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Prime Minister Hatoyama Leaves Japan for the First Time

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In early September Prime Minister Hatoyama and his party the DPJ (Democratic Party of Japan) won a historic election. For the first time since the second world war, the LDP (Liberal Democratic Party) is no longer in power, and the DPJ is now in the driver seat in the Japanese government. How things will change, and what this means for Japanese diplomacy, has yet to be seen.

Prime Minister Hatoyama left Japan with his wife last night for the United States, and for the G20 summit. Each Japanese newspaper reported something different about what policies and goals the Prime Minister would have on his first diplomatic mission.

Asahi “Prime Minister Hatoyama Leaves for the U.S. for his Speech at the G20” The Asahi describes in their first paragraph how the Prime Minister sees this trip to the U.S. as his chance to really make an impression on world leaders. With this historic change in power, he wants to give the impression of a positive diplomatic change for the heads of state of China, Russia, and the U.S.

The Asahi focused on the ambitious goals for climate change that the new prime minister has. The former Prime Minister, Aso of the LDP, had placed a target of reducing greenhouse gases by 8% in comparison with 1990 levels. Prime Minister Hatoyama has placed a 25% reduction target, representing a change in focus for diplomacy going forward.

“I would like to have everything go smoothly. If possible I would like countries to gain our trust, even if just a little bit.” They also mentioned the theme of his presentation would be “friendship.”

Nikkei “Gaining Trust is our Number 1 Priority” The Nikkei’s theme of “gaining trust” is a large contrast to the Asahi’s “winds of change.” As a whole, these themes are probably representative of how the Asahi vs. how the Nikkei sees the change in political power. The Asahi welcomes change, and focuses on how the first diplomatic mission of the Prime Minister will hopefully demonstrate positive changes. The Nikkei focuses on how the Prime Minister will try to “gain trust,” insinuating even possibly that the Prime Minister will have to gain the Nikkei’s trust.

The Nikkei also mentions Hatoyama’s purpose of discussing global warming, but they also focus on issues such as Nuclear Proliferation, and of course the American / Japanese relationship.

Yomiuri “The Prime Minister Leaves for America” The Yomiuri surprisingly paid little attention to the Prime Minister’s first diplomatic mission. While both the Nikkei and the Asahi had the Prime Minister’s trip as front page and headline news, the Yomiuri stuck an article of 3 sentences towards their backpage in the political section. It was also like the 5th one down, below a political traffic scandal, an article on changing medicare policies in Japan, etc. The Yomiuri did mention one thing the other newspapers did not, and that is the Prime Minister will be visiting a nursing home during his trip to the U.S.

Japanese Prime Minister Just Says NO to Yasukuni Shrine

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Background: Yasukuni Shrine is one of the biggest (if not the biggest) diplomatic challenges that Japan has with its neighbors. The shrine exclusively celebrates the Japanese war dead, so naturally when an anniversary of a war comes up the prime minister needs to look patriotic and pay homage to fallen soldiers. The problem is that those fallen soldiers, to neighbors such as China and Korea, also include Class A war criminals that tortured and killed their people. Every prime minister in recent years that has visited the shrine has ended up getting key diplomatic missions cancelled, and on a more extreme level countries will shut off economic and political negotiations entirely.

Prime Minister Aso today commented on Yasukuni, in the background of the anniversary of the end of WWII coming up on August 15th. Each newspaper had a different take on the event.

Nikkei “I’m Against Visiting Yasukuni While in Office” On the evening of August 10th at the Prime Minister’s residence, Prime Minister Aso stated in regards to the anniversary on the 15th of WWII: “It’s a mistake to mix up the confusion of the election and paying homage to fallen soldiers. I think politics and the media should be placed far away from this process. I would like to pray in a quieter spot.”

The second paragraph states Aso’s intentions since the budget meeting last year in October. The Nikkei claims that although the Prime Minister said, “I don’t have to answer if I will go to Yasukuni or not,” sources from the Nikkei claim that his advisors around him stated he had decided he wouldn’t go during his term in office.

So for the Nikkei the Prime Minister is following his past promises. Although they did mention that one of his cabinet members had paid money to the shrine this year in April.

Asahi “The Prime Minister Expresses Thoughts about not Going to Yasukuni” The Asahi had a more critical approach to the events on the evening of August 10th. Unlike the Nikkei, the Asahi skipped the Prime Minister’s commentary, and instead decided to focus on comments made to the newspaper in the year 2006. At that time the Prime Minister said, “Giving contributions to Yasukuni would set a bad precedent. It would politicize this process of praying for the war dead.”

