JAPAN: North Korea’s Abductees & more – 14th May 2024

On Saturday the 11th, relatives of the people that North Korea kidnapped fifty years ago organized a rally in Tokyo. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attended the demonstrations and promised to try to organize a meeting with Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader, to find out what happened to the missing victims. He said the government would do its best to get the victims back as soon as possible since many of the victims’ relatives are getting older and may die before knowing what happened to those who were kidnapped.

He said he needed to work on creating a relationship with Kim Jong Un so that the North Korean leader would be more open to listening to Japan’s demands. However, he also said that if North Korea is open to it, he is willing to meet anytime without setting up any conditions or requirements.

Japan also had a disagreement with South Korea. On Monday the 13th, Kuk Cho, the leader of South Korea’s second-largest political party, visited the Liancourt Rocks, a group of islands in the Sea of Japan between South Korea and Japan. Both countries claim their islands as their own.

When Cho arrived on the island, he said the islands belonged to South Korea and then criticized the South Korean ruling party’s policies.

The next day, on Tuesday the 14th, Yoshimasa Hayashi, the Chief Cabinet Secretary, told the media that Japan had heard of Cho’s plans to go to the Liancourt Rocks and asked South Korea to cancel them. However, the country clearly didn’t listen, so Hayashi lodged a protest at Seoul’s embassy and said they should take measures to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

In more domestic political news, on Wednesday the 8th, Shintaro Ito, the Environment Minister, apologized for rudeness toward the representatives of people who suffer from Minamata Disease during a meeting on the 1st of May. During the conference, the ministry gave each representative three minutes to speak. When two representatives wanted to speak longer than three minutes, officials switched off their microphones.

Minamata Disease refers to the mercury poisoning caused by a factory dumping methylmercury into Minamata Bay between the thirties and sixties. The pollution poisoned many residents, killing over 2,000 and inflicting life-long side effects on many more. A group of people with the disease criticized Minister Ito for cutting off their representatives. As a result, Ito went to Minamata in person to apologize to the group and its representatives, saying that only allowing three minutes to speak was not enough. He promised to make sure they had an opportunity to speak again for longer.

Meanwhile, the trial of Junichiro Matsumoto, the chief treasurer of the largest faction within the Liberal Democratic Party, at the Tokyo District Court started on Friday the 10th. During the trial, he admitted that he did not report 675 million yen or four million dollars in revenue earned at fundraising parties between twenty seventeen and twenty twenty-two. This violates the political funds control law that says political parties must report all fundraising money.

Matsumoto also admitted that he did not report the kickbacks that the faction gave to some of its members. It’s not illegal for factions to give their members bonuses, but the law requires that they report the extra income.

Prosecutors have charged ten people, including Matsumoto, with violating the political funds control law. The court gave summary judgments of fines and penalties to four of the defendants. Matsumoto was the first to stand trial.

Another trial took place on Thursday the 9th when a Nagoya District Court ordered the government to grant a Syrian national refugee status in Japan.

Before going to Japan, the man had refused to join the Syrian military, and the Syrian government put him in prison several times. He arrived in Japan in twenty nineteen and applied for refugee status, but the government denied his application. The man sued the Japanese government to grant him asylum and other relief benefits.

In court, the judge took his past into account and said that if the man returned to Syria, he could be arrested, forced into military service, and persecuted for his religious beliefs so, he ordered the government to grant him refugee status.

This is the first time news has come out of a Japanese court ordering the government to grant refugee status to a Syrian national.

The government is becoming more open to foreigners in another way. On Monday the 13th, the Economic Revitalization Minister said that Japan needed to attract more foreign investment and IT workers to help the economy grow. He said they planned to encourage foreign businesses to come to Japan. The aim is to double foreign direct investment to 100 trillion yen or 640 billion dollars by twenty thirty.

To help achieve this plan, the government will make paperwork easier and create more English-language options for those setting up a business. They will also change residency rules to get IT graduates from top universities in India, Southeast Asia, and other regions to live and work in Japan.

Meanwhile, a tragedy took place on Tuesday the 14th. Three cars and four trucks got into a major accident on the Metropolitan Expressway, resulting in three deaths and multiple car fires. The accident took place on the outbound lanes of Route Five in Toda City, Saitama Prefecture. Police investigated and suspected that a truck crashed into the heavy traffic, which caused a chain of rear-end collisions.

Moving onto business news, on Friday the 10th, Food and Life Companies, the operator of sushi restaurant chain Sushiro, said it doubled its net profits in the first half of twenty twenty-four compared to the same period last year. From September twenty twenty-three to March this year, the company's net profits were over seven billion yen, or forty-six million dollars. In the previous business year, between September twenty twenty-two and August twenty twenty-three, they had a total net profit of seventy million dollars.

The company has done its best to attract customers by expanding its menu while still keeping its prices low. Its overseas sales in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Thailand also did well.

On a more literal bright note, between Saturday the 11th and Sunday the 12th, residents of Hokkaido got to see the Northern Lights thanks to a strong solar storm. The aurora lit up Nayoro City's night sky, turning it purple. Officials believed these were low-latitude auroras because the sky behind the clouds was bright.

Residents shared sightings on social media. In Rikubetsu Town, a video captured the purple-tinted sky from sunset to dawn.

You can see some photos of this beautiful phenomenon on The Mainichi website, link in the show notes!

On Saturday the 11th, the Consulate General of Japan held its third annual Japan Parade in New York City. It had Japanese festival dancing and drum performances, with about a hundred Japanese and local groups joining to promote Japan’s culture and strengthen the bond between Japan and New York City. The parade featured wheelchair tennis star Shingo Kunieda and the cast of a local theater adaption of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, a popular Japanese anime.

Some parade viewers wore traditional Japanese clothes. Consul General Mikio Mori highlighted the parade's increasing popularity among Americans and pledged to keep it up for years to come.

Speaking of yearly events, Sanja Matsuri, one of the biggest festivals in Tokyo, will be held from Friday the 17th until Sunday the 19th. The festival will take place at Senso-ji Temple in the Asakusa area. Local neighborhoods will show off their portable shrines, or mikoshi, and the temple grounds will host many food stalls and events. The entry is free and you can find out more about the festival through its official website, link in the show notes!

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

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Mata Ne!