Asahi :: Monday, September 28, 2009

• Hatoyama to visit South Korea (9/28)
  THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
  SEOUL--Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is expected to visit South Korea for a meeting with South Korean President Lee Myung Bak on Oct. 9, government sources here said. continued ...


• Ministry flips basis for no-nuke claims (9/28)
  THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
  The Foreign Ministry has said a U.S. military ship scheduled to arrive at Kochi port next month will not have nuclear weapons aboard because it "is not capable of carrying" them, sources said. continued ...


• Lawmaker influenced subsidy approval process (9/28)
  BY HIROYOSHI ITABASHI AND HIDEFUMI NOGAMI, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
  A Lower House member of the Liberal Democratic Party pressured the health ministry to approve a research subsidy application from a social welfare organization after denying requests from the same body, sources said. continued ...


• Ministry eyes payout law for nixed dams (9/28)
  BY KAZUKI KIMURA AND SEIICHIRO UTANO, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
  To assuage local resistance to plans to cancel construction of dams, the government will prepare legislation to provide financial compensation to affected communities. continued ...


• Takeoff drawing near for new Haneda runway (9/28)
  SATORU SEKIGUCHI, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
  A manmade island to host a fourth runway at Tokyo's Haneda Airport takes shape. About two-thirds of the island will be comprised of reclaimed land, while the remainder will be constructed in the form of a wharf. About 80 percent of the reclamation work and about 90 percent of the foundation for the wharf section are complete. The 2,500-meter Runway D is expected to open in autumn 2010 and allow the airport to handle an additional 110,000 landings and takeoffs a year. (IHT/Asahi: continued ...


• 21 LDP chapters back Tanigaki for top post (9/28)
  THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
  Senior officials of Liberal Democratic Party chapters in 21 prefectures--almost 45 percent of the country's 47 prefectures--have backed former Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki to replace Taro Aso as party president, according to an Asahi Shimbun survey. continued ...


• EDITORIAL: Leak of accident probe (9/28)
  Transport minister Seiji Maehara on Friday revealed a hard-to-believe fact concerning the government's investigation into a fatal railway derailment in 2005. continued ...


• EDITORIAL: U.N. nuclear summit (9/28)
  It was U.S. President Barack Obama, who called for "a world without nuclear weapons," that presided over the historic United Nations Security Council meeting. For the first time, the council held a meeting of heads of the member nations on nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation, and unanimously adopted a resolution calling for elimination of nuclear weapons. continued ...

Daily Yomiuri Online :: Monday, September 28, 2009

• Maehara: Govt will review airport development account (Sep.28)
  The Yomiuri Shimbun
  The government's special account for airport development will be subject to a fundamental review because it is seen as the main reason many unprofitable regional airports were built one after another, Construction and Transport Minister Seiji Maehara said Sunday. continued ...


• DPJ AT THE HELM / Govt decentralization panel 'to be scrapped by year-end' (Sep.28)
  The Yomiuri Shimbun
  The government panel in charge of promoting decentralization reform is expected to be abolished as early as the end of this year, sources said.
  A new panel that will be a key component of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's decentralization policy will be established in its place, with the prime minister serving as chairman and local government heads having a seat at the table. continued ...


• Data leak ruins commission's credibility (Sep.28)
  The Yomiuri Shimbun
  The leakage of the Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission's draft of its final report into the fatal derailment on the JR Fukuchiyama Line in April 2005 has stripped the commission of credibility. continued ...


• JR West exec spills beans on leak / Says company told him to contact crash probe member before report released (Sep.28)
  The Yomiuri Shimbun
  West Japan Railway Co.'s accident countermeasures office instructed a JR West executive to contact a member of a government commission investigating a fatal 2005 JR West derailment before the release of a draft report on the crash, in an apparent bid to glean details of the draft report, the executive has admitted. continued ...


