Free Republic

IN the boardrooms of Japan’s top corporations can be heard the chuckles of disbelief over the new government’s people-first agenda to jump-start the economy. The sniggers, however, soon give way to a sober realization among members of the so-called Keidanren: the old ways that gave birth to, and nurtured Japan Inc., may soon vanish. That is because the odds of the new government’s economic gamble paying off may be slim, risking Japan’s slide into ruin. “Fraternity,” blurted an amused Atsushi Saito, referring to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s bedrock for a new Japan. The president of the Tokyo Stock Exchange could...

China air force much improved though still lagging Christopher Bodeen, Associated Press Writer – Thu Nov 5, 12:21 pm ET BEIJING – China's rapidly modernizing air force is planning a display of its new military might for its 60th anniversary, showcasing a wide-ranging technical upgrade that has boosted its capabilities, though it still lags far behind its main rival, the United States. The People's Liberation Army Air Force is marking the occasion this Sunday with an aerial show and skydiving exhibition, using some of the state-of-the-art combat aircraft that have replaced hundreds of antiquated MIG fighters. While only about 20...

LINKNot too hard to figure out, folks!

Former President George W. Bush threw out the ceremonial first pitch for a baseball game in Japan Tuesday during his first visit since he left office. Bush joined former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to watch the game between the Yomiuri Giants and Nippon Ham Fighters. Bush changed into a baseball jacket before taking the mound in the Tokyo Dome to throw the pitch before Game 3 of the Japan Series. He chatted briefly with several players before joining Koizumi in a private box. Also in the box were Japanese home run king Sadaharu Oh and U.S. Ambassador to Japan...

Up shot of article (my snap translation):--Obama in a painful situation, because just one year ago, he took these states. Now, tonight, they fell to the Republicans.--It seems that with the election of the 2 Republicans and defeat of Obama, his prized "Health Care" program is in jeopardy.--The results show the sentiment of the American People in those states toward Obama and is a reflection of what might be expected a year from now in the 2010 midterm elections.--Obama had quite a year in Virginia (in 2008), which did not go for a Democrat for President in 44 years, and...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 3, 2009 – For three days in October 1944, a Japanese-American military unit fought in dense woods, heavy fog and freezing temperatures in the mountains of France, answering the prayers of an American battalion pinned down by German forces. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaks with Medal of Honor recipient George "Joe" Sakato at the 65th anniversary of the rescue of the "Lost Battalion" in Houston, Nov. 1, 2009. The event honored the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a segregated unit composed mostly of Japanese-Americans. The unit rescued 230 men, lost more than...

<p>TOKYO — Former President George W. Bush threw out the ceremonial first pitch before Game 3 of the Japan Series between the Yomiuri Giants and Nippon Ham Fighters.</p> <p>Bush, wearing a Yomiuri warmup jacket, took the mound Tuesday at Tokyo Dome and threw a pitch to Giants catcher Shinnosuke Abe that bounced once in the dirt before being caught.</p>

It Is Japan We Should Be Worrying About, Not AmericaJapan is drifting helplessly towards a dramatic fiscal crisis. For 20 years the world's second-largest economy has been able to borrow cheaply from a captive bond market, feeding its addiction to Keynesian deficit spending – and allowing it to push public debt beyond the point of no return. By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard Published: 5:33PM GMT 01 Nov 2009 The rocketing cost of insuring against the bankruptcy of the Japanese state is telling us that the model has smashed into the buffers. Credit default swaps (CDS) on five-year Japanese debt have risen from...

At the age of 18, Mitsuhiro Matsushita already has a good idea of his ideal future. After he graduates from university a few years of work will be followed by marriage to an industrious wage earner. When children arrive it will be Mitsuhiro who stays at home looking after them, baking cakes and biscuits and living the traditional life of the Japanese housewife. None of this would be noteworthy but for one thing. Mitsuhiro is not a conventionally minded Japanese woman, but a thoughtful, articulate and fashionably dressed young man. And far from being a marginal eccentric he is a...

Japan and the United States have tentatively agreed to expand co-operation in the missile defence field.. a [Japanese] spokesman said its scope is not expected to include Japan allowing the export of the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA, which is currently being jointly developed....both sides said they wanted to further co-operation in jointly developing missile defence systems..[the US asked Japan to consider permitting export of jointly-developed missiles, most likely to Europe].

