JAPAN: Companies Pull out from Fuji TV & more – 23rd Jan 2025

Konnichiwa from BA! This is the Rorshok Japan Update from the 23rd of January twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Japan.

In a follow-up to a story from our previous show, companies began pulling ads from Fuji TV due to alleged sexual misconduct involving Masahiro Nakai, a TV host and former member of the boy band SMAP. Toyota, Nippon Life, and Meiji Yasuda Life replaced or suspended commercials, while Aflac also halted ads. Magazines reported Nakai acted inappropriately toward a woman during a dinner that initially involved a Fuji TV executive as well, but he left, leaving the two alone.

On Friday the 17th, Koichi Minato, Fuji TV's president, said they’d created an investigation committee to sort things out.

Still, Kikkoman, a major food company, asked Fuji TV on Tuesday the 21st to suspend a program that it had been sponsoring called Gourmet Samurai or Kuishinbo! Banzai! Nippon Cultural Broadcasting called for an emergency board meeting at Fuji Media, Fuji TV’s parent company, to review corporate governance.

Fuji’s not the only one in hot water. Prosecutors indicted Hidekatsu Yajima, a seventy-two-year-old accounting staff member for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party or LDP, for failing to report income of thirty-five million yen, which is 225,000 dollars, mostly from fundraising parties. Yajima admitted to violating the political funds control law, marking a further spread of the slush funds issue that has many members of the public distrusting the LDP, now led by Shigeru Ishiba, the Prime Minister.

Recall that in previous shows, we mentioned the issue involving unreported funds from party members, with over twenty assembly members implicated.

Yajima failed to declare a large amount of income and expenses in twenty nineteen and twenty twenty-two. Ishiba apologized and vowed reforms to restore trust, while Yoshihiko Noda, the leader of the opposition party, called for lawmakers all over the nation to be investigated.

You’d think that would be enough fraud for one day, but nope! Tokyo police believe that four people, including a former director and current vice director of Tokyo's Sunshine Aquarium in eastern Japan, committed fraud by falsifying reports regarding endangered tortoises in order to get money from the government.

Between nineteen ninety-nine and two thousand three, the government took twenty-three Burmese star tortoises from smugglers and gave them to the aquarium, along with money to take care of the tortoises. Then, from twenty eighteen to twenty twenty-two, the aquarium submitted false reports to the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry, overstating the number of tortoises under its care. This fraud reportedly resulted in 150,000 yen, which is 1,000 dollars, in ill-gotten funds.

Police first realized something was up after a former employee transferred ten tortoises without authorization, saying there was overcrowding. False reports continued until twenty twenty-two, alleging that some tortoises had died. All suspects admitted guilt.

In international news, foreign ministers from Japan, the United States, Australia, and India met in Washington on Tuesday the 21st under the Quad framework to discuss strengthening cooperation for a free and open Indo-Pacific.

At the meeting, held at the US State Department and led by Marco Rubio, the new Secretary of State, they reaffirmed their commitment to continue collaborating following Donald Trump's inauguration as US president.

Meanwhile, in preparation for Osaka Expo twenty twenty-five, the city in western Japan is implementing stricter smoking regulations to improve public health and make the city look nicer. A citywide street-smoking ban will take effect on Monday the 27th, though people will still be allowed to smoke in designated areas. This includes smoking rooms with filtration units, which are sometimes found in larger restaurants.

These measures, which include fines for violations, faced criticism because the ban was too sudden and the city didn’t make enough smoking areas. Moreover, if some places, like restaurants, are too small, they won't have room for a smoking area and if people aren't allowed to smoke inside at all, the smaller places might lose business, meaning that this smoking ban would end up crushing small eateries while bigger chains will be fine.

Business owners fear revenue loss, particularly in bars and pubs, as installing smoking rooms is costly, but others see the ban as necessary for secondhand smoke reduction.

In health news, Japan is experiencing a severe bird flu outbreak. Twenty-six farms across five prefectures reported outbreaks in January alone, resulting in the culling of nearly five million chickens, which was more than in January twenty twenty-three. The agriculture ministry reported a fifteen percent increase in egg prices since the beginning of the year.

On Wednesday the 22nd, the agriculture ministry held a meeting and decided to set up a task force in Iwate Prefecture, northern Japan, to deal with the outbreaks. The Agriculture Minister said that the situation may worsen, and might even break past records. The current outbreak is the second fastest-spreading in recent years, breaking twenty twenty-two’s record.

In business news, Suzuki Motor Corporation unveiled its first electric vehicle, the eVITARA, at the Bharat Mobility Global Expo twenty twenty-five in India. Suzuki is trying to emphasize that this electric car is made in India, aligning with the Indian Prime Minister’s Make in India initiative. The company is centering production in India to reduce costs and will officially launch the car in the summer of twenty twenty-five.

India’s electric vehicle market is growing. Tata Motors holds the biggest share in electric vehicles at nearly sixty-two percent. To catch up, Suzuki plans to launch six electric car models in India, aiming for electric vehicles to make up fifteen percent of its total sales by twenty thirty.

Business has more good news. NHK, the broadcasting company, surveyed 100 major Japanese companies and found over ninety percent are prepared to raise wages in twenty twenty-five amid annual wage negotiations. Of the sixty-nine firms that responded, thirty-three confirmed plans to increase pay, and fifty-nine percent said they are highly likely to do so.

Among them, twenty-seven percent are considering raises of five to seven percent, while two percent are planning even bigger raises. However, sixty-two percent have yet to decide on the scale of the hike.

Rengo, Japan's largest labor group, is demanding a minimum wage increase of five percent this year. Companies considering larger raises said that the main reasons to do so are to attract more workers and address the rising living costs.

In sports, the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, located in Tokyo, announced the latest additions to the hall of fame on Thursday the 16th. The three new baseball players added were Ichiro Suzuki, a fifty-one-year-old famous for his hitting, base-stealing, and defensive skills; Hitoki Iwase, a fifty-year-old former pitcher; and Masayuki Kakefu, a sixty-nine-year-old third baseman. The Hall of Fame also gave a special award to Hiroya Tomizawa, a ninety-three-year-old former umpire.

The new additions bring the Hall of Fame’s total members to 222.

On a more somber note, the Japan Sumo Association announced on Friday, the 17th, that Terunofuji, the Yokozuna Grand Champion, was retiring and would transition to a sumo elder.

Known for his belt-grappling style, the Mongolian-born wrestler won his tenth tournament championship in July twenty twenty-three. However, injuries and diabetes plagued his career, so much so that he only completed two tournaments in twenty twenty-four. Even though he had a comeback earlier this month, he did not do well, and decided to retire entirely.

If you’re looking for some winter fun, head to Chitose in Hokkaido, northern Japan, for the Lake Shikotsu Ice Festival. The event will take place at Lake Shikotsu every day between the 1st and 24th of February. You can see illuminated ice sculptures, do ice skating, or slide down some ice slides. At night, there will be fireworks.

You can get to the lake either via a forty-minute taxi or an hour-long bus ride from Sapporo’s New Chitose Airport.

Check out the festival’s official website to see some photos of past events with the link in the show notes!

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

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Mata Ne!