international community must stand behind South Korea and send a clear signal to the North that its provocative behavior is unacceptable.
Kan said he is proud that the Japan-US alliance has helped stabilize the Asia-Pacific region. He said he told Obama that deepening the bilateral alliance is important.
Kan also said they formed a common understanding by exchanging opinions on how the 2 countries should cooperate in dealing with the issues of North Korea, Iran and Afghanistan.
Kan added that he will consider visiting the United States during this year's UN general assembly session in September.
2010/06/28 11:10(JST)
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Monday, June 28, 2010
New Office Building Completed for Upper House Members
June 28, 2010
Tokyo, June 28 (Jiji Press) -- A new office building for Japanese House of Councilors members, criticized as a waste of taxpayer money, was completed and opened to the media on Monday before it becomes operational on July 1.
The new building, with a total floor space of 96,000 square meters, some three times larger than the currently used building, has 12 stories above ground and three below.
Located behind the Diet, or parliament, building, it has 242 lawmaker rooms, equal to the number of seats in the Upper House.
The rooms are equipped with a reception room, a secretarial office, a meeting area and also a hidden door that enables lawmakers to go in and out without attracting attention. Each set of rooms covers some 100 square meters, considerably larger than the current 40 square meters.
Coffee shops and convenience stores are slated to open in the basement, and a walkway to Nagatacho subway station will also be built.
(2010/06/28-22:13)
FOCUS: Kan's leadership skills sharpened in Canada
June 28 2010 20:31
TORONTO, June 28 KYODO
Naoto Kan may be thinking he is curiously connected with Canada as a figure in Japan's top political echelon. Not because the sound of his surname can conjure up the name of a country where he just made his diplomatic debut as prime minister.
In less than six months, he made a pair of official trips to Canada, first as finance minister and this time as Japan's leader to attend the Group of Eight and Group of 20 summit meetings in and around Toronto over the weekend.
Kan, who assumed office on June 8, probably never imagined that he would revisit Canada this soon, especially as prime minister, when he was in the remote Arctic town of Iqaluit in February for a meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors of the Group of Seven industrial powers.
The finance meeting was Kan's first real exposure to an international arena and the latest trip provided a trickier test to his diplomatic skills.
The tours came shortly after he took the new posts following the resignations of his predecessors, both of which happened abruptly.
Many Japanese government officials as well as Kan himself believe that it was ideal that he had the chance to serve as finance minister before taking the top job of the country.
Kan said in his concluding news conference in Toronto on Sunday that he was able to enter into discussions ''quite smoothly'' with his counterparts at the summits because of his experience as finance minister and a participant in the Iqaluit meeting.
''The range of activities I had when I was finance minister translated into very good preparations,'' Kan said after the two-day G-20 summit.
The 63-year-old now talks much about the economy and financial issues, but it was usually not the case until he served in the ministerial post.
He is widely regarded as a fiscal conservative and his concern about Japan's troubled public finances grew after taking part in the G-7 meeting.
Kan has said his anxieties about the future of Japan were exacerbated after European chiefs at the time had him become aware more clearly of the seriousness of the debt crisis in Greece.
Kan's new government adopted fiscal consolidation and growth plans just prior to the G-20 summit, and one of the biggest agenda items was whether advanced countries should carry out more austere measures or maintain the existing stimulus programs.
Kan's main goal at the summit was to create consensus with other leaders of major developed and emerging economies on the importance of striking a good balance between them and the tone of their joint communique turned out to be in line with what he hoped for.
The declaration even said the G-20 leaders ''welcome'' Japan's latest strategies for fiscal consolidation and growth.
With about two weeks left before the upper house election, Japanese senior officials involved in summit negotiations, knowing that the G-20 summit took place at a very delicate time, seemed to have worked hard to set the right stage for the new premier.
The G-8 major powers' decision to condemn North Korea over the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship was a topic Kan focused on with great intent. He said he had indeed led the discussions on the matter.
Kan expressed satisfaction at the news conference over the G-8 decision, although he admitted he was ''somewhat worrying'' to what extent he could convince his counterparts over responses to the incident.
''Mr. Kan made an excellent diplomatic debut,'' a Japanese senior official who accompanied Kan on the weekend trip said on condition of anonymity.
The summit meetings were the halfway mark between the launch of Kan's government and the July 11 House of Councillors election, which is seen as crucial to weigh whether his leadership lasts for some time, or at least longer than his four predecessors -- all of whom stayed in power only about a year or less.
Whether Kan remembers or not, it is arguably worth remembering what he said during his stay in Iqaluit.
''It would be preferable for anyone taking up a ministerial post to serve about four years,'' at least, and otherwise it would be very difficult to establish a strong international profile, he said at the time.
The previous G-20 summit in Pittsburgh last September marked former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's international debut.
The next G-20 summit will be in Seoul in November.
It remains to be seen whether Kan will find himself on track to participate in a G-20 summit for a second time. And the prospects for that happening depend largely on the outcome of the forthcoming election.
