J Update

Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) held a regular meeting on Wednesday and shared a notion that further information about the impact of Noto Peninsula Earthquake on Shika Nuclear Power Plant of Hokuriku Electric Power Company should be analyzed. Hit by major quakes, Shika plant had some troubles, revealing risks for restarting its operations. Discussion over vulnerability of nuclear power plant to earthquake is resumed before the plant restarts. Magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Noto Peninsula caused multiple troubles in the site of Shika plant. Some of transformers, which control the pressure of electricity supplied from external facilities, were broken, leaking 20 thousand litters of oil. Although fire and explosion were reported right after the earth quake, HEPC corrected the information that the fire had been a smell of oil and the explosion had been a sound of device working in transformers.   While HEPC reported no meaningful change in sea level around the plant, it was corrected t...

The Liberal Democratic Party on Thursday established Political Reform Headquarters to discuss the measures dealing with political funds and role of the factions in the party. While some lawmakers argue abolishing factions in LDP, the discussion goes on with a basic notion that factions are necessary for political activities. Although Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reiterates his willingness to reform the party, fundamental change of political culture of LDP might be unexpectable.   Kishida announced establishment of the headquarters, headed by himself, at the end of last year, asked about what would he be doing on the slush fund scandal discovered mainly in Abe faction. Kishida named former Prime Ministers Taro Aso and Yoshihide Suga for the supreme advisors of the headquarters. What invited skepticisms on it was that ten lawmakers with Abe faction, as many as independent ones, were appointed. According to the news reports, whether they have been involved in the scandal is not reconf...

Ministry of Defense on Wednesday began landfill off the north coast of United States Marine Corp Camp Schwab in Nago city, Okinawa, to reinforce the soil “as soft as mayonnaise.” Although Governor of Okinawa, Denny Tamaki, firmly opposed the construction, the government of Japan forcefully started the construction without approval of Tamaki. The construction of new base will cause consistent protest against US Force in Okinawa for a long period of time. The government of Japan started dumping earth into the south side of the coastal area of the camp in 2018 and the landfill there has made progress. It found soft soil in the base of Oura Bay, northern side of the camp, and decided to change the plan of construction. Receiving oppositions from the people in Okinawa, Tamaki refused that plan-B exercising legal power to disapprove it. The Supreme Court decided last month in favor of national government so that it can go forward with the construction by proxy, instead of the governor.  ...

Population Strategy Conference (PSC) handed Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday   a proposal   to slowdown decrease of population of Japan, called “Population Vision 2100.” The proposal upholds the shape of Japan stably maintaining 80 million of population in the year of 2100. It is not clear why 80 million is an appropriate size of Japan and whether they have considered a possibility of maintaining current level of population.   Established as a volunteer discussion body of experts last July, the conference has been discussing the strategy to deal with possible demographic shrink in the future. The chairman, former chairman of Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Akio Mimura, and vice chairman, former Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications, Hiroya Masuda, handed Kishida the interim conclusion of their discussion.   PSC presented four models of future population of Japan. They are A) 91 million with 28% of aging rate, which means the ratio of 65 year...

One week has passed since a great earthquake hit Noto Peninsula on new year’s day. Mainichi Shimbun  reported   on Tuesday that one person died in a shelter in Noto city, marking the first victim of refugee in the Noto Peninsula Earthquake. It is important for the government to prevent “disaster-related deaths,” which frequently exceeds the direct deaths from quakes, fire or tsunami. Saving saved lives is getting important as well as saving the missing. Ishikawa Prefectural Government updated on Tuesday January 9 th   the damage  from the earthquakes, in which death toll climbed to 202 including 6 disaster-related deaths. The missing amounted to 102 and 565 were injured. 1414 houses were destroyed or partly broken. 3123 people in 22 districts were isolated without supplies, losing access of transportation from outer area. 26,158 people are living in 404 shelters.   Blackout prevents the people from going back home. It snowed much these days. Fuel for heaters is ...

The Special Investigation Division of Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office on Sunday arrested a member of House of Representative, Yoshitaka Ikeda, with suspicion of failing in reporting about ¥48 million of political fund which he received from Abe faction in Liberal Democratic Party between 2018 and 2022. Ikeda is the first lawmaker who was arrested in the slush fund scandal of LDP factions. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is asked how he takes the responsibility for the scandal as the president of LDP. Dubbed as one of the children of Shinzo Abe, Ikeda is suspected as having received money from Abe faction, which was the sales of tickets for fundraising parties of the faction without recording in political funds report. Abe faction had a rule that the sales of fundraising party, which exceeded the quota for each lawmaker, would be returned to the lawmaker. Ikeda did not report it as income, and Abe faction did not report it as spending.   Such unreported money in Abe faction is...

