JAPAN: Asia Security Summit & more – 4th Jun 2024

discuss security in Asia. This year's big topics were Taiwan, the South China Sea, and North Korea.

At the Shangri-La Dialogue, Kihara said Japan wants to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific region based on the rule of law. He implied that China was trying to take up an unfair amount of space in the East and South China Seas with their recent increase in maritime activities. Kihara said that everyone in the international community should want peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and that Japan's decision to improve its defenses was not to pick a fight, but to deter other nations from stirring the pot.

One example of China’s recent aggressiveness is a large Chinese Coast Guard vessel, nicknamed the Monster, entering the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone and using water cannons against Philippine boats. The Chinese Coast Guard ship was navigating close to Scarborough Shoal, which China controls. This use of water cannons is considered gray zone tactics, which is an intimidation method but not armed conflict.

At the Shangri-La Dialogue, the Vice Commandant of the Japanese Coast Guard said that nations shouldn’t use Coast Guard ships as tools to try and change the status quo, but China’s Central Military deputy chief said that China has a right to protect its maritime rights and sovereignty.

Part of the Philippine Coast Guard’s problem is that it doesn’t have many patrol boats. So, Japan gave them two ninety-seven-meter, or 318-foot-long, patrol ships.

Japan's Foreign Ministry also had something to say to China. On Friday the 31st of May, it lodged a protest with Chinese Ambassador Wu Jianghao over his remarks implying that Japanese people would be endangered if Japan supported Taiwan's independence.

Wu made the controversial comments at a forum on the 20th of May, criticizing Japanese lawmakers for attending Taiwan's presidential inauguration and accusing them of supporting Taiwan independence separatists. He implied that if Japan associated with such people, it could drag Japanese citizens into danger. This wasn’t the first time Wu had made such comments.

Yoko Kamikawa, the Foreign Minister, said Wu's remarks were extremely inappropriate, but when reporters asked if Japan would ask him to leave the country, she did not answer.

Meanwhile, Shiro Suzuki, the Nagasaki City Mayor, said on Monday the 3rd that he won’t invite the Israeli Ambassador to Japan to the annual ceremony commemorating the US atomic bombing of the city. He explained that he was worried about protestors or other people interrupting the ceremony, which will take place on the 9th of August. He said that the point of the event was to mourn atomic bomb victims, and he didn’t want distractions from other political issues. Suzuki plans to send a letter to the Israeli envoy calling for an end to the violence in Gaza. Nagasaki also did not invite the Russian ambassador or Belarus.

However, Suzuki still plans to invite the Palestinian envoy to the ceremony.

This decision marks a contrast with Hiroshima, which invited the Israeli ambassador to its peace memorial.

In domestic news, a magnitude six earthquake hit Ishikawa Prefecture on Monday the 3rd. The cities of Wajima and Suzu, both of which are still recovering from the Noto Peninsula earthquake, experienced magnitude-five tremors.

Two bullet trains, the Hokuriku Shinkansen and the Joetsu Shinkansen, paused their service for about half an hour due to a power outage. The Japan Meteorological Agency assured there was no tsunami threat, and nearby nuclear power plants also reported that the quake didn’t cause any damage. However, officials warned that there could be aftershocks and to stay alert just in case.

Earthquakes aren’t the only thing to look out for. Now that bears are coming out of hibernation, there’s been a rise in bear sightings and attacks in rural areas. In April and May, there were eleven bear attacks in Akita, Ishikawa, Iwate, Nara, and Hokkaido Prefectures. It wasn't as bad as twenty twenty-three, which had twenty-two attacks in the same two-month period, and a record-breaking 219 total attacks for the whole year. However, both Akita and Aomori Prefectures have had an increase in bear sightings.

Shinsuke Koike, a bear behavior expert, said they normally get their food from beech trees, but if there aren't a lot of trees, they may get closer to human areas looking for food. Officials in the Tohoku, Hokuriku, and Hokkaido regions have warned residents to be careful.

Moving onto business news, Japan's transport ministry announced that five major car makers, Toyota, Mazda, Yamaha, Honda, and Suzuki, admitted to falsifying performance tests for product certification.

The ministry ordered Toyota, Mazda, and Yamaha to stop certain shipments of cars and motorbikes and ensure their vehicles meet national safety standards. The Toyota Motor Chairman said falsifying tests should have never happened and they would follow the government’s instructions. Yamaha and Mazda have already halted some shipments.

The ministry plans to conduct onsite inspections at all five companies. This discovery came only a few months after the government found out that Hino, Toyota Industries, and Daihatsu had all falsified safety test data. The government then ordered eighty-five car makers and parts companies to conduct internal checks for illegal practices.

Japanese cryptocurrency exchange DMM Bitcoin is also doing some investigating. The company reported a leak of Bitcoin worth forty-eight billion yen or over 300 million dollars on Friday the 31st of May. The exchange detected the issue and suspended some services, including transaction outputs and the verification process for opening new accounts, while it investigated.

The Financial Services Agency said that once the investigation is over, the company must submit a report on the cause of the incident. DMM Bitcoin has apologized to its customers for the breach.

On Thursday the 30th, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said that people will soon be able to use My Number, Japan’s national identification card, on their iPhones. This announcement came after an online meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook. Before, My Number could only be used on Android smartphones.

The Chief Cabinet Secretary said that the government has been working hard to make it so anyone can use the system, noting that the cards can verify identities both online and in person. My Number cards can be used for administration, bureaucratic services, health insurance, library services, and disaster relief management.

Also on Thursday the 30th, the Utsunomiya District Court gave three teachers two-year prison sentences for negligence that resulted in several people dying.

In March twenty seventeen, the three teachers were in charge of helping arrange a training program for local high school mountain climbing clubs, but an avalanche killed seven students and one teacher.

Prosecutors argued that the teachers were experienced winter mountain climbers and should have known there might be an avalanche. The defendants’ lawyers said there was no way they could have predicted it, and had already done everything they could to make the training safe.

And to lose this edition, on Friday the 31st, Kobe Airport closed one of its runways after an airplane made a poor landing during a training flight. Even though the plane damaged the runway, no fire broke out, and there were no injuries.

A pilot in his sixties was training two pilots in their twenties, but they forgot to extend the wheels while practicing a touch-and-go landing. They apologized for the trouble they caused as the airport had to cancel thirty-four flights that day.

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

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Mata Ne!