TOKYO — A magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit off Japan's southern coast Friday, according to Japan's Meteorological Agency. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. The agency said there was no danger of damage from a tsunami, though there may be a small tidal increase. The quake hit off the northeastern coast of Amami Oshima island in southern Japan at a depth of 37 miles. The small island is about 800 miles southwest of Tokyo. The offshore quake also shook Kagoshima and dozens of towns on the southern main island of Kyushu, but the temblor was not felt in...

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama reiterated Thursday his government will "comprehensively review" the Japan-U.S. alliance but added it will continue to deepen the bilateral ties in a "multilayered" way. "As I have repeatedly said, the Japan-U.S. alliance is the cornerstone of Japan's foreign policy," Hatoyama said during a House of Councillors plenary session. But he said his government, which took power in mid-September, will comprehensively review the entire status of the alliance on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the revision of the bilateral security treaty next year. "Through the review and in a mid- to long-term perspective, we will...

The top commander of U.S. forces in Japan told Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada on Thursday it would be difficult to realize his suggested plan of transferring the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture to the nearby U.S. Kadena Air Base, a Japanese government source said. SNIP Lt. Gen. Rice cited difficulties with the plan from Okada and Tokyo.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama indicated Thursday he intends to curb annual state expenses for U.S. military forces in Japan, but was cautious about making a huge cutback citing a possible impact on the economy in areas hosting the U.S. forces. Hatoyama's government is "currently discussing how far it can curtail (such expenses) in cooperation with the United States," the Japanese leader told reporters in the evening, adding the amount of such budgetary allocations have already been declining in recent years. Under the agreements with Washington, Tokyo covers part of the expenses for U.S. troops for staying in Japan, such as...

  Japan Achieves Second Ballistic Missile Intercept Using Raytheon Standard Missile-3 KAUAI, Hawaii, Oct. 28, 2009 /PRNewswire/ -- PACIFIC MISSILE RANGE FACILITY -- The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force achieved another ballistic missile intercept in space using a Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN)-built Standard Missile-3. During the Oct. 27 test, the SM-3 Block IA missile engaged and destroyed a medium-range ballistic missile target more than 100 miles above the Pacific Ocean. Personnel at the U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai launched the ballistic missile target. The crew of the Japanese destroyer JS Myoko (DDG-175) detected and tracked the target before...

Japanese naval forces successfully shot down a medium-range missile off Hawaii in a test of Tokyo's missile defense weaponry, the US military said on Wednesday. A Japanese destroyer detected, tracked and knocked out the missile in mid-flight with an SM-3 interceptor rocket, the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) said in a statement. The missile was launched on Tuesday at 6:00 pm Hawaii time (0400 GMT) at a missile range site off Kauai in Hawaii and at 6:04, an SM-3 interceptor was fired in response, the MDA said. "Approximately three minutes later, the SM-3 successfully intercepted the target approximately 100 miles...

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked Japan last week to export a new type of ship-based missile interceptor under joint development by Tokyo and Washington to third countries, presumably European, sources close to Japan-U.S. relations said. Gates' request could lead to a further relaxation of Japan's decades-long arms embargo and spark a chorus of opposition from pacifist elements in the ruling Democratic Party of Japan and one of its coalition partners, the Social Democratic Party. Gates made the request concerning Standard Missile-3 Block 2A missiles during talks with Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa on Wednesday, the sources said. The SM-3 Block...

A speech and a Nobel prize have raised hopes in Japan that Barack Obama will become the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima or Nagasaki, the two cities leveled by atom bombs in World War II. But the issue is seen as a political minefield, and U.S. officials say it is unlikely Obama will visit either city during a two-day stop in Tokyo next month. Yesterday, the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki went to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo to formally invite Obama to their cities before a U.N. review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in May. Sunao Tsuboi,...

A Japanese navy destroyer and a South Korean container ship collided Tuesday off southern Japan, sparking fires on both ships and injuring three crew members, officials said. The ships collided under a bridge linking the Japanese main islands of Kyushu and Honshu in the narrow Kanmon Strait, Japan Coast Guard spokesman Seishi Izumi said. One crew member on the destroyer JS Kurama was slightly injured with scratches and bruises while two others were suffering from smoke inhalation, a Defense Ministry spokesman said on condition of anonymity, citing policy. None of the South Korean ship's 16 crew members — 12 from...

<p>Japanese newspapers and activists are calling for Barack Obama to become the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima or Nagasaki, the only two cities ever devastated by atomic bombs, ahead of his visit to Japan next month.</p> <p>The two cities' mayors formally invited Obama on Tuesday to visit sometime before next May, but U.S. officials say it is highly unlikely he will travel to either city during his Nov. 12-13 visit to Tokyo.</p>

Title only. Breaking.