As investigation on the collision of two planes in Haneda Airport continues, the situation of the accident has eventually been revealed. According to the news reports, the air traffic controller did not permit the Japan Coast Guard plane to enter in the runway, where it collided with landing Japan Airlines plane. But the controller did not notice that JCG plane was on the runway for certain period of time. Although cause of the accident has not been determined, it is likely that it was brought by some human errors. The communication record , released by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, indicates that the air traffic controller did not give permission to JCG plane to enter the runway. But the captain of JCG plane said that he had received permission to take off from the controller. Japan Transport Safety Board has obtained the communication records from both planes and analyzes the records.   Yomiuri Shimbun  reported  that JCG plane stopped on the ...

  While the Self-defense Force, the fire department and the police continue the efforts for rescue, death toll of Noto Peninsula Earthquake exceeded one hundred on Saturday. Roads are broken by the quakes, and landslides also block transports to the devastated area in the peninsula. Supposing the region needs long-time support, the government of Japan, led by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, is preparing for securing fiscal resource. According to  the release  of Ishikawa Prefectural Government as of the afternoon of January 6 th , the deaths in the earthquake marked 110 in Ishikawa and 516 people are injured. 210 are still not confirmed whether they are alive or not. Broken houses are countless. Deaths are mainly confirmed in the cities of Wajima and Suzu. A major fire occurred in Wajima and Suzu is close to the seismic center.   A series of earthquakes caused landslides everywhere in the peninsula, covering the roads with earth and trees. The trucks transporting foods...

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on January 4 th   held the new year press conference at Prime Minister’s Official Residence, instead of Ise Jingu where the prime ministers have ordinarily been doing every year. Kishida postponed the annual new year visit to the shrine for conducting disaster management on the earthquake in Noto Peninsula. Kishida raised restoration of confidence to politics as the top issue of his administration this year. In  the new year press conference in 2023 , Kishida focused on economy, having suffered from COVID-19 and the shortage of energy caused by Russia’s aggression to Ukraine. Listing up the achievements in the previous year, including enhancement of defense capability and transferring energy policy, Kishida hoped to put a period to the problems in Japanese economy and create a new basis for positive cycle. He also showed his willingness to tackle the issue of low birth rate.   Kishida administration entered this year with a bunch of unexpected...

The government of Japan released a draft of guidelines for taking advantage of artificial intelligence in business. Kishida administration is going to establish a new organization which deals with safety of AI this month. There is a discussion in European Union or United States, which demands AI users to disclose information with legal mandates. While Japan has been lagging behind in setting regulations on use of AI, the government is leading in making certain rule in introducing AI into the society. The government of Japan has been believing that the development of AI would have positive impact on human society. It published a document titled  Social Principles of Human-centric AI  in 2019, which recognized AI as contributing to the contemporary issues such as global environment, gap between the rich and the poor, scarcity of natural resource, low birth rate, labor shortage, depopulation or increasing fiscal deficit. It raised human dignity, diversity and inclusion, and susta...

A passenger plane of Japan Air Line and an aircraft of Japan Coast Guard crushed on the runway of Tokyo Haneda International Airport in the evening of January 2 nd . While 379 passengers and crews on the JAL plane could evacuate before the plane was burnt down, 5 crews on the JCG plane were dead. JCG plane was heading to Niigata Air Base for the relief of the great earthquake in Noto Peninsula the day before. Japan started 2024 with consecutive disasters. It was around 5:47 p.m., when JAL 516, the Airbus 350 which had departed New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido, collided with a Bombardier maritime patrol plane of JCG on the Runway C of Haneda Airport. The JAL plane was running on the runway just after the landing. The JCG plane was entering the runway to take off, from the left side of the JAL plane.   Both planes immediately started fire after the collision. The JAL plane stopped after running about a thousand meters, while the JCG plane, as small as less than a half size of the JAL ...

A great earthquake hit Noto Peninsula in the afternoon of new year’s day in 2024. Causing collapse of buildings and houses or large fire, the quake brought about many victims still uncountable. While Prime Minister Fumio Kishida tries to take a good leadership in rescuing the victims and helping the refugees, it made a serious issue for the ailing administration with the slush money scandal. Kishida can make no mistake in handling the disaster recovery. Japan Meteorological Agency announced that a major earthquake with magnitude 7.6 occurred in the northern part of Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture on 16:10 p.m. on January 1 st . The location of seismic center was supposed to be 30 km north of Wajima city and had 16 km of depth from the land surface. It marked the highest level 7 of intensity in the town of Shika, The cities of Kanazawa and Niigata recorded level 5. A lot of aftershocks were acknowledged in Ishikawa and other prefectures around.   Ishikawa prefectural governmen...

