Scientist sells government data to China & more –20th June 2023

Konnichiwa from BA! This is the Rorshok Japan Update from the 20th June twenty twenty-three. A quick summary of what's going down in Japan.

On Wednesday the 14th, During a Self-Defense Force training exercise in Gifu, an eighteen-year-old trainee shot three members in charge of training. Of the three, a twenty-five-year-old trainer and a fifty-two-year-old instructor died, while the third went to the hospital with a leg injury. The trainee admitted to police that he deliberately targeted the fifty-two-year-old instructor, and then shot a twenty-five-year-old who stood between him and the instructor. The third victim, another twenty-five-year-old trainer, attempted to stop him, so the trainee shot him as well. The Japanese government promised to take measures to prevent these kinds of tragedies from happening again. For the time being, they have suspended all Self-Defense Force live fire training exercises across the country.

That wasn't the only tragedy the country witnessed this past week. On Sunday the 18th, a bus and truck collided on a national highway in Hokkaido. Five died in the accident, and at least another five were injured. Sixteen people were on the bus, including the driver, while the truck was carrying pigs.

Meanwhile, after the sighting of a China military aircraft near Okinawa last week, Japan and the US have agreed to team up against China’s potential threats. As part of this plan, the US will send out a unit trained in strategic island defense to Okinawa. The idea is to enhance intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, anti-ship, and transportation capabilities. This is significant because the Marine Corps will be focusing less on the Middle East and more on maritime warfare in the Indo-Pacific region.

Increasing US Marine presence in Okinawa raises some concerns due to the long history of tensions between the US military and the Japanese residents. Locals were already not happy with the number of US military bases in the region, and voiced their concerns that these new units will worsen the burden put upon locals in dealing with base-related accidents, crimes, pollution, and so on. Experts urged both the Japanese government and US military to be transparent and share information in advance to ease some of the locals’ anxiety.

Japan is seeing some worrisome behavior from its other neighbor, as well.

North Korea launched two ballistic missiles on Thursday the 15th. They headed east towards Japan, but ultimately fell into the ocean. The Defense Ministry said it probably fell into Japan’s exclusive economic zone, which is an area where Japan has exclusive economic and marine rights. There were no injuries or damages. Thirty minutes before they launched, North Korea’s defense ministry accused the US and South Korea of holding large-scale live-fire drills in an attempt to deliberately provoke them. It’s not clear what that has to do with Japan, aside from being the second-closest target they can take their frustration out on.

Although the main Group of Seven (or G7) summit has ended, leaders of other important sectors are still going to some G7 meetings. Notably, on Sunday the 18th, G7 transport ministers finished a two-day meeting in Shima City, Mie Prefecture, about how to produce fewer greenhouse gasses. Jet fuel is a huge culprit in putting out emissions, so the ministers said they would start encouraging the use of a sustainable aviation fuel, made from plants and waste oils. They also promised to work with Ukraine to help rebuild the transportation infrastructure in the country.

In other news, Japan’s Emperor and Empress flew to Indonesia for their first official trip overseas since becoming taking office in twenty nineteen. They arrived safely in Jakarta on Saturday the 17th and later met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Monday the 19th. On Tuesday the 20th, they visited the Kalibata Heroes Cemetry, which holds the graves of Japanese soldiers who helped to fight for Indonesia’s independence against the Dutch Empire from nineteen forty-five until nineteen forty-nine. The Emperor and Empress laid flowers at a monument and met the descendants of the soldiers, offering sympathy for the hardships their families faced.

On a more domestic front, the Bank of Japan wrapped up a two-day meeting on interest and policy changes on Friday the 16th. They announced that they will not be making any changes to their current Yield Curve Control policy, which keeps short-term interest rates negative and long-term yields around zero percent. The bank first started the policy in twenty sixteen to keep interest rates from falling too low, but many investors have been selling bonds due to the inflation over the past year. However, the bank’s governor emphasized the importance of thoroughly evaluating the effects of certain measures when making policy decisions, and doesn’t want to make any rash changes just yet.

Japan legislators began thinking about creating new laws to regulate smartphone app stores. As it stands, Apple and Google dominate app stores, leaving third party creators little chance to make any headway. The economy can't thrive in a monopoly or a duopoly, and if those two companies are the only ones in the market, they can drive up prices. In order to protect the consumer and give potential competitors a chance, the new laws would forbid Operating System makers from forcing app developers to use their system instead of the developers’ own third-party system. They would also require Operating System makers to provide detailed reasons for making changes to their system before putting them into effect, and prevent them from piling random fees onto apps that sell content or services.

There is some good news in the agricultural sector. The cost of eggs in Japan has been sky-high for the past several months due to a bird flu outbreak. Poultry farms across the nation had to cull nearly 18 million chickens and other birds because of how bad it got. Fortunately, by the 13th of May, farmers managed to get rid of all cases of bird flu on their farms. Once enough time passed to make sure the outbreak wouldn’t pop up again, Japan’s agriculture ministry made an official announcement that the bird flu is eradicated from Japan. The World Organization for Animal Health posted this announcement on Monday the 19th based on the ministry’s documentation.

Onto the subject of science, we saw some corporate espionage, with a scientist allegedly leaking government-owned data to a Chinese chemical maker based in Beijing. The senior researcher, Quan Hengdao, worked at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, one of the largest public-owned research organizations in Japan. The leaked data was about a fluoride compound that could be useful in helping with climate change. Tokyo police arrested Hengdao on suspicion of colluding with his wife, who works for the Chinese chemical maker. Police believe he did it both to make his native country China look good by making it seem as though they had come up with the new compound and for financial interests.

In entertainment news, the Japanese film Yoko, directed by Kazuyoshi Kumakiri, won three awards at the Shanghai International Film Festival. The film featured actress Rinko Kikuchi, who is best known for her nomination as best supporting actress in the two thousand and seven film Babel. The winners were announced on Saturday the 18th, with Yoko winning Best Feature Film, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay.

In the tourism industry, a new Harry Potter theme park opened in Tokyo on Friday the 16th, the second of its kind after the one in London. It features costumes from the movies and sets that recreate iconic scenes, including the famous moving staircases. Actor Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy, attended the opening ceremony. Seibu Railway renovated the nearby train station with Harry Potter-themed decorations, and a few local shops and restaurants are also embracing the magical theme. The park is expected to boost tourism in Tokyo, with the city ready to welcome more visitors.

That’s it for this week! Thanks for joining us!

You must know by now that we don’t want to have ads in the updates, so we don’t make any money doing them. If you enjoy listening and want to help us out financially, there’s a support link in the shownotes. If you can’t help us out financially but still want to support us, please hit the subscribe button and tell your friends about us.

Mata Ne!