They then drilled the Prime Minister on this issue, stating that he had given contributions earlier this year to Yasukuni in April. His reply was “I think politics and the media should be placed far away from this process.”

The Asahi’s trying to paint the Prime Minister as a flip flopper, who could possibly go back on his word again and maybe even visit the shrine this August 15th. The Nikkei however tried to show the Prime Minister as following a policy that he had instituted last year in October.

Yomiuri “Buried by a mudslide in Oita Prefecture” The Yomiuri didn’t have any political commentary on the Prime Minister’s speech and instead decided to focus on the mudslide in Oita prefecture. Japan has had record rainfall, at 69.5mm in one hour on August 10th. At about 7pm a mudslide buried 5 cars, one car was sent into a river, and four drivers are currently attempting to be rescued from their cars covered in mud.

Plane Crash in Bangkok…What Really Happened?

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It’s sometimes difficult to report on an international incident. Stories get conflicted, newspapers have to follow leads, and they’re pressed for time to release something to the public as soon as possible. Today’s crash for of a Bangkok Airways ATR72 showed how each Japanese newspaper can create a different story.

They did agree that the accident happened earlier today about 2pm Bangkok time, 4pm Tokyo time (although exact estimates are all different). The crashed happened on the island of Samui, with 72 people on board.

Asahi ”Landing failure in Thailand, the pilot dies, over 40 people injured” The time was 4:10 Tokyo time. As the plane was landing at the island of Samui, it went off the runway, and crashed into a building within the airport. 42 people were injured, including 4 people who were seriously injured, and the pilot was killed.

The passengers on the plane, according to the Asahi who heard this from the airline, were 80% foreigners. After checking with the Japanese embassy, it’s been confirmed that none of the passengers were Japanese.

Nikkei “Bangkok Air landing failure in Southern Thailand” The time was 4:20 Tokyo time. The plane separated from the runway and crashed into a building that was near the control tower. One pilot was killed, another pilot was seriously injured, along with 10 passengers being seriously injured. The Nikkei ‘s estimate for passengers with serious injuries was three times as many as the Asahi.

The passengers on the plane, according to the Nikkei who gets their information from the Thai Airport and Transportation authority, were all foreigners. The Nikkei also mentioned “passengers whose name looked Japanese were not aboard.”

Yomiuri “Thai plane crashes into the control tower, killing the pilot, and seriously injuring 6” The time was 4pm Tokyo time. The Yomiuri estimated that 6 people were seriously injured, less than the Nikkei’s estimate, but more than the Asahi’s. The Asahi claimed “the plane crashed into a building in the airport,’ the Nikkei said “the plane crashed into a building near the control tower,” but the Yomiuri took this one step further by stating “the plane crashed into the control tower!”

The Yomiuri also was the only newspaper that offered reasons for the crash. “Due to low visibility during the rain storm, the plane slipped off the runway.” They also were the only newspaper to say the airport shutdown after the incident. At least the drama of The Yomiuri’s account makes for a good story.

In case you’re interested in reading more about these happenings in the target language, you can look at Thai Online Classes or Thai Classes held in NYC. We hope that everything turns out okay.

Record High Suicide Rates Suspected in Japan

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The latest victim of economic recession in Japan is people’s lives

During an economic recession news is usually filled with how corporations are posting losses, or how smaller businesses are filing for bankruptcy. On a more personal level news stories are filled with how the unemployed are finding new means of income, and how families might deal with parents having to work night jobs. The social impact as a whole during a recession is rarely commented on, probably mainly because there are no easily interpreted indicators that measure social well being. Deaths could possibly increase, but usually in America this is due to murder rates.

Take a society like Japan, and unfortunately one of the easiest indicators to measure happiness in the country as a whole is the suicide rate. Today the newspapers each reported differently on the news that Japan this year has had record suicide rates.

Nikkei “Suicides break 17,000 in the first half of 2009” According to data collected by police stations, from January to June of 2009 17, 076 suicides were reported in Japan. Compared to last year, the Nikkei claims these numbers have grown 4.7% , or close to 800 people. Experts in the field are now concerned that 2009 could be the highest recording of suicides ever in Japanese history.

According to the Nikkei, an overwhelming majority of suicides were male: 71.6%, or 12,222 people. The areas with the highest rates of suicide are Tokyo (number 1), Osaka 2nd, and Saitama 3rd. It’s probably no coincidence that these areas also have the highest concentration of businesses and employed salarymen.