• Child health concerns prompt study of moms, kids (Sep.28
  The Yomiuri Shimbun
  The Environment Ministry is to launch a large-scale study to determine the influence of chemicals accumulated in mothers' wombs on the development and health of their children beginning in autumn next year, ministry officials said. continued ...


• Drop in bonito hits net profit / Miyagi Pref. port loses 12-yr record as fish haul drops dramatically (Sep.28)
  The Yomiuri Shimbun
  Despite having registered the nation's top haul of bonito for 12 consecutive years, Kesennuma Port in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, has suffered a reversal of fortunes this year, with an extremely poor catch of the fish. continued ...


• Editorial :: Abolition of provisional tax rates doesn't add up (Sep.28)
  The Yomiuri Shimbun
  A fall in gasoline prices is good news for drivers. But how will the government fill the huge pothole created in its finances due to cuts in road-related taxes? continued ...

Perspectives :: Birth of Hatoyama's 'science' administration a step away from previous conceptions

September 27, 2009

Having studied applied mathematics at the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Engineering, and holding a doctorate, newly elected premier Yukio Hatoyama is the first "science" prime minister.

Central figures in the Hatoyama administration are also occupied by those with a science background. Those in the field of science who have obscurely supported Japan since the Meiji Period have now set their foot onstage. The capabilities of the Hatoyama administration remain to be tested but I am focused on the administration's potential to change a society that has been led by the humanities.

When the Mainichi's column "Rikei Hakusho" (Science White Paper), which started in January 2002, was compiled into a book in June 2003, the subheading attached by the editor was "The people who silently support our country." People with science backgrounds who had studied science, engineering, agriculture and other subjects at universities and graduate schools had contributed to society, but they were far separated from the upper echelons of organizations in society.

Japan's bureaucracy typifies this structure. When devoted bureaucrats are first taken on, the percentage of administrative officials (from the humanities) and technical officials (from the sciences) is about half and half. But over 90 percent of the top administrative vice ministers are officials who have graduated from the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Law.

A report on the history of the Ministry of Industry in 1871 proclaims, "Technical bureaucrats should be positioned lower than administrative bureaucrats." The tradition of the humanities taking priority over the sciences, with the humanities making the decisions and the sciences following suit, continues today.

In the political world it remains an absolute fact that there are far fewer people from science backgrounds. It is said that about 10 percent of Diet members have backgrounds in science. That's exactly what makes the new administration stand out. Deputy Prime Minister Naoto Kan studied applied physics at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano worked for Matsushita Electrical Industrial Co. (now Panasonic), after graduating from Chuo University's Faculty of Science and Engineering. Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Tatsuo Kawabata has a background working in Toray Industries' Research and Development field. Of the 18 Cabinet members, four, including the prime minister, are from science backgrounds.

The main personnel supply source of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which dominated Japanese politics during the postwar period, was formed by bureaucrats and the children of Diet members, and there was no room to admit politicians from science backgrounds. The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), on the other hand, has many self-reliant members, such as those from labor unions, and people who cannot rely on territorial bonds, family ties or block votes. Among these, many have come from science backgrounds. This prevalence of people who studied the sciences can probably be viewed as one of the accomplishments of the change in administration.

It was in postwar Japan that the humanities group comprised of the political world, the financial sector and bureaucrats decided on the course for the future. In actual fact, the process lying behind Japan's period of high economic growth involved the humanities making the decision, the sciences producing a product, and the humanities selling it. But that process is now outdated. Japan cannot focus solely on its own happiness; it is expected to tune in to the various difficult problems that the world faces.

Hatoyama has declared that Japan aims to make a 25 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2020, and has received a positive evaluation from international society. One of the reasons that the LDP could not lay down active global warming countermeasures was probably that it was making considerations for the business world. It is an interesting fact that when the government administration changed hands, the Japan Business Federation, which had been hesitant about adopting global warming countermeasures, distanced itself from the DPJ, and the presence of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives, whose membership comprises individual corporate managers, grew stronger. The chairman of that association, Masamitsu Sakurai, graduated from Waseda University's Faculty of Science and Engineering, and his cherished opinion is that companies should also bear an appropriate amount of responsibility. Judging the situation through the analysis of data without feeling constrained by bonds can be described as a specialty of the sciences.

