JAPAN: Kishida’s Speech & more – 16th Apr 2024

Konnichiwa from BA! This is the Rorshok Japan Update from the 16th of April twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Japan.

On Thursday the 11th, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida gave a speech at a joint session of the US Congress. He said Japan was committed to being a global partner with the United States in maintaining international order based on freedom and democracy. He praised the US for shaping the postwar international order, but said everyone still faced challenges to freedom and democracy because of China, North Korea, and Russia.

Kishida asked the US to support Japan's efforts, such as its sanctions against Russia and aid to Ukraine. He mentioned Japan's economic contributions to the US and the times the two countries have worked together for things like space exploration.

That wasn’t the only thing on Kishida’s schedule that day. He also attended the first-ever trilateral summit between Japan, the United States, and the Philippines at the White House in Washington, D.C.

The leaders of the countries talked about energy and maritime security, discussing ways to improve international safety in the Indo-Pacific region. They agreed that it was important to stand together against China’s aggressive tactics in the South China Sea, like when the Chinese Coast Guard fired at a Philippine ship. At the end of the meeting, President Joe Biden reaffirmed the US's commitment to its Indo-Pacific allies.

Soon after Kishida returned to Japan on Sunday the 14th, the Group of Seven, or G7, leaders held an emergency online meeting to discuss the Iranian attack on Israel. On Saturday the 13th, Iran launched drone attacks and missiles at Israel, saying that it was a response to Israel’s alleged attack on Iran’s embassy in Syria on the 1st of April. All G7 leaders condemned Iran’s actions and said that they would fully support Israel.

Kishida also said that G7 nations had to help calm the situation and prevent further escalation. He pledged Japan's commitment to ensuring the safety of Japanese nationals in the Middle East.

Local groups in Genkai Town, in Saga Prefecture, home to the Genkai nuclear power plant, have petitioned the town assembly to conduct a survey for a high-level radioactive waste disposal site. The groups included hotel and restaurant associations and the disaster management council. They said that Japanese law requires towns and cities to conduct three-stage surveys to find a place where radioactive waste can be safely buried 300 meters or almost a thousand feet underground. The town will hold a committee meeting to discuss the matter.

Other cities in Japan, including two in Hokkaido, have already carried out first-stage surveys for disposal sites and are moving on to the second stage. This has encouraged residents in other regions to petition for surveys where they live. The Japanese government offers subsidies for municipalities conducting these surveys.

In business news, Starto Entertainment, a new talent agency, held its first concert at Tokyo Dome and unveiled its corporate structure on its official website on Wednesday the 10th. The media is keeping a close eye on the new agency because it manages a lot of Johnny and Associate’s former performers.

Johnny and Associates stopped agency work last year and changed its name to Smile-Up after former members revealed that the late founder, Johnny Kitagawa, abused them while they worked at the agency. Smile-Up is only running to compensate the victims of abuse —it’s more a foundation/charity than a business.

Starto doesn’t have any money connections with Smile-Up, but has many of the same staff, though no one involved in the abuse. Starto said it would take measures to prevent abuse, including consultation services for young performers. However, it has not clarified how its management will be separate from Smile-Up.

Speaking of new management, shareholders of steel-maker US Steel approved Nippon Steel’s acquisition of the company on Friday the 12th. However, although the shareholders gave the okay, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a government organization, is reviewing the proposed takeover to see if it might impact national security. If the committee finds any major risks to national security, they might impose conditions on the companies or even hand the case over to the US president. The US Department of Justice also initiated an antitrust investigation into the planned buyout.

Nippon Steel hopes to finish the takeover by the end of September, but all the regulatory red tape might make the process take longer than expected.

In a follow-up to a story we covered in previous shows, Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter of the baseball star Shohei Ohtani, gave himself up to federal authorities in Los Angeles for stealing over sixteen million dollars. Federal authorities charged Mizuhara with bank fraud, which means that he could face up to thirty years in prison and/or a one-million-dollar fine. He appeared in court and was released on a 25,000-dollar bond with conditions, including no gambling and no contact with Ohtani.

The Los Angeles Dodgers fired Mizuhara last month amid reports of his alleged illegal gambling. Prosecutors said Mizuhara accessed Ohtani's bank account, made large wire transfers to bookmakers, and impersonated Ohtani in phone calls to the bank. Prosecutors said that Ohtani was unaware of Mizuhara's actions and considered him a victim.

On a more positive note, Suntory Holdings, a major beverage maker, is planning to produce whisky using clean energy to reduce its carbon emissions. Suntory is working with Tokyo Gas, a utility company, to develop a method that uses hydrogen instead of gas to distill whisky while keeping the taste and aroma the same. Renewable energy sources will generate the hydrogen. They hope to make this process as cost-effective as possible and aim to implement it at a distillery in Yamanashi Prefecture next year.

Moving on, news organization NHK reported that applicants for high-rise condominiums at Harumi Flag, the Tokyo Summer Olympics athletes' village site, have found ways to bypass restrictions meant to deter investors.

A lot of investors were interested in buying and reselling condos at the site, but the Tokyo Metropolitan government hoped to sell them to people who would actually live in the condos and not just flip them for a profit. So, they set up restrictions that meant applicants could only apply for up to two condos. However, some people applied for more by using multiple names or multiple company names that they owned.

Government officials believe that the restrictions prevented the issue from getting too bad, but some experts noted that the loopholes allowed investors to profit at the expense of potential residents seeking housing.

In the world of competitive board games, Kazuko Sugiuchi, Japan’s oldest professional Go player, set a new record by competing in an official match at the age of ninety-seven. The match took place in Tokyo on Thursday the 11th. She ultimately lost that game but has won ten women’s titles throughout her professional career. Her late husband, Masao Sugiuchi, previously held the age record but still remains the oldest Go player to win an official match.

And to close this edition, the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route opened on Monday the 15th and held a ceremony near the Murodo Terminal, which is 2,450 meters or 8,000 feet above sea level. The route is located in Japan’s Northern Alps, accessible from Toyama Prefecture, and was closed during the winter because of the rough weather. One of the route’s biggest highlights is the snow corridor, where tourists can walk down a road sandwiched by walls of snow of up to twenty meters or sixty-six feet high. You can check out some stunning pictures of the snow corridor and Tateyama Ropeway on the blog I Am Aileen. Link in the show notes!

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

Do you know that besides the Japan Update, we also do others? Our latest ones are the Arctic Update, about the area north of the Arctic Circle, the Ocean Update, about the 70% of the world covered in salt water, and the Multilateral update about all the world's major multilateral institutions. The other ones are all country updates, we have a selection of countries from Africa, Asia, South America, and Europe. Check roroshok.com/updates to see the full list. Find the link in the show notes as well.

Mata Ne!