The amount of people committing suicide has also grown percentage wise. The most extreme case is Okinawa, which grew by 51% compared to last year.

Yomiuri “Suicides Reach 17,000, the worst pace ever” The Yomiuri claims that the pace of suicides this year is much faster than last year, and close to the worst year on record, 2003. In 2003 34,000 people committed suicide. This year, the worst months according to the Yomiuri were March and April, with 3,084 people committing suicide. Since then the numbers have come slightly down.

The Yomiuri claims that the pace of suicides this year is the worst since data began to be collected in 1978.

Asahi “Suspected Tornado Injures 20” The Asahi actually did not print an article about the suicides, but instead for their headline wrote about the recent (suspected) tornado in Gunma Prefecture. Tornados are very rare in Japan, but this incident seems to prove that a tornado did occur. The wind was recorded to be strong enough to rattle the roofs of houses, turn 10 cars over in a parking lot, and shatter windows of nearby shops and offices.

Dealing with Disasters in Japan

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Background: For most Americans, more specifically Americans who come from states not on the Pacific Coast, the most frightening part of living in Japan is an Earthquake. Most people when they travel to Japan experience earthquakes for the first time, and wonder just how fragile the land they’re standing on is. The biggest Earthquake I experienced was a 5+, and it shut down the subway for about 2 hours leaving 2-3 million commuters stranded.

Earthquakes and natural disasters are ubiquitous throughout Japanese media and movies. Dealing with disasters is part of their lives, in particular earthquakes, but also from today’s news articles other disasters as well. Each newspaper wrote about a different tragedy Japanese people are working to overcome.

Asahi “Mountain Expedition Leads to Disaster for 17 Climbers” On the night of the 16th of July in Japan 16 climbers got stranded on the Tom Rush Mountain in Hokkaido. They were part of an expedition being run by the Amusement Travel Company from Tokyo.

According to a police report, about 3pm the police received a distress call from one of the climber’s cell phones. Due to the heavy snow and cold, the party became unable to continue their descent down the mountain. Contained within the party were 10 50-60 year olds. 2 people were reported to have split from the party and made it down the mountain to get help.

The authorities attempted to do an air rescue but couldn’t get the helicopter off the ground. When the Asahi went to press they were currently attempting to do a ground rescue.

Yomiuri “Save the Passengers on an Emergency Landing! Drill at Haneda Airport” Yesterday the authorities conducted a drill where a plane crashed near Haneda airport, and passengers had to be rescued. In light of the US Airways crash into the Hudson River, the Japanese authorities are making sure they won’t be caught off guard. Speaking from his experience at the plane crash in 1982 at Haneda airport, Doctor Takahashi said “we need to prepare for the worst.” 700 people took part in the drill, where firefighters, doctors, fishermen, and other members of the community had to rescue passengers who had sustained injuries.

Nikkei “We have hope from rebuilding our past – Niigata Earthquake” Two years ago on July 16th in Niigata and Nagano an earthquake erupted that killed 15 people. Today a memorial service was held where people in Kashiwazaki City remembered that tragic day. At 10:13 am, when the earthquake began, a prayer was given for the ones who lost their lives.

A mother who had lost her eldest son during the earthquake said: “Not just today, but each new day we try to approach our lives in the best way we can.”

Good Economic News in Japan

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Background: With America still recovering from the worst job numbers in recent memory, Economists are still pondering the question is the economic recession bottoming out, or continuing to get worse? Although there are some signs from America the economy’s taking off like housing sales up and mortgage rates now climbing, overall the picture is still unclear.

Japan’s economic news today offered hopes that perhaps the world’s second largest economy is showing signs of economic recovery. Despite the comparatively strong yen (it’s been hovering close to 90 yen to the dollar) which hurts Japanese exports, the Monthly Economic Report published by the Japanese authorities today had positive comments on the economy. Each newspaper told a different story on the economic climate.

Yomiuri “The Monthly Economic Outlook Revised Up 3rd Month in a Row” The Monthly Economic Report’s analysis of the economy was revised up compared to last month, according to the Yomiuri. In June the report stated “A part of the economy looks like it might recover,” where as now “At this time the economy looks like it might recover.”

The report stated that along with an increase in corporate production and exports, personal consumption is also showing signs of recovery. The Yomiuri points to the government’s stimulus package that has encouraged spending on personal products such as televisions and cars that has helped revise the economic outlook upward.

