JAPAN: Heavy Rain Alert & more – 24th Sep 2024

th of September: 2024

Over the weekend in Ishikawa Prefecture, weather officials issued a level five emergency heavy rain alert, which is the highest possible level. 500 milliliters of rain fell in Wajima City and 400 in Suzu City over two days, both twice the amount of September’s average rainfall — a new historic record for the area.

Sixteen rivers overflowed and mudslides caused property damage to many buildings and houses. The rains have claimed lives and there are people missing.

By the evening of Sunday the 22nd, weather officials downgraded the warning. On Monday the 23rd, officials said that rain damage had blocked off access to fifty-six villages. Many areas also experienced water and power outages. The Chief Cabinet Secretary said they would send Self-Defense Force helicopters to transport rice and portable toilets to areas that needed it.

rts again after banning it in: 2023

After near-continuous negotiations over the past year, China has agreed to allow seafood imports again, but only gradually. Japan wants an immediate removal of trade restrictions because of how much the ban has affected its fishing industry.

In contrast, Russia, which also imposed a seafood ban following China, said they wouldn’t lift their restrictions. The International Atomic Energy Agency said it will work with Japan and other nations, including China, to ensure water safety.

The tension between the two countries may be one of the reasons why a man stabbed a ten-year-old Japanese boy in Shenzhen, China, on Wednesday the 18th while he was walking to a Japanese school. The police arrested the suspect, but haven’t given out much information. They insist that it’s an isolated incident, but that was put into question, as this might be a sign of Japan-China relations falling apart.

Japanese government officials are alarmed as anti-China sentiment spreads in the country, and Japanese companies in China are taking precautionary measures. Both governments are urging calm to prevent further escalation.

In an update to a story from previous shows, the Hyogo Prefectural Assembly voted for a motion of no-confidence against Motohiko Saito, the Hyogo Governor, accusing him of power abuse, mistreating staff, and coercing companies into giving him personal gifts or services. The issue surfaced after a senior official, who later died by apparent suicide, accused Saito of misconduct and of indirectly causing the death of a section chief in April. Saito put the section chief in charge of gathering funds even when he had fallen ill, and the senior official believed that Saito worked him to death.

ng those that backed Saito in: 2021

Speaking of politicians losing their jobs, on Monday the 23rd, the Constitutional Democratic Party or CDP elected Yoshihiko Noda, a former prime minister, as the party’s new president, beating out its current leader, Kenta Izumi.

Noda is more moderate than Izumi, whose policies are fairly progressive, and part of Noda’s campaign was that he would help the CDP become Japan’s ruling political party. As it stands, the CDP is the second biggest party after the Liberal Democratic Party, the current ruling party.

In international security, the coast guards of the Quad, a group that includes Japan, the US, Australia, and India, plan to start joint patrols in the Indo-Pacific in twenty twenty-five, with personnel from each nation boarding one another’s ships. The four countries hope to improve maritime security amidst China’s growing influence. The Quad also plans to do law enforcement activities, training exercises, and other drills to practice working together.

The group aims to launch a maritime training initiative with Southeast Asian, South Asian, and Pacific island nations to enhance coordination. They are planning to name the initiative Maitri, which means friendship in Sanskrit.

On Monday the 23rd, Fumio Kishida, the prime minister, met with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, at the United Nations. Kishida reaffirmed Japan's commitment to supporting Ukraine and Zelenskyy thanked him for Japan's assistance, awarding Kishida a Ukrainian honor. Kishida said he felt it was Japan's duty to help Ukraine, because one day another country might decide to target Japan.

Prior to this meeting, Japan and Ukraine made a deal to protect intelligence between the higher up officials of the two countries. Japan also sent Ukraine advanced medical equipment, such as MRI devices and surgical microscopes.

Kishida pledged continued support to Ukraine and announced that the Japan External Trade Organization would open an office in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, in October. Both leaders agreed to continue working together.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday the 24th, a five point nine magnitude earthquake hit near an unpopulated island 370 miles south of Japan. Weather officials warned those living in Izu and Ogasawara Islands, south of Tokyo, that a tsunami might strike and asked them to stay away from coastal areas.

The finance ministry said it would be releasing commemorative gold coins of 10,000 yen (equivalent to seventy dollars) for the twenty twenty-five Osaka World Expo. However, because of the rising cost of gold, the coins will be priced at 1,900 dollars each. It will feature Myaku-Myaku, the Expo's official character, and the Japan Pavilion.

The ministry will also sell a special silver coin of 1,000 yen (which is seven dollars) and a 500 yen coin (that is, three dollars). The silver coins will be sold for 106 dollars and will feature Myaku-Myaku and a rainbow.

Japan Mint will sell the coins in sets and will start taking orders next March. If it gets more orders than the number of sets it has in stock, it will hold a lottery to choose which orders to accept.

In business news, on Friday the 20th, the Tokyo Stock Exchange approved Tokyo Metro to list its shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on the 23rd of October. The share price will likely be just under eight dollars, valuing the company at about 640 billion yen or four and a half billion dollars. This will be Japan's largest initial public offering of the year.

The Japanese government owns fifty-three percent of the company, and the Tokyo government holds forty-seven percent, with half of these shares set to be sold. Proceeds from the central government's stake will be used to help rebuild areas that the twenty eleven earthquake and tsunami damaged.

And to wrap up this episode, some sports news. On Thursday the 19th, Shohei Ohtani, the Japanese baseball star playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers, officially became the first Major League Baseball player to achieve fifty home runs and fifty stolen bases in a season. Dillon Kohler, an expert from a sports memorabilia auction company, called the baseball from the fifty-fifty landmark a piece of history that could sell for up to 500,000 dollars.

A fan caught the historic home run ball, but the media hasn’t revealed their identity or whether they have any plans to sell it.

Ohtani hit another home run and stole another base during that same game, making his season total fifty-one for both so far. The Dodgers still have a few games left until the end of the season, Sunday the 29th, so that record might go even higher.

Aaand that’s it for this week!

Thanks for sticking around for this episode of the Rorshok Japan update! If you’ve got questions, thoughts, or just want to say hi, reach out at info@rorshok.com. Don’t forget to hit subscribe on your favorite podcast app!

Mata Ne!