Atsushi Sunami, an associate professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies who is familiar with the relationship between politics and science, sees hope for leaders versed in science and technology.

"In international society, leaders with an understanding of science and technology will be at an advantage in the future," Sunami says. It has become increasingly common for science and technology to show its face in diplomacy through such issues as global warming countermeasures and the development of developing countries. But Sunami adds that cooperation with the humanities is still needed.

"Those from the sciences tend to downplay communication or fail to provide sufficient explanations. They need to make an effort to cooperate with the brains of the humanities and make up for their deficiencies," he says.

The birth of Hatoyama's "science" administration can be seen as the first step for Japan in transforming itself into a society that does not divide up the sciences and humanities. In addition to revisions to the education system that divides students into humanities and science courses while they are studying at high school, society needs to change its way of thinking. I want to keep watch with expectations over the quiet revolution that the change in administration has brought about. ("As I see it" by Yukiko Motomura, Science and Environment News Department)

(Mainichi Japan) September 27, 2009

High-class restaurants' 'oil lubricating' business drying up due to lack of politicians

September 27, 2009

Tokyo's entertainment districts are feeling the effect of the recent change in government.

Traditional Japanese restaurants, once the usual haunt of Tokyo's movers and shakers, first took a hit with the bursting of the bubble economy, suffering another blow following the Lehman collapse. Now, with their Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) regulars trounced in the latest election by the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), restaurant owners are worried.

"First the bureaucrats go away, then the business leaders, and now the politicians. I hear the DPJ members hardly ever go out drinking to places other than izakaya bars. What's going to happen to ryotei (high-class restaurants) from now on?" one restaurant source says plaintively.

The recession has been tough for the ryotei. Famous names like Yonemura and Kanetanaka were once among the tens of restaurants dotting the Shinbashi "Flower Quarter" around Tokyo's Ginza. By this spring, however, just 10 were left, with another two famous spots closing only recently.

The remainder are diversifying frantically in an attempt to stay afloat, opening for lunchtime businesses, selling lunchboxes, taking online orders, and in some cases, being used for weddings.

"At one time, during an election or Cabinet formation there would be faction meetings almost every night, with dark cars lined up down the street, but now there are none," says one famous restaurant owner.

"Since the post-war economic growth period, we made all the arrangements and laid the groundwork, and we came to think of ourselves as the oil lubricating business, government and bureaucracy. We felt proud," says another veteran maitre d'.

"I admit that ryotei were the haunts of the factions and movers and shakers, but rejecting and criticizing them for that is very strange."

Another restaurant owner in Akasaka, near Nagatacho where the Diet is situated, says: "I hope at least the DPJ will get to grips with the economic problems."

In the '60s, there were around 1,500 ryotei across Tokyo. Now, there are just 50 or so scattered across the Ginza, Akasaka, Ningyocho, Kagurazaka, Mukojima and Asakusa districts. And the number of geisha in the city has plummeted from at least 10,000 to around 300.

All Japan Social Association head and owner of Yonemura, Masahiko Fujino, says: "Ryotei are places where you can come in direct contact with and understand traditional Japanese culture. I'd like DPJ members to dine at ryotei and be active in the international arena."

(Mainichi Japan) September 27, 2009

Mainichi :: Sunday, September 27, 2009

• High-class restaurants' 'oil lubricating' business drying up due to lack of politicians
  Tokyo's entertainment districts are feeling the effect of the recent change in government. continued ...


• Book reveals new look at Japan's 'forced deaths'
  Years have passed since the yearly suicide total passed 30,000. Even though suicides are a serious social problem, they tend to be attributed to weakness in those individuals who choose to take their own lives. continued ...


