JAPAN: Saito Back to Government & more – 21st Nov 2024

Konnichiwa from BA! This is the Rorshok Japan Update from the 21st of November twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Japan.

This past weekend, Shigeru Ishiba, the prime minister, flew to Peru for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, where many international leaders gathered, including the US and Chinese presidents. On Saturday the 16th, before the summit began, he visited the grave of Alberto Fujimori, the first Peruvian President of Japanese descent who passed away in September. Unfortunately, this gravesite visit and a traffic jam caused Ishiba to be so late to the summit that he missed the group photo.

Yoshimasa Hayashi, the Chief Cabinet Secretary, said Ishiba still actively participated in discussions over the two-day meeting.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police arrested five individuals for allegedly violating the Employment Security Act. The police believe that they recruited women across Japan through social media to work in the sex industry.

The group reportedly introduced women in their twenties to sex shops, including one in Oita Prefecture, providing profiles with photos to multiple shops and offering them to the highest bidder. They signed contracts with around 350 shops nationwide and earned about fifteen percent of the women’s earnings, amassing over one million dollars.

One expert in the adult industry said that social media recruiting became popular during the pandemic since people didn’t respond as much to traditional job ads.

Four suspects admitted to the charges, while one denied them.

In an update to a previous story, Motohiko Saito regained the Hyogo governor’s post on Sunday the 17th, using a social media-focused strategy, denying allegations and criticizing mainstream media, saying they were out to get him and the accusations were a set-up. Recall last month, Saito lost his position as governor after the Hyogo prefectural assembly passed a no-confidence motion over accusations of power harassment and corruption, which may have indirectly led to the deaths of two officials.

His rallies got support from social media influencers, who helped sway public opinion, especially among voters skeptical of traditional media. The influencers focused on Saito’s past reforms and suggested that the media and prefectural assembly set him up, even though many of the allegations were misleading or outright lies.

Social media isn’t the only source of misleading information. A new website promoting attractions in Fukuoka Prefecture, located in western Japan, faced backlash after featuring AI-generated articles about nonexistent tourist spots and other misinformation. Launched on the 1st of November, the site, Fukuoka Connection Support, also called Fukuoka Tsunagari Ouen, showcased fictional attractions and places that are no longer open, such as the Kashii Kaen Sylvania Garden, which closed in twenty twenty-one. Some articles had correct information, so the general public didn’t notice the false parts until those on various social media sites began pointing them out and criticizing them.

The site's operator, a Tokyo-based company, deleted all the content on Thursday the 14th and issued an apology. The Fukuoka Municipal Government removed its support and said that the company didn’t say that it would use AI. Other cities, including Iizuka and Koga, also expressed concerns over the inaccuracies.

In imperial news, Princess Yuriko passed away on Friday the 15th at the age of 101. General mourners began signing condolence books for the late princess on Saturday the 16th at Prince Mikasa’s Tokyo residence in the Akasaka Estate. People paid tribute to the princess, who had supported Prince Mikasa through wartime and postwar periods.

The Imperial Household Agency said they would keep the condolence book signing open every day until the wake, which it set for the 24th and 25th of November. The main funeral ceremony, also known as Renso-no-Gi, will take place at Toshimagaoka Cemetery on the 26th.

In international news, Japan and the United States met in Darwin, Australia, on Sunday the 17th and confirmed plans to put a US Space Force unit in Yokota Air Base in Tokyo this December. Defense leaders hope that this unit will help the two countries work together on space-related matters and beat out global competition in the industry, especially against nations like China and Russia. The unit will have around ten staff members and will coordinate with Japan’s Space Operations Group using existing facilities.

Speaking of China, we have an update on a story from previous shows concerning a Chinese military plane intruding into Japanese airspace in August. Japan's Foreign Ministry reported on Tuesday the 19th that China had said the intrusion was due to an air current disturbance, though the ministry did not say exactly when China gave them the explanation. The crew had to take measures to avoid an accident, but ended up in Japan’s airspace over waters near Nagasaki Prefecture in southwestern Japan.

China said the incident was unintentional and promised to prevent future occurrences. However, Japan's Defense Ministry said that while planes sometimes have to go off course because of air currents, it’s unusual for planes to have to go that far from their original route. Officials remain concerned about increased Chinese military activity in the region and plan to keep a close eye on the situation.

Meanwhile, Shigeru Ishiba's Cabinet is eyeing an economic stimulus package of thirty-nine trillion yen, which is 252 billion dollars, aimed at countering rising living costs and supporting consumer spending.

Key measures include energy and gasoline subsidies, cash handouts for low-income households, and raising the tax-free income threshold. Many of these measures are meant to combat import cost spikes from a weakened yen and the end of earlier subsidies and tax cuts.

On another note, Fukuoka Prefecture detected Japan’s first case of lumpy skin disease, a viral infection affecting cattle, at eight farms in one of its cities, Itoshima, in western Japan. The disease causes skin lumps, fever, and reduced milk production and is transmitted by blood-feeding insects such as mosquitos.

The prefecture said on Monday the 18th that it will provide free, mandatory vaccinations to cattle within a twenty-kilometer or twelve-mile radius of the affected farms from Thursday the 21st until March twenty twenty-five. Officials said the disease does not spread to humans and that it’s okay to eat meat or drink milk from cattle even if the cattle have or had the disease. They also told farmers to isolate suspected cases, halt cattle shipments, and be strict about hygiene.

In more health news, on Tuesday the 19th, the World Health Organization or WHO granted an emergency use approval for a Japanese-developed mpox vaccine, marking the second approval after a Danish mpox vaccine. KM Biologics originally created the vaccine for smallpox, but found that it was also effective against mpox, and the Health Ministry approved its use in Japan. The WHO hopes to make vaccines more available in regions experiencing mpox surges, such as Africa.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo faces a significant outbreak, with over 39,000 suspected cases and 1,000 deaths in twenty twenty-four. Japan has pledged to donate three million doses of the vaccine and specialized needles to the Congo.

The WHO declared the outbreak a public health emergency in August and said it was important to fight back against the disease, which has spread to eighty countries across the globe.

Let’s close this edition with some sports news as twenty twenty-five will mark the first time that Japan will be hosting the Deaflympics. The Japanese Federation for the Deaf and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government are working together to prepare for the twenty twenty-five Tokyo Deaflympics and held a press conference on Friday the 15th to show off the medal design for the games.

The medal features an origami crane on the front to symbolize athletes’ aspirations and interwoven lines on the back representing global connections. 80,000 Japanese students voted online to pick the design. The Deaflympics will take place in November twenty twenty-five.

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

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Mata Ne!