JAPAN: Beni-Koji Deaths & more – 2nd Apr 2024

Konnichiwa from BA! This is the Rorshok Japan Update from the 2nd of April twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Japan.

Last week we told you that Kobayashi Pharmaceutical recalled its products containing a fermented rice health supplement called beni-koji after consumers started reporting serious health problems. In an update, as of Friday the 29th, five people who took the supplement have died and over a hundred have checked into hospitals for health issues.

The health ministry investigated the fermented rice and found that it had puberulic acid, something naturally found in blue mold. However, they’re not yet sure if the acid directly caused the health problems. Studies have found that puberulic acid can protect humans against malaria, but they don’t know its effect on the kidneys. The ministry will keep studying it to see how toxic it is and whether there are any other surprises in the health supplements.

Kobayashi Pharmaceutical admitted that they found blue mold in a batch of the products that caused the health complaints between April and December of twenty twenty-three.

With the public worried over the health supplements, retail giant Aeon recalled seven food products containing beni-koji, including steamed buns and a pilaf. Aeon said that their products didn't use the same type of beni-koji as Kobayashi Pharmaceutical, but they wanted to be sure that their products didn’t have the same problems and were completely safe.

Kobayashi Pharmaceutical also stopped selling its beni-koji supplements in China, warning their overseas customers to stop using the affected products.

On that note about food safety, on Saturday the 30th, Japan had another meeting with China about the ban on Japanese seafood imports. China put the ban in place after Japan began releasing treated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the ocean. In November last year, Japanese officials, plant operators, and Chinese researchers planned to discuss things and gathered at Dalian, in northeastern China.

The Japanese operators and officials gave a detailed explanation of the treated water release and the science it’s based on. They also invited the International Atomic Agency to conduct its own survey to ensure both safety and transparency in the process.

Everyone involved agreed to continue talks, but the meeting didn’t end with any clear resolution.

Meanwhile, North Korea launched another ballistic missile on Tuesday the 2nd that fell outside of Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone. The North Korean media has been regularly updating its citizens on its military testing, including surface-to-ship missiles and cruise missiles. As long as the country keeps firing them toward the Sea of Japan, though, the Coast Guard will stay on high alert for potential damage.

That’s not the only bit of international news. On Tuesday the 2nd, Yoko Kamikawa, the Foreign Minister, said that Japan would resume sending funds to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees or UNRWA. Japan, along with several other countries, stopped sending funds in October twenty twenty-three after they found out that some members of the agency’s staff had helped in the initial Hamas attack on Israel.

On Thursday the 28th, the commissioner-general of UNRWA met with Kamikawa to talk things over. He showed her the agency’s plan to be transparent and ensure all nations that its staff would be neutral and simply focus on helping refugees. With this and several other nations resuming their funding, Japan also decided to send funds again. In return, UNRWA promised to send Japan reports of its activities.

In economic news, since the yen is the weakest it has been in thirty-four years at an exchange rate of 152 yen per dollar, government officials and Japan's central bank held a meeting on Wednesday the 27th. The Bank of Japan ended its negative interest rate policy last week in hopes it might help the economy, but many investors believe that it will take time before things change.

Masato Kanda, the Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs, said he was concerned about the yen losing value, inflation, and differences in Japanese and US monetary policies. He wondered if such policies or other factors might be making a big difference in the economy, and said that the government is ready and willing to help prop up the yen.

On the bright side, the weak yen has made travel to Japan very popular - and as foreign visitors skyrocket, the Immigration Services Agency has prepared a new pre-clearance system for foreigners going through customs. The system will launch this month and should help prevent the entrance of terrorists into the country and make the immigration process easier.

With the new system, airlines will give passport information and other data of foreigners bound for Japan to immigration officials. The officials will then check a database of people flagged as terrorists, former prisoners, or those accused of illegally staying in Japan. The officials will then tell the airline if any travelers aren’t allowed to enter the country. This pre-clearance system is similar to those of the US and South Korea.

Of course, tourism alone won’t rescue Japan’s economy. That’s probably one of the reasons why the government is so eager to fund the computer chip industry. On Tuesday the 2nd, Ken Saito, the Industry Minister, said that they would give semiconductor maker Rapidus nearly four billion dollars in aid. He said the technology Rapidus is creating is important for the entire country’s economic growth since it will help reduce Japan’s reliance on importing chips from other countries.

This money will be in addition to the two billion the government had already promised to Rapidus.

The company is building a new factory in Chitose City, located in Hokkaido, northern Japan. The government aid will help Rapidus install chip-making equipment and fund research and development.

Moving on to business news, the labor union for budget airline Jetstar Japan had to postpone a strike planned for Friday the 29th. The strike was to protest the firing of a union executive last month, but when the union notified the airline of the strike, they didn’t say how many people would be a part of it. The company said that the union needed to tell them the number of people striking and how long they planned to protest at least forty-eight hours in advance, or else they would discipline any employees who participated in the strike.

After the company’s statement, half of the union members decided not to join the strike. The union said the company’s warning violated the Labor Union Act. Jetstar said they had to take measures to make sure it didn’t impact their customers’ travel plans and only wanted a reasonable amount of notice.

In domestic travel, Central Japan Railway or JR Central told the government on Friday the 29th that it won’t be able to finish the maglev bullet train service by twenty twenty-seven as initially planned. The maglev train can reach up to 500 kilometers or 310 miles per hour. Once finished, it will run between Tokyo’s Shinagawa Station and Nagoya Station in Aichi Prefecture, passing through Shizuoka Prefecture.

JR Central signed a contract with the government six years ago to launch the maglev train service by twenty twenty-seven, but they haven’t even been able to start construction in Shizuoka because local authorities keep delaying them. Shizuoka officials are worried about the environmental impact of the new train line. JR Central said it would take at least another ten years to finish the construction, so the maglev train service won’t be ready until twenty twenty-four at the earliest.

Luckily, you won’t need the maglev train to get to Matsuyama in Ehime Prefecture, where Matsuyama Castle will hold its annual Spring Festival from Thursday the 4th until Sunday the 7th. Entry to the festival is free. It has various events, but the big one everyone looks forward to is the parade of the feudal lord and his warriors, held on the last day of the festival. To know more, check out the link in the show notes!

And that’s it for this week! Thanks for joining us!

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