JAPAN: Global Fraud Meeting & more – 17th Sep 2024

Konnichiwa from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Japan Update from the 17th of September twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Japan.

On Wednesday the 11th, Japan hosted the first Global Fraud Meeting. Criminal investigators from around twenty countries, including the US, UK, and Australia, gathered in Tokyo to talk about how methods of fraud and scams are changing through technology and social media. Discussions focused on investment fraud and romance scams, where someone pretends to be in love online to convince victims to send them money.

Tsuyuki Yasuhiro, Japan's National Police Agency head, said that lately, there has been a lot more fraud linked to fake online ads. Interpol noted that a lot of scams used AI-generated fake media and crypto assets. Japan saw over 550 million dollars in losses from investment fraud and romance scams in the first half of twenty twenty-four, nearly four times more than the 124 million lost during the same period in twenty twenty-three.

It’s no wonder people are worried about fraud. NHK, a news media organization, recently reported on a new type of credit card fraud in Japan, where victims continue to be charged even after canceling their cards. The scam exploits cashless payment systems that allow small transactions without immediate card company verification.

In one case, a phishing email stole a woman's card information and registered it to the scammer’s Apple Pay. Despite canceling her card, the scammer still made a total of 1,700 dollars in fraudulent charges over two months.

Masayuki Yamamoto, a payment system expert, said that while card companies have fraud detection systems, it takes a while to make safeguards for new scams. He advised people to keep a close eye on their credit card statements and report suspicious activity immediately.

In other news, the education ministry is planning to set a framework that will make it easier for organizations to invest in certified Japanese language schools. These schools are mainly targeted toward foreign workers to help them speak Japanese more fluently and navigate better through society and work culture since outside of major cities, very little of Japan is foreigner-friendly.

The framework will evaluate schools based on teacher numbers and curriculum to determine which need funds the most. The ministry will then hire third-party consultants to act as a go-between for companies, local governments, and universities who are interested in investing. The consultants will help the investors figure out where to put their money to help increase teachers' salaries and improve the quality of education for schools that don’t have enough funds.

They will start by testing this new framework in ten locations across Japan.

Kyodo News, a news organization, ran a poll on Monday the 16th and found that twenty-eight percent of Liberal Democratic Party or LDP supporters saw Sanae Takaichi, the former economic security minister, as the best choice for the next prime minister. The second among all the LDP candidates in the poll was Shigeru Ishiba, with twenty-four percent.

Nine candidates are running for the election that will take place on the 27th of September. Thirty-six percent of people who participated in the Kyodo News poll said they want the next prime minister to focus on boosting the economy, while twenty-five percent thought foreign policy was more important.

In an update to a story from previous shows, Nippon Steel and US Steel have sent a joint letter to Joe Biden, the US President, about their planned fifteen billion dollar merger after hearing that Biden plans to block the deal. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States is currently reviewing it.

Ever since the two companies first started discussing a possible merger, many people have voiced their opposition, such as the United Steelworkers union, some members of Congress, and some presidential candidates from both major parties.

Despite these challenges, both companies are working to salvage the deal, with executives meeting senior U.S. officials to talk things over.

In health news, recently Japan pledged three million doses of an mpox vaccine for Africa as part of a global effort to combat the disease’s rise. Other countries such as the US have also donated, with their contributions coming up to three and a half million doses all together. This follows the World Health Organization’s recent declaration that the increase in mpox cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighboring countries is a public health emergency.

Japan's vaccine, developed by KM Biologics, will be used alongside those donated from other countries.

Fifteen African countries have reported over 5,700 cases, including thirty-two deaths, this year.

On a lighter note, McDonald’s Japan said on Tuesday the 10th that it would no longer have hair color restrictions for employees. Before, it required workers to have natural-colored hair, which for most Japanese people means black or dark brown. However, executives wanted to improve the working environment and get more people to go work for them since McDonald’s branches are experiencing a labor shortage.

Other companies, such as Sushiro and Starbucks Japan, changed their employee dress code for similar reasons.

Back in April, McDonald’s Japan lifted their hair color rule on a trial basis in Osaka. It worked very well, with many more people applying than the year before.

Maybe Central Japan Railway Company, or JR Central, can hire some new employees, too, because on Saturday the 14th, it discovered its second recent case of one of the JR Group’s companies doing improper maintenance. While installing wheels on the train cars, workers applied higher-than-recommended pressure to eleven axles. The company said the axles were safe, but they took the affected trains out of service for the day, which affected a lot of travelers.

Last time one of JR Group’s firms had messed up maintenance, they falsified the data to cover it up. So, when the transport ministry heard that JR Central took some trains out of service, they conducted an emergency inspection and found out about the issue quickly. The company assured officials they did not falsify the data this time.

JR Central apologized for the inconvenience and assured the public they were committed to train safety.

In more travel news, Japan plans to streamline entry procedures for foreign visitors at Narita, Haneda, and Kansai airports by the end of the fiscal year. To do this, the government ran a test at Haneda Airport where travelers registered online ahead of time and went through a photo and passport check from home. Then, when they got to the airport, they only had to scan a code to check in.

Haneda Airport found that this test system reduced arrival times by about two minutes. Officials are hopeful this system will increase efficiency while maintaining security.

If you're planning a trip to one of Fukui Prefecture's beaches, watch out for dolphins. Over the past three years, dolphin attacks off Fukui have injured at least fifty-three people.

Tadamichi Morisaka, a university professor, recently suggested that the same dolphin was likely behind all the attacks since victims noticed the same damaged dorsal fin and similar behavior, where it would swim up to people and bite or ram them if they tried to pet it. The professor warned people not to approach or touch dolphins.

Meanwhile, on Sunday the 15th, the Tour de Tohoku twenty twenty-four, a cycling event supporting reconstruction efforts after the twenty eleven tsunami, took place in Miyagi Prefecture. Over 1,300 riders participated, traveling through areas that the disaster had struck hardest. There were three different routes, with the longest being 180 kilometers or 112 miles, all starting from Ishinomaki, where they observed a moment of silence for the disaster victims.

And to wrap up this edition, some entertainment news. The TV series Shogun, an American historical drama set in Japan starring Hiroyuki Sanada, a Japanese actor, as one of the main characters, won eighteen awards during the Emmys on Sunday the 15th.

It broke a lot of different records, including the most awards any TV show won in a single season. It also marked the first time a non-English-language show won the award for best drama series, and the first time that a Japanese person - Sanada - won an Emmy for best actor.

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

We hope you're enjoying the Rorshok Japan Update as much as we enjoy making it. Got thoughts, questions, or ideas? Send us an email at info@rorshok.com, and don’t forget to subscribe on your go-to podcast platform!

Mata Ne!