Japan's major nuclear reactor manufacturers have begun developing small nuclear power systems for both developed and emerging countries, a report said on Saturday. Toshiba Corp. is developing an ultra-compact reactor with an output of about 10,000 kilowatts and has started procedures for approval in the United States, the Nikkei business daily said. The new reactor, the Toshiba 4S, is designed to minimise the need for monitoring and maintenance, with an automatic shutdown function to ensure safety in case of problems, the newspaper said.

What has seven patties and a corporate sponsorship? This enormous Windows 7 burger. BY CHRIS GAYLORD America may be the home of the corporate tie-in and super-sized fast food. But Japan may have just outdone the US in both fields. In honor of Microsoft’s new Windows 7 operating system, Burger King has served up a seven-patty burger. This mighty monolith of meat, more than five inches tall, will only be available for seven days – and only in Japan.

Japan's new government appeared to bow to pressure from US military officials, saying on Friday that Tokyo supports keeping a major US marine airfield on the southern island of Okinawa. The move narrows - but does not close - a rift between the two alliance partners ahead of President Barack Obama's visit in three weeks. The new Tokyo administration, elected in a landslide in August, has said it would assert a more independent stance from Washington than previous administrations. However, Tokyo does not want to unduly strain ties with its chief ally and key trading partner. The government of Yukio...

U.S. pressures Japan on military package Washington concerned as new leaders in Tokyo look to redefine alliance Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, with Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa in Tokyo, pushed Japan to stick with a 2006 deal. By John Pomfret and Blaine Harden Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, October 22, 2009 Worried about a new direction in Japan's foreign policy, the Obama administration warned the Tokyo government Wednesday of serious consequences if it reneges on a military realignment plan formulated to deal with a rising China. The comments from Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates underscored increasing concern among U.S....

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Tuesday rejected demands by Japan's new government to review a deal between the two countries about a controversial US airbase and the presence of American troops. Gates made the comments on his plane en route to Tokyo, before he arrived as the first top US official to visit Japan since the new centre-left government took power here just over a month ago. New premier Yukio Hatoyama pledged during campaigning to look again at the 2006 agreement struck by his conservative predecessor and the former Washington administration of George W. Bush. That agreement was about...

TOKYO – Japan’s new minister of defense on Wednesday said his government was looking into what role its defense forces can continue to contribute to the war in Afghanistan beyond its civilian participation. Toshimi Kitazawa said the new government, which has said it would end a refueling mission for coalition warships, has not decided yet what it can do but indicated civilian and economic support seemed insufficient. His comments in a joint press conference came at the end of nearly two days of meetings between Japan’s leadership and Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Gates told his counterpart that whatever Japan decides...

Japan A Deflation Death? - Nope Stagflation Oct 17, 2009 - 12:29 PM By: Phill_Tomlinson Gordon Brown this week announced what can only be described as a car boot sale of UK PLC's bric-a-brac goods, an attempt to sooth markets regarding the budget deficit. Many of the items have been for sale before, but I'm sure the government in their current desperation will be willing to accept lower offers this time around. I agree with privatisation in getting the state out of our lives, but a student loan book and a crossing in Kent are hardly big ticket items, never...

Japan has told the United States it will end a naval refueling mission [in the Indian Ocean] that supports the war in Afghanistan, a top defence official said...Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who took office last month, has said he wants "more equal" relations with the United States and that he opposes plans to build a new US air base on the southern island of Okinawa...

Despite decades of denials by Washington and Tokyo, US officials believe they enjoyed a secret pact to transport nuclear weapons through Japan, newly declassified documents showed. The disclosure came after Japan's left-leaning government ended more than half a century of conservative rule and launched a probe into thousands of files to settle longstanding suspicions of a hush-hush pact. Any evidence of an agreement would trigger charges of hypocricy as Japan is the only nation to have suffered nuclear attack and has campaigned for the worldwide abolition of the ultra-destructive weapons. The National Security Archive at George Washington University released documents...

Japan's auto giant Nissan unveils the new concept vehicle "Land Glider", a tandem-ride ultra light weight electric vehicle with a narrow body at the company's design center at Atsugi city in Kanagawa prefecture, suburban Tokyo on September 25, 2009 for a preview of the Tokyo Motor Show. The Land Glider can shift the center of gravity by leaning its body like a motorcycle. The Tokyo Motor Show starts October 23.

