Japan Update –Satellite or Ballistic Missile? & more –6th June 2023

Konnichiwa from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Japan Update from the 6th of June. A quick summary of what's going down in Japan.

On Wednesday the 31st, North Korea attempted to launch a military spy satellite, but it crashed into the Yellow Sea because one of the engines of the rocket failed. On Thursday the 1st, Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said that they would attempt a second launch. The U.S. pushed back against the launch, but in response, she said that they would continue to expand the country’s reconnaissance and information-gathering skills regardless of other countries’ opinions.

Japan and South Korea both remain on high alert just in case. In twenty-twelve and twenty-sixteen, North Korea claimed that it would launch satellites, but launched ballistic missiles instead.

In an effort to combat Japan’s falling birth rate, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced that he plans to set aside 3.5 trillion yen, or 25 billion US dollars, for child care measures. Specifically, he plans to increase spending in support of higher education, child abuse prevention, and healthcare for special needs children. It’s not clear where the funding for these measures would come from, which is a problem since Japan currently has a public debt that is more than double the size of its economy. Kishida says he won’t increase sales tax, but may instead introduce a new type of bond to raise funds. It is also possible that an increased population itself could help the economy in the long run.

From Friday the 2nd to Saturday the 3rd, the southwestern part of Japan experienced heavy rainfall due to Typhoon Mawar. Many people reported injuries caused by rain, flooding, or landslides. One man in Aichi Prefecture was found dead and at least two other citizens in Wakayama Prefecture went missing after getting caught in a flood. The heavy rain also caused property damage and high water levels in many rivers.

Some meteorologists said that the downpour, which reached 400 to 500 millimeters in some places, was a once-in-a-century occurrence. It is extremely rare to have so much rain in Japan in such a short period of time.

Later that weekend, a Youtuber and former Upper House member, Yoshikazu Higashitani, was arrested on suspicion of intimidation, slander, among others. He was a member of Japan’s Diet last year, but was expelled because he stopped showing up to the sessions. On YouTube, he ran a gossip channel under the name GaaSyy, where he often intimidated or slandered celebrities and business people. After the affected parties filed criminal complaints, the police issued a warrant for his arrest in March, but GaaSyy was no longer in the country. He returned to Japan on Sunday the 4th from the United Arab Emirates, and was arrested.

In other news, increased electricity tariffs went into effect on Thursday the 1st. The amount increased varied by region, with Tokyo going up by fifteen percent and places like Okinawa and the Hokuriku region increasing by almost forty percent. This will lead to a rise not only in the cost of electricity, but in many different products, since companies will have to offset these new costs. Experts predict that by July, the prices of around 30,000 items will have gone up, a dramatic increase from last year.

Perhaps in an effort to combat such rising costs, Japan’s Diet enacted a bill that will let nuclear power plants operate. Before this bill, the law said that power plants needed to be shut down after forty years, with an option to extend the operation to up to sixty years max if they put in certain safety measures. Now, there is no hard limit for how long nuclear power plants can operate. They will still undergo regular inspections every ten years, and the operators will need to receive approval for management plans from the Nuclear Regulation Authority. There were several groups protesting the bill in front of the Diet building on Wednesday the 31st, saying that letting nuclear power plants operate so long is not safe.

In more nuclear power plant-related news, Tokyo Electric Power Company presented plans for additional safety measures for the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. The Nuclear Regulation Authority conducted a survey in March and found that part of the support structure for one of the reactors was damaged. They told the power company to draw up countermeasures, which the power company then presented on Monday the 5th. Their plan is to install additional water pipes to cool the area and ventilation filters to remove radioactive debris.

On Thursday the 1st, a high court rejected an appeal for damages by two women who had been forced to undergo sterilization by the government. In nineteen forty-eight, the Japanese government passed a eugenics law that made it legal to sterilize individuals with intellectual disabilities, mental illnesses, or hereditary conditions, whether the individuals wanted to or not. The law was in effect until nineteen ninety-six. In twenty-eighteen, a forcibly sterilized woman sued the Japanese government and won, after which the parliament approved a compensation of 3.2 million yen, or 23,000 US dollars, to those affected by the law. Many believed this amount wasn’t enough for those who suffered life-long effects, and since then, others who were victims of the eugenics law have come forward to sue the government for damages. However, for the latest cases, the court denied the appeal for damages on the basis that the twenty-year statute of limitations for unlawful acts had already passed. The first person to sue also technically fell outside the twenty-year statute, so this is most likely an excuse to get out of paying. Some say that since the Japanese government is in serious debt, it can’t really afford to pay.

On the topic of entertainment, on Saturday the 3rd, there was a memorial for the late manga and anime creator, Leiji Matsumoto. He died in February at the age of eighty-five and was best known for his science fiction works, such as "Space Battleship Yamato." Around 3,000 voice actors, manga artists, and fans attended the memorial, which was held at the Tokyo International Forum.

There is also an update on the Johnny & Associates scandal, where Johnny Kitagawa, the late founder of the Johnny & Associates talent agency, was accused of sexually abusing underage performers. Three former members of the talent agency came forward and started a petition on the 26th of May to prevent such abuse from happening again. The petition called for the laws covering child abuse to include sexual misconduct by adults with economic and social clout, not just parents or guardians. They also wanted to make it mandatory for those around children to report suspected child abuse. They submitted the petition to lawmakers on Monday the 5th with about 39,000 signatures.

On a brighter note, Japan’s space agency revealed its first lunar explorer, an unmanned probe designed to test landing techniques and study rocks. The probe is called Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon, or SLIM. It will launch in August as part of the US-led Artemis program, which aims to send astronauts to the moon.

As the space agency makes strides towards the future, officials in Saga Prefecture are busy excavating the past.

On Monday the 5th, officials uncovered a stone coffin grave at the Yoshinogari Ruins. The ruins date from the late Yayoi period, which ranges from 300 BCE to 250 CE, a time when influential people’s graves were painted red. The officials detected traces of a red pigment and also noted that the site has a good view and is isolated from other graves. All of this suggests that a powerful or revered person was buried there, which is significant because experts suspect that the ancient Yamatai Kingdom might have been located at the Yoshinogari Ruins and other sites.

Aaaand that's it for this week. You know every week we work hard to pick what the most important stuff is in Japan. What's talked about the most, what's big but flies under the radar. All the main stuff. Are we getting the mix right? Not a specific thing we have missed? What types of information do you want more or less of? Let us know at japan@rorshok.com

Mata Ne!