JAPAN: A Petrol Bomb Attack & more – 24th Oct 2024

Konnichiwa from BA! This is the Rorshok Japan Update from the 24th of October twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Japan.

On Saturday the 19th, the police arrested a man in his forties after he threw petrol bombs at the ruling Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo. The Molotov cocktail-like objects hit a police vehicle but didn't injure anyone. The man also attempted to drive into the prime minister's office grounds with a van filled with sixteen gasoline containers. Police stopped him before he got too far, but he still managed to light his van on fire and throw a smoke bomb. The police are still investigating to find out his motives.

Violent crime is rare in Japan, though similar incidents have targeted other political figures in recent years.

Meanwhile, Kyodo News, a media outlet, reported on Wednesday the 23rd that the police suspect a Tokyo Stock Exchange official of insider trading, leaking confidential takeover bid information to a relative. The official allegedly shared the private information multiple times this year, and the relative profited from stock trades based on the tips, though the official did not personally engage in the transactions.

Last month, the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission conducted raids on related sites, including the homes of the official and the relative. The commission is still investigating but hasn’t decided if it will hand the case over to prosecutors or issue the fines or penalties itself. Japan Exchange Group Inc., the Tokyo Exchange’s parent company, has apologized and said they will fully cooperate with officials.

In an update to a story from a previous show, Paul Watson, an anti-whaling activist and founder of the Sea Shepherd conservation group, requested asylum from France because he may be jailed for up to fifteen years if he is convicted in Japan.

Japan issued an international warrant against Watson in twenty ten after he interfered with its whaling fleet in the Antarctic Ocean. They accused him of breaking into the vessel, getting in the way of its business, and causing injury and property damage. However, he denied the charges.

Earlier this month, Japan’s foreign minister insisted that they didn’t want to persecute him for his activism but because Watson violated maritime law.

To know more about this story, check out the Rorshok Ocean Update with the link in the show notes!

Speaking of violating the law, Tokyo has seen a recent rise in crimes involving young workers recruited via social media through misleading job ads. These ads promise high pay for easy but legitimate work. However, the recruiters might have threatened to use the workers’ information against them, so they thought they had no choice but to commit theft. The recruiters use apps like Telegram and Signal to remain anonymous. The crimes target pawnshops and elderly homes but don’t have any clear pattern, making it difficult for police to find the perpetrators.

In one case, on Saturday the 19th, police arrested a twenty-two-year-old man who robbed and killed a seventy-year-old man in Yokohama, just south of Tokyo.

On another note, between twenty twenty and twenty twenty-two the government provided over a trillion yen, which is equivalent to nine billion dollars, in interest-free loans to households who were facing hardship because of COVID-19. The Board of Audit reported that about three billion dollars could not be collected from that amount. On Tuesday the 22nd, the Board of Audit called the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, concerned that the amount of uncollectible loans would go up.

The government gave away loans of up to 13,000 dollars per household. In twenty twenty-one, a government policy allowed households exempt from resident tax to also be exempted from loan repayment. By March twenty twenty-three, four billion dollars in loans entered repayment, but 774 million were defaulted on. The remaining two billion has not yet reached its repayment phase.

In international news, the defense ministers of Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea met with their NATO counterparts in Brussels on Thursday the 17th because of China’s increasing military activity and Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Gen Nakatani, the Japanese Defense Minister, said they have to work together against actions that threaten regional stability. Mark Rutte, NATO’s Secretary General, said the Ukraine conflict has affected everyone, so it’s important to cooperate.

Discussions included support for Ukraine, cyber defense, and countering disinformation. They also talked about China’s recent military pressure on Taiwan. Japan pledged additional defense vehicles to Ukraine and NATO said that Ukraine will eventually join the alliance, but they don’t know when.

Meanwhile, several Japanese manufacturers recently delayed their production schedules because of a strike at Boeing in the US. Three of the most notable examples were Kawasaki Heavy Industries, which manufactures the forward and mid fuselage, Subaru, which produces wings for the 777, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which produces wing parts in Vietnam.

Despite these setbacks, the strike hasn’t really affected the production of Boeing’s 787 aircraft, which is their best-selling passenger airplane. The main reason for this is likely that Japan has 150 firms partnering with the aircraft company, making Japan Boeing’s largest supplier aside from the US.

In entertainment, a group of twenty-six voice actors in Japan released a video on Monday the 21st calling for regulations on the use of generative AI to create audio and visual content that mimics their voices without permission. The group included celebrities such as Yuki Kaji, best known for his roles in My Hero Academia and Attack on Titan.

According to the Japan Actors Union, there have been many cases of AI-generated content that used actors’ voices without consent, such as having the simulated voices sing popular songs, and then either posting or selling the content online. These actors want to create guidelines for the ethical use of AI in this context that protects voice actors' rights.

On a lighter note, the Culture and Entertainment Industry Promotion Association announced on Monday the 21st that it was planning to launch a new international music awards ceremony next year called Music Awards Japan, saying that they will be the Asian version of the Grammy Awards. Five music organizations make up the association, including the Recording Industry Association of Japan.

Music Awards Japan aims to promote Japanese and other Asian music globally. 5,000 industry professionals will vote for songs and artists that appeared on Japanese charts between the 29th of January, twenty twenty-three, and the 26th of January, twenty twenty-four. The awards will feature six main categories, including Best Song and Best Album, and over sixty awards covering genres like hip-hop, enka, and more. The first ceremony will take place in Kyoto in May twenty twenty-five.

Finally, while Halloween might be a Western holiday, some regions in Japan hold similar events featuring dressing up as monsters. One of them is the Tokushima Yokai Festival held in the former Kyu Kamimyo Elementary School in Miyoshi City, Tokushima Prefecture, which is a twenty-minute bus or taxi ride from JR Oboke Station. There’s no entry fee. Those who wear handmade costumes of demons or yokai depicted in folk tales can participate in the parade, which is the festival’s main feature.

It will take place on the 25th of November. For more information, check out the official website with the link in the show notes!

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

Thanks for tuning into the Rorshok Japan update. You can connect with us on social media as @RorshokJapan on Twitter and Instagram.

Mata Ne!