Out on stands in Japan today!Title:"Obama Wa Nobel-sho Ni Ataeshinai" ("Obama Unworthy of Nobel Prize")Sub-title caption (also on cover overlay of monochrome Obama photo):""The Idiocy Of Him Receiving Such An Award, With Less The One Year In Office With No Accomplishment"

Maglev trains could shorten the travel time between Tokyo and Osaka to 67 minutes from the 138 minutes it takes today's fastest bullet trains, Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) said Tuesday. The estimated time is for the shortest planned route of 438 km connecting Shinagawa Station in Tokyo and Shin-Osaka Station, which could cost ¥8.44 trillion to construct, the railway said. JR Tokai also provided estimates for two longer routes. The company plans to construct the Tokyo-Nagoya section of the Tokyo-Osaka maglev system with its own funds by 2025. But it has not decided on a construction schedule or...

Navy to Build 6 Mini-Aegis Destroyers By Jung Sung-ki Staff Reporter The Navy plans to launch six 5,600-ton ``mini-Aegis'' destroyers between 2019 and 2026 in an effort to help facilitate coastal and blue-water operations, the service said Tuesday. The plan was unveiled in a report submitted to a National Assembly inspection of the Navy at the Gyeryongdae military compound in South Chungcheong Province. The medium-sized KDX-IIA destroyers equipped with SPY radar and close-in weapon systems will be a core part of the Navy's strategic mobile fleet led by 7,600-ton KDX-III destroyers, it said. The mobile fleet is to consist of...

orth Korea may be preparing to launch more short-range missiles a day after the communist state fired a barrage of missiles, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said on Tuesday, quoting a government source. Indications of additional launches are coming from the western part of the Korean peninsula, the source was quoted as saying. North Korea has issued a warning for vessels to stay out of waters off its coasts

When Utako Sakai was changing the background music in her beauty parlor recently, she did not opt for the classical piano pieces she usually chose. Instead, she picked her favorite CD: “President Obama’s Inaugural Address,” released by Asahi Press, a Japanese publisher of language books. She says the speech lifts her spirits and helps her to learn English all at once. “All our customers love it,” said Ms. Sakai, who is based in Ayase City, in Kanagawa Prefecture, outside Tokyo. The speech CD and its accompanying book have been a resounding success, selling 200,000 copies since its release in January....

A Japanese company, Haruyama Trading Co., has developed a suit that it claims protects the wearer from the deadly H1N1 strain of influenza. The company has produced 50,000 of the suits and will start selling them on Thursday, according to a company spokesman. The suit is coated with the chemical titanium dioxide, which reacts to light to break down and kill the virus when it comes into contact with it, according to Junko Hirohata.

Japan is negotiating a contract with the United States that will provide Tokyo with sensitive information about the systems and performance of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) as it seeks to evaluate the aircraft in a bid to procure a next-generation fighter (FX) for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. A source at the Japanese Ministry of Defence (MoD) told Jane's on 6 October that the contract is expected to be signed shortly....the development signals a clear move by Japan towards the JSF - and away from the F-22 Raptor ...the MoD has been requesting the US government...

In an unprecedented gesture, Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada called for a common history book for South Korea, China and Japan to form a shared recognition of the history in the East Asian countries. Speaking at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan late Wednesday, Okada said it would be “ideal” if the three neighboring nations published a common history book to clear up controversies over the interpretation of historical regional events. “Ideally, we need to have a common history textbook,” Okada said. “As a first step toward the publication of the common textbook, the three countries should implement a joint...

Zarrot writes "If Sony's recent 3.00 PS3 firmware update bricked your console, you may now have legal recourse thanks to a class action suit against Sony. The complaint alleges that thousands of users (PDF) were affected by the update, and in some cases the PS3 hardware itself was damaged. It continues, 'For owners who sustained hardware damage from the Sony-required update, Sony is charging a $150 repair fee per unit. Sony, responding to the numerous complaints about the unacceptable effects of the defective update, released a further, optional update that it claimed "improves system stability" — yet performance problems continued,...

A typhoon made landfall in Japan for the first time in two years early Thursday, leaving one dead and 24 injured and affecting transportation. After hitting near Aichi Prefecture's Chita Peninsula shortly after 5 a.m., Typhoon Melor, the season's 18th, traveled northeast at a speed of 50 kilometers per hour, with a maximum wind velocity of 144 kph around its center, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. In Minabe, Wakayama Prefecture, Hiroshi Kitahara, 54, died after hitting a tree felled by the typhoon on his bike while delivering newspapers, while 24 people in nine prefectures were injured as of 9...