Nikkei “The Monthly Economic Outlook Revised Upward 3rd Month in a Row, Consumption Takes Off” The Nikkei actually tells the full quote from the Economics Minister, stating “Although we’re in a tough economic climate, at this time the economy looks like it might recover.” The last time the economic outlook had been revised upward three times was 7 years ago, after the IT bubble in 2002.

However the Nikkei also pointed out that the economics minister used words of caution. “Although we have this analysis, there is still risk involved in the economy. The movements of the stock market and the exchange rate have been neurotic.”

Asahi “The stock market dips for the 9th time in a row” After searching the Asahi’s site I was surprised to not find anything about the Monthly Economic Report. It was instead filled with political articles about how the vote of no confidence was going to happen earlier, and that Google was now going to publish Japanese political commentary on their site “You Tube.” It seems as if the Asahi is publishing articles showing “political change”, and the possibility of the DPJ beating Prime Minister Aso and the LDP in the next election.

Maybe the reason the Monthly Economic Report wasn’t included was that it was positive, and the Asahi was looking to publish negative economic news to support their theme of “political change.”

J-News Mini-Roundup: “Talent” Governor, Candidate for Congressman?

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Background: One of the most amusing parts of Japanese politics is the willingness for politicians to get involved in comedy shows. Although this might sound familiar in terms of American politicians joining Saturday Night Live, David Letterman, or Obama at Jay Leno, the Japanese air tons of comedy and game shows everyday, most of which do not have the star quality of a light night talk show. It is here where the “Talent” Governor, Hideo Higashikokubaru, appears so much that the average viewer wouldn’t recognize him as a governor.

A former comedian turned politician, Higashikokubaru-san uses the television to increase his popularity and discuss his political life. Today he was encouraged to be a candidate for the Diet by Koga-san, the head of the electoral commission. Each newspaper reported a different take on the event.

Asahi “Higashikokubaru: If I were a candidate…” The Asahi reported more detailed commentary and remarks than the other papers. They claim that the head of the electoral commission for the LDP, Koga-san, stated that, “The LDP needs to change and develop power to reinvent itself.” They claimed that this comment was then a signal to Higashikokubaru that he needs to run for the Diet.

In response, Higashikokubaru-san stated he would get together with all the governors, and create a manifesto outlining how he would change the party going forward. He also said that “If I were a candidate, we’d have to talk more in depth about the conditions of my candidacy.”

Nikkei “Higashikokubaru Encouraged to be a Candidate” The most striking difference between the Asahi’s article and the Nikkei’s article is the Nikkei lacks all description of the event. It makes the reader wonder if the Asahi has articles that pay much more attention to detail, or more likely the Asahi added commentary that it saw appropriate, such as “The LDP needs to change…” Usually when the Nikkei reports political events it takes the more conservative, pro – LDP approach.

The Nikkei stated: “What was discussed between the governor and the head of the election commission is not clear, what is clear is that the governor did not announce his candidacy for the Diet.”

Yomiuri “Higashikokubaru: If I were the president of the LDP…” The Yomiuri had a slightly different take on the event vs. the Asahi and Nikkei. They claimed that Higashikokubaru-san stated his conditions for running as a member of the Diet, and in response the head of the electoral commission said “I’ve heard these conditions.” They turned the event into a conversation between Higashikokubaru-san and Koga-san, with Higashikokubaru-san requesting certain conditions be met before he becomes a candidate, and Koga-san stating he’ll think about it.

Death Threats on Wikipedia, in Japan

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Background: Japan is a perfect example of how the internet’s reach has gone global. One way to measure popularity of the internet is how many websites have been translated to other languages besides English, and Japanese has no shortage of translations in cyberspace. The internet in Japan has become a popular tool for commerce and social networking.

However, Japan is relatively new to abuses of the internet. Although sometimes incidents such as the Akihabara hit and run (06/08) were written about on blogs before the event took place, big websites such as Wikipedia have not seen abuse yet from users. The newspapers each had their own take on the “Wikipedia Incident”, the first documented arrest for abusing the Wikipedia website in Japan.

Asahi “3 Boys Charged with Writing Death Threat Articles” The Asahi reports that on February 26th, three boys went onto Wikipedia and changed the “Buddha” description on Wikipedia to “on March 8th at the Big Site Tokyo Expo, we’ll bring a rifle and kill all the participants.” In response, the boys are reported to have said “we did this like ten times.” Wikipedia has mentioned that this year from January to April they’ve had about 100 articles talking about killings.

How did the boys do it? According to the Asahi, the boys accessed Wikipedia through a server in Germany, hoping not be traced. They reported that the boys are actually quite prolific writers and usually update pages that have to do with video games.

