Japan Update – Earthquake & more –16th May 2023

th of May: 2023

On Thursday the 11th, an earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale hit the Kanto region. There were three people injured, and, according to the Meteorological Agency, the public were warned to be on the alert for falling rocks and landslides. Another earthquake measuring five could occur over the next week.

Onto the subject of the Group of Seven (or G7) meetings, there have been several updates. First, even though the U.S. President Biden hinted on the 10th of May that he might cancel his trip to the G7 summit in Hiroshima, he has since confirmed that he will attend after all. He was concerned about the U.S. government’s severe debt problem, but in the end deemed that the summit was too important to only attend virtually. The summit is scheduled to take place from the 19th of May until the 21st, and global leaders will likely discuss issues such as climate change, the global economy, the impact of the Ukraine war, and potentially the sudden advancements in AI technology.

Meanwhile, the G7 finance leaders wrapped up their three-day talks in Niigata on Saturday the 13th. The finance ministers and central bank chiefs covered many economic and financial topics, from the possibility of the United States’ debt ceiling default on the 1st of June, to the risks of the digital age, costs of healthcare, and international taxation. The finance leaders also discussed plans to strengthen global supply chains in developing economies.

The G7 science ministers also had a very fruitful discussion according to Japan’s science minister. They agreed on promoting “open science” policies, in which researchers from around the world would share each country’s research data. Such international collaboration has the potential to propel science forward, but it also comes with the risk of people misusing that same data or exploiting the open research environment. Some also expressed concern over China and Russia’s maritime activities around the Arctic, and that Arctic research should be built on trust and respect.

In other news, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced that he’s putting together a taskforce to help Ukraine recover from the Russian invasion. The taskforce consists of various officials to come up with specific plans to aid in recovery. Kishida also expressed hopes that both the public and private sectors will work together to send aid. Considering that he’s making this announcement so close to the G7 summit, it’s possible that he’s creating this taskforce in order to demonstrate Japan’s willingness to help Ukraine and encourage other countries participating in the summit to do the same.

Once the G7 summit finishes, there is speculation that Prime Minister Kishida may dissolve the House of Representatives for a snap election. The Liberal Democratic Party only won by a narrow margin in some places during the by-elections, but since the approval ratings for the party are on the rise, they may win more seats in a snap election. The party faces opposition from the regional political group Osaka Ishin no Kai, but experts claim that since the latter group’s influence is only in Osaka, it doesn’t pose much of a threat to the Liberal Democratic Party.

Now that COVID-19 has been reclassified as a low-level disease, Japan’s health ministry will no longer issue daily reports on the nationwide number of deaths caused by the virus. Instead, 5,000 designated medical institutions will be asked to report the number of recorded infections weekly. This is to be released every Friday, starting on the 19th of May.

On the more legal side of things, Japanese lawmakers are arguing over rewording a nonpartisan bill meant to offer protections to the LGBT community. Instead of saying “discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity is forbidden,” it specifies there should be “no unfair discrimination.” The Liberal Democratic Party says that the new wording won’t change the legal interpretation or the protections it offers. The Constitutional Democratic Party disagreed with the new word choice, saying that it leaves open too many legal loopholes. The Japanese Communist Party agreed that the revisions are unacceptable, but other political parties remain neutral.

In other news, the talent agency Johnny & Associates recently found themselves facing controversy when their now-deceased founder, Johnny Kitagawa, was accused of sexual misconduct. Among the accusers is the former J-pop idol, Kauan Okamoto, saying that Kitagawa abused him up to twenty times from the age of fifteen. On Monday the 14th, Julie K. Fujishima, the current president of the talent agency, expressed her apologies to the victims and made a promise to overhaul the management system to prevent this type of misconduct from happening again.

Moving onto the subject of technology, students at the University of Tokyo staged a mock trial using the AI ChatGPT on Saturday the 13th. The AI acted as a judge presiding over a fictitious case to test whether AI can make legal judgments and whether those judgments seem reasonable to the average person. Though it’s unlikely that AI judges will actually be used in the legal system anytime soon, it has sparked some interesting questions about how AI might be used in the future.

y has undergone testing since: 2021

While JR Tokai plans to make history with its cutting-edge technology, people in Shirakawa Village, a UNESCO World Heritage site, are working to preserve it.

On Saturday the 13th, more than 130 villagers came together to re-thatch the roofs of a 200-year-old temple. The steep straw roofs are one of the most famous features of the village, and are re-thatched every twenty to thirty years. The process involves tying 9,000 bundles of sedge, a grass-like plant, to the roof frames with straw ropes. The roofs were due to be re-thatched several years ago, but it was put off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aaaaand that’s it for this week! We are a few people trying to share knowledge, with no ads, and no screens. Support us so we can keep doing what we love. Check the link in our show notes to support us.

Mata Ne!