A Japanese airline has started asking passengers to go to the toilet before boarding in a bid to reduce carbon emissions. All Nippon Airways (ANA) claims that empty bladders mean lighter passengers, a lighter aircraft and thus lower fuel use. Airline staff will be present at boarding gates in terminals to ask passengers waiting to fly to relieve themselves before boarding, The Independent reported.

Airline asks passengers to pee before flying By Kesavan Unnikrishnan. Japanese airline All Nippon Airways is asking its passengers to use the bathroom before they board the plane in an attempt to reduce carbon emissions. The new policy was implemented by the airline from October 1. Signs are being put up at airport gates asking passengers to visit the lavatory before boarding. The new policy started a one-month trial but the airline plans to expand it indefinitely if it's effective. According to ANA, empty bladders will cut down passengers' overall weight which will result in lighter aircrafts and lower fuel...

TOKYO (Reuters) – A powerful typhoon approached Japan's main islands on Wednesday, threatening the heavily populated country's industrial centers with torrential rain and strong winds. Typhoon Melor may be the most powerful storm to hit Japan's main islands in more than 10 years if it makes landfall, the Meteorological Agency said. Television showed waves pounding the shores of Japan's small southern islands as the typhoon moved north-northeast toward the main island of Honshu. The eye of the storm was 250 km (155 miles) south of Tanegashima, 1000 km southwest of Tokyo and home to Japan's rocket launch pad, at 10:00...

F-15Ks Primed with 'Unpatriotic' Maps The Air Force's F-15K fighter jets carried some digital map information that is at odds with their mission to defend the country, it has emerged. The jets carried digital maps that referred to Korea's Dokdo Islets either by their Japanese name "Takeshima" or as "Liancourt Rocks," the East Sea as "Sea of Japan," and Mt. Baekdu in Chinese as "Changbaishan" -- all names that are red rags to many patriotic Koreans. This was revealed by Grand National Party lawmaker Kim Jang-soo, a former defense minister, in a questionnaire distributed Sunday prior to a parliamentary audit...

All Nippon Airways says passengers who empty their bladders before boarding will help reduce carbon emissions All Nippon Airways (ANA) claims that empty bladders mean lighter passengers, a lighter aircraft and thus lower fuel use. Airline staff will be present at boarding gates in terminals to ask passengers waiting to fly to relieve themselves before boarding, The Independent reported. ANA hopes the weight saved will lead to a five-tonne reduction in carbon emissions over the course of 30 days. The airline began the policy on October 1, according to Japan’s NHK television. Although it is intended as an experiment lasting...

Japanese prosecutors are investigating political donations made to new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama - including some which appeared to come from dead people. Mr Hatoyama, who won a historic election victory in August, admitted in June that some donations to his fundraising body had been misidentifed and blamed an aide for the mistake. He told reporters he is co-operating with the inquiry and hopes that everything will soon be clear.

To celebrate its revival after the 1995 earthquake, the city of Kobe held the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the "life-size" statue of Mitsuteru Yokoyama's Tetsujin #28 ("Ironman #28" or Gigantor) robot on Sunday. Minoru Yada, the 78-year-old voice actor of Tetsujin #28's fictional inventor Dr. Shikishima, led the the 28 people who cut the ribbon by yelling out "Tetsujin-28-go!" Yada was holding a mockup of the trademark remote control that the manga and anime's hero, schoolboy Shoutarou Kaneda (Jimmy Sparks), carried to control the robot. MBS News, Jiji Press, and The Kobe Shimbun all posted video reports from the ceremony. The...

Japan's former vice minister Shoichi Nakagawa was found dead in a bed in his house in Tokyo, Japanese media reported on Sunday, citing Tokyo Metropolitan Police. A Tokyo police said authorities were trying to confirm his death. No external injuries were found on his body, Kyodo News Agency reported.

1. Meet “Ardi”Evolutionists aren’t yet sure if they should call it a human ancestor, but one thing they do know is that “Ardi” does away with the idea of a “missing link.”Although first discovered in the early 1990s, the bones of Ardipithecus ramidus are only now being nominated for evolutionists’ fossil hall of fame—via a slew of papers in a special issue of the journal Science. In it, Ardi’s researchers describe the bones and make the case that Ardi is even more important in the history of human evolution than Lucy. Despite claims of its evolutionary significance, one of the...