To make the Emperor Akihito’s first visit to China in the postwar period successful, the government of Japan deliberately took care of possible oppositions of the rightwing power in Japan. Diplomatic documents of Minister of Foreign Affairs disclosed last month describes that Japanese government was careful not to miss the opportunity and eager to build a new bilateral relationship for the future. The experience needs to be reflected to current situation of the two countries. MOFA discloses diplomatic records with thirty years old or more once every year. In the     disclosure in 2023, the documents on Akihito’s visit to China in 1992, commemorating twentieth anniversary of   Japan-China Joint Communique which normalized the bilateral relationship, revealed political consideration in Japan, China and United States. According to the news reports, Akihito’s visit to China was requested by Chinese Prime Minister Li Peng at his visit to Japan in 1989, the year when Akihito su...

The Supreme Court in Republic of Korea dismissed appeals of Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in the case of demanding compensation for the damage by the coercive labor in the wartime, which had been brought by former Korean workers. The court order, which demanded two Japanese companies compensation to the victims, was finally reconfirmed. The government of Japan criticized the decision of ROK Supreme Court as unacceptable. Is that it?   Agreement on the Settlement of Problem between Japan and ROK  in 1965 declared that any claims were settled. “The Contracting Parties confirm that problem concerning property, rights, and interests of the two Contracting Parties and their nationals --- is settled completely and finally,” describes Article 2 of the agreement. The government of Japan has been keeping its position that all the disputes of Korean people over the compensation in the wartime were settled by the agreement.   ROK Supreme Court drew a new interpretatio...

The Special Investigation Department of Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office arrested a member of the House of Representatives, former State Minister of Justice, Mito Kakizawa, with suspicion of violating Public Office Election Act on Thursday. Kakizawa reportedly involved in distributing bribe in February to the members of the local assembly in Koto Metropolitan District of Tokyo related to its mayoral election. Dependence on money and traditional structure of internal competition of Liberal Democratic Party are in the background. A son of former LDP Representative, Koji Kakizawa, Mito Kakizawa started his political career as a member of Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, affiliated with Democratic Party of Japan, in 2001. He ran for HR election in 2009 and secured a seat as a proportional representative of Your Party. Kakizawa changed his affiliation to several opposition parties, including Innovation Party, and joined LDP in 2021.   Kakizawa lost twice out of five elections in Tok...

Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Tetsuo Saito, issued on Thursday a proxy approval to Ministry of Defense for improving soft ground off the coast of Henoko, Nago city, Okinawa, to build a new base for United States Force. Governor of Okinawa, Denny Tamaki, on whom the authority to approve the construction is vested, opposed to the decision of central government, arguing it would distort local autonomy. Kishida administration succeeds authoritative style of execution of Shinzo Abe, which lays local government under central power.   The government of Japan started the landfill in Henoko in 2013, when the governor, Hirokazu Nakaima, approved it. Next governor, Takeshi Onaga, overturned in 2015 the approval of Nakaima, and Tamaki succeeded Onaga’s policy, backed by overwhelming support from the people in Okinawa.   Tamaki refused the approval on changing design of landfill in 2021, after the central government found the land off the coast of Henoko had been too soft...

  Tokyo District Court decided that the arresting and indicting the president of a manufacturing company were illegal and ordered Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the government of Japan to pay ¥160 million of compensation. The court found that the suspicion on the company had been baseless and caused by insufficient investigation. The case represents excessive rigidity of law enforcement and public prosecutors in Japan, which independently act with monopolized power of investigation.   Masaaki Ohkawara, the president of a precision machinery company Ohkawara Kakohki, and his advisor, Shizuo Aijima, were arrested in 2020 by Tokyo Metropolitan Police and indicted by Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office with suspicion of illegal export of spray dryers, which could be developed into biological weapons, to China and Republic of Korea. The police and prosecutors thought the export had not been approved by Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and against Foreign Exchange and...

The experts’ conference on the issue of Science Council of Japan summarized an intermediate report which recommended the government to reform the council into a special corporation. This is the consequence of eccentric action of the government frustrated with academic criticisms against the administration. It is regrettable for the government to finish its efforts to execute policies with academic endorsements. Established in 1948, SCJ has been playing a role to advise the government as a national academy. Article 2 of  Science Council of Japan Act  defines its purpose as reflecting improvement of science on execution of policies, activity of industries and people’s life. The law puts SCJ under oversight of Prime Minister and demands the government to cover all the cost for SCJ.   The reform of SCJ has been discussed after Yoshihide Suga administration rejected the recommendation of six scholars, all of whom had been approved by the general assembly of SCJ, for new member...