• Perspectives :: Birth of Hatoyama's 'science' administration a step away from previous conceptions
  Birth of Hatoyama's 'science' administration a step away from previous conceptions continued ...
  

Kitazawa seeks new plan for Futenma

Sunday, Sept. 27, 2009

NAGO, Okinawa Pref. (Kyodo) Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa on Saturday inspected the coastal part of the U.S. Marine Corps' Camp Schwab in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, the place where Futenma Air Station is scheduled to be moved to, and said he was eager to take a new approach to the issue "as soon as possible."

Kitazawa, who arrived in Okinawa Friday, told reporters after meeting with Nago Mayor Yoshikazu Shimabukuro that he will urgently discuss how to approach the Futenma transfer with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada.

Hatoyama reaffirmed in Pittsburgh on Thursday that he will not change his "basic idea" of seeking to move the air station out of the prefecture.

The proposal by Hatoyama, who doubles as president of the Democratic Party of Japan, goes against a Japan-U.S. accord signed in 2006 to move the heliport functions of Futenma air station in downtown Ginowan in Okinawa to Camp Schwab by 2014.

In his meeting with Shimabukuro, Kitazawa said he appreciated his efforts to meet residents' needs and promote the local economy. The mayor said he basically accepts the relocation plan but asked that the V-shaped runways be built further offshore than planned.

Some local residents are calling for the runways to be constructed offshore, citing safety and noise concerns that could arise in the future.

Japan Times :: Sunday, September 27, 2009

• 15. THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK - HIROAKI SATO
  Hatoyama just calling it as it is
  Sept. 27, 2009
  By HIROAKI SATO
  NEW YORK — I was startled to receive a letter from a friend in Tokyo earlier this month accompanied by a Sankei Shimbun article by Yukio Okamoto sharply upbraiding Yukio Hatoyama. continued ...


• 20. NATIONAL NEWS
  Okada to attend Mekong area meet
  Sept. 27, 2009
  Kyodo News
  Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada will make a two-day visit to Cambodia starting Friday to attend a meeting of foreign ministers from five Mekong area countries, the Foreign Ministry said in a press release Friday. continued ...


• 26. NATIONAL NEWS
  Refueling mission will not go on: Hatoyama
  Sept. 27, 2009
  PITTSBURGH (Kyodo) Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Friday he has no intention of simply extending Japan's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean in support of U.S.-led antiterrorism operations after the law authorizing it expires in January, and that his government is looking to help in a way that is beneficial to both the Afghan people and the United States. continued ...


• 30. NATIONAL NEWS
  Kitazawa seeks new plan for Futenma
  Sept. 27, 2009
  NAGO, Okinawa Pref. (Kyodo) Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa on Saturday inspected the coastal part of the U.S. Marine Corps' Camp Schwab in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, the place where Futenma Air Station is scheduled to be moved to, and said he was eager to take a new approach to the issue "as soon as possible." continued ...


• 39. NATIONAL NEWS - MARIKO YASUMOTO
  Pledges easy part for Hatoyama
  Sept. 27, 2009
  Despite successful diplomatic debut, can new leader make good on raft of promises?
  By MARIKO YASUMOTO, Kyodo News
  PITTSBURGH — Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama may have just scored on his diplomatic debut, but now it's time for him to deliver. continued ...


• 48. NATIONAL NEWS
  Kawabe dam locals promised support
  Sept. 27, 2009
  ITSUKI, Kumamoto Pref. (Kyodo) Land minister Seiji Maehara on Saturday visited the site in Kumamoto Prefecture where the Kawabe River Dam was supposed to be built and told local residents new legislation will be drafted to compensate them for its cancellation. continued ...


• 50. EDITORIAL
  Resolution for going nonnuclear
  Sept. 27, 2009
  The United Nations Security Council on Thursday unanimously adopted a resolution "to seek a safer world for all and create the conditions for a world without nuclear weapons." continued ...