Yomiuri “You’ll all be Killed” The Yomiuri’s depiction of the incident was dramatized for effect. Not only did they highlight this quote in their headline, but they also the charge the boys for death threats “without discrimination”. The Japanese in the article is 無差別殺害予告 , which literally means “in discriminatory prophesized killing.”

The Yomiuri also added that the authorities at the Big Site event increased the security presence in response to the boy’s threats.

Nikkei “3 High Schoolers Arrested in Fukuoka” The Nikkei had a very short summarized article about the incident but they did also outline that the students claimed that “they had written the same type of article at least 10 times on Wikipedia.”

Nature Attacks! – in Japan

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Background: Living in Japan one of the things you notice is how different your natural surroundings are. Coming from the east coast of the U.S., I was not used to Earthquakes waking me up at 4 in the morning. Or just turn on a nature show and you’ll hear about the Zumebachi, the vicious bees that are a couple inches long and supposedly have some poison associated with their sting.

The collection of articles today tries to capture the different threats from nature that are experienced in Japan. The newspapers each focused on a different phenomenon; some strange, some more common.

Asahi “Tadpoles Fall from the Sky” In Iwate Prefecture at about 6pm, while Kiyoko was busy working in the farm, she heard a sound like little bodies were falling from the sky. She looked around and found about 15 tadpoles laid out on her rice field.

In regards to the incident, Professor Azuma of conservation biology stated: “there’s a possibility the size of these tadpoles are about the size of Tokyo Daruma Frogs. When Herons fly through the sky, if they get spooked they might throw up their food.”

Nikkei “A 6+ Earthquake Would Take Down 7200 Buildings” The Nikkei claims that there is about 12,490 Middle and Elementary Schools in Japan. If an earthquake of 6+ were to hit, they claim that over half of those would collapse. They go onto explain that the buildings overall are about 67% earthquake resistant, with targets this year with a new budget of trying to up that to 78%.

Since the large Earthquake in China’s Szechuan Province, Japan has been taking a much more serious approach to earthquake preparedness.

Yomiuri “Floods and Lightning Threaten Tokyo” On a less serious note, the Yomiuri reports that Tokyo is in for a huge downfall of rain, which could be accompanied by lightning, flooding, and high winds. When this article had gone to press, the Tamagawa River had already gotten 50 mm higher.

The Swine Flu Continues to Spread

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Although articles about school closings and the threat of the swine flu have abated in the U.S., in Japan they’re still going strong. Effects from the economic downturn have been exacerbated by the spread of the swine flu, which has scared some consumers into shopping more through the internet than at their local department stores. There have also been articles from international news sources claiming that the threat of swine flu in Japan might prompt the WHO to raise the world alert level.

The last frontier, the “West” of Japan was hit today by the Swine Flu. The big news was that the northern island of Hokkaido had its first case. The flu has already spread and affected most of Honshu, Japan’s most populous island. Each newspaper reported the incident.

Asahi: “In Hokkaido, the First Infection of the New Virus Has Been Found.” The Asahi claims that on June 4th, ten friends left to travel to the U.S. and on the 9th they came back with more than they bargained for. At about the 11th of June, a call was placed to the local authorities stating “one of my friends has become infected with the swine flu.” The friend had the typical symptoms, such as runny nose and a high fever, and he went to the local counseling center.

Currently the friend who was diagnosed is in the Sapporo hospital, in stable condition, according to the Asahi.

Yomiuri: “It Came from America” Although they do not mention this in their headline, the first sentence tells that the infected 20 year old “flew home from America.” The Yomiuri also claims that when the person phoned into the local authorities, he had added where he had been, saying “My friend who went to Hawaii with me has been infected with the Swine Flu.”

The Yomiuri closes their article by mentioning the temperature of the patient, at 99.4 degrees Fahrenheit and said “his symptoms are stabilizing” instead of the Asahi’s more optimistic “he’s in stable condition.”

Nikkei: “The WHO is investigating raising the alert level” The Nikkei reported that on the 11th, the WHO held a meeting of its top specialists in disease control to discuss the possibility of raising world-wide alert to its highest level: 6. The Nikkei claims due to the presence of the flu in the southern hemisphere, they’re looking at calling this a pandemic.

However the end of the Nikkei’s article closed on an optimistic note. They claim that the WHO recognizes that the current strand of flu has a low probability of becoming fatal. So even if the alert is raised, they’ll stop short of ordering blockades and closing borders, due to the economic and social consequences.