==Kyodo
No nuclear-armed U.S. ships made port calls in Japan: ministry
Jun 28 07:09 AM US/Eastern
NAHA, Japan, June 28 (AP) - (Kyodo) — The Japanese Foreign Ministry has told the Okinawa prefectural government that no ships carrying nuclear weapons have made port calls at U.S. naval facilities at White Beach in the prefecture, a public document showed Monday.
In a document responding to questions submitted by the local government, the ministry said that while it is "difficult to say for certain," it has determined that no U.S. ships carrying nuclear weapons had made port calls in Japan "as of this moment, based on U.S. nuclear policy."
Avoiding a particular reference to what the country might do if Washington made a request to Tokyo for prior consultation on the introduction of nuclear weapons into Japan in times of contingency, the ministry said, "There is no change in the policy of the Cabinet of (Prime Minister Naoto) Kan to hold fast to the three non-nuclear principles."
Japan proclaims the principles of not possessing, producing or allowing nuclear weapons on its territory. The Japan-U.S. security treaty requires Washington to consult with Tokyo in advance on the introduction of nuclear weapons.
In a report in March, a ministry panel comprised of experts concluded that there was a tacit agreement, or "a secret pact in a broad sense," between the two countries under which Japan effectively allowed U.S. nuclear-armed ships to visit Japanese ports without prior consultation in violation of the non-nuclear principles.
The United States has stated since 1991, after the end of the Cold War, that it has withdrawn all tactical nuclear weapons from its ships.
In the same report, the ministry panel also found that an agreement allegedly allowing Washington to bring nuclear weapons into Okinawa in times of contingency does not fit the definition of a secret pact, saying it is unlikely to go far beyond the content of the 1969 Japan- U.S. statement on the reversion of Okinawa.
The local government submitted its questions on June 8 and the reply was dated last Friday.
Your Party denies post-election alliance with DPJ
Jun 28 06:46 AM US/Eastern
TOKYO, June 28 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Your Party leader Yoshimi Watanabe on Monday dismissed the possibility of teaming up with the Democratic Party of Japan after the July 11 upper house election despite being approached by the ruling party, citing differences in their policies.
Watanabe said Your Party is keen to promote reform of the civil service to slash wasteful public spending and that it therefore cannot join up with the DPJ, which is supported by labor unions of civil servants who it says are in favor of maintaining a big government.
"If the DPJ wants to forge a political alliance with Your Party, it should sever ties with all the candidates backed by the labor unions of civil servants," Watanabe told a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo.
Watanabe's remarks came after DPJ Secretary General Yukio Edano proposed Sunday that the two parties "act together." Edano said he believes the two parties advocate similar policies on administrative reform and an overhaul of the civil service.
The DPJ holds a comfortable majority in the House of Representatives, the more powerful chamber of the bicameral Diet, but has formed a coalition government with the tiny People's New Party to secure a majority in the House of Councillors.
Watanabe blasted Edano for raising the issue of a tie-up between the DPJ and Your Party "to improve its reformist image" during the election campaign. "It is a strategy to take Your Party supporters away from us and we regard the proposal merely as a terrible campaign obstruction."
Half the upper chamber's 242 seats are up for grabs in the upcoming election and the DPJ-PNP coalition needs to secure 56 of them to retain a majority in the upper house.
N Korea to seek new nuclear deterrent
June 28, 2010
Click for Video
North Korea has expressed readiness to strengthen its nuclear capability.
A spokesperson for North Korea's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday that the recent disturbing developments on the Korean peninsula underscore the need for the nation to bolster its nuclear deterrent in a
newly developed way.
The statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency referred to reports made by US media last week. The reports said the United States considered a plan for a nuclear strike on North Korea in 1969 after the North shot down a US spy aircraft over the Sea of Japan.
The statement claimed that historical evidence proves that the decision made by North Korea to react to nuclear attacks with a nuclear deterrent had been quite right.The North did not elaborate on the meaning of the phrase "a newly developed way," but the country is developing plutonium-based and uranium-based nuclear programs.
The North is also believed to be developing nuclear warheads small enough to be mounted on its missiles.
North Korea's announcement comes after the Group of Eight leaders released a joint statement on Saturday condemning North Korea in connection with the sinking of a South Korean warship.
The aim of North Korea's announcement is apparently to counter international pressure on the country.
2010/06/28 18:25(JST)
(JST: UTC+9hrs.)
ANALYSIS: Japan's Kan Appears to Have Made Steady Diplomatic Debut
June 28, 2010
By Yusuke Takai
Toronto, June 27 (Jiji Press) -- Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan appears to have made a steady debut on the international arena during the Group of Eight and Group of 20 summits in Canada through Sunday.
Leaders of the G-20, which now serves as the premier forum for international economic cooperation, focused on fiscal health at the latest talks at a time when Europe is struggling to sort out the region's fiscal problems. The G-8 club also spent much time discussing these issues, albeit unofficially.
"My experience as finance minister helped me smoothly join the discussions," Kan told a press conference after the end of the G-20 summit. He served as Japan's finance chief under the government of previous Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.
Kan also drew applause from U.S. President Barack Obama. The U.S. leader told reporters on Sunday that Kan "is as committed as I am to making sure that the U.S.-Japan alliance remains strong and vibrant."
(2010/06/28-15:31)
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