Politics
Ida Torres on May 23 2013
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in his speech at a conference on 'The Future of Asia' that Japan plays an integral role in the future of Asia. Now that the world is bullish once again on the Japanese economy, Lee called on Japan to strengthen its partnerships with Southeast Asian countries, as well as the rest of the region.
Business
John Hofilena on May 23 2013
Japanese telecommunications firm
SoftBank is upping the pressure in its attempts to acquire a United States-based mobile provider, agreeing to give the U.S. government the right to approve one of the probable members of
Sprint’s board of directors should the acquisition push through. This is part of the Japanese mobile carrier’s efforts to ease national security concerns over the proposed acquisition, as the U.S. government-approved board member would serve as an assurance that a SoftBank-owned Sprint would make all efforts to keep any security agreement required by U.S. telecommunications regulators, as revealed by the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, citing anonymous sources.
A veteran from the Japanese military of
World War II spoke out about his experiences during the war, talking about the injustices that the comfort women, or those who were forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese military, had to endure in the brothels catering to soldiers. He came out with this statement after all the controversy over Osaka Mayor
Toru Hashimoto's opinions about the necessity of comfort women for the Japanese soldiers during the war.
He planned it, and it has finally happened – 80-year-old Japanese mountaineer
Yuichiro Miura has on Thursday officially became the oldest man conquer Mount Everest, this confirmed by Nepali official and Miura's Tokyo-based support office. The amazing Miura conquered all of
Everest’s 29,035 feet (8,850 meters) in his 80th year also did this feat when he was 70, and again at 75 years old. This year, he wrests the record from Nepali climber Min Bahadur Sherchan, who did it at age 76.
Going up against global social networking colossus Facebook is no easy task, as Facebook-like sites all over the world are finding out. One such Japanese
social network platform is Mixi, whom like others have struggled in keeping up with the tremendous growth of Mark Zuckerberg’s baby, seeing what is now years of stagnant user numbers and a resulting lack of direction. Just last week,
Mixi started a transition phase, as the social network’s founder Kenji Kasahara handed over the reins to new CEO Yusuke Asakura. This is immediately followed today by Mixi announcing that it has invested funding into two promising mobile-first startup companies.
The
Sapporo District Court found 42 year old Kumiko Osawa guilty of murder after she confessed to assisting her 70 year old mother to commit
suicide. Adding to her offense was the fact that she refused welfare assistance from the government after the two of them ran out of money, which led to their dire circumstances.
Chinese newspaper Global Times’ website recently put out in public an alleged “design concept” for a new, highly futuristic Japanese military helicopter, but they made some very foundational mistakes in their assumptions – firstly, that the design is not real, and secondly, that the alleged futuristic aircraft was not even made by the Japanese
military.
Features Politics Tech & Science
John Hofilena on May 23 2013
Counterterrorism efforts are on the rise after the Boston Marathon bombings in April this year, and it reflects on the new proposals that are coming through official channels to the Japanese central government concerning public safety policy. The ruling
Liberal Democratic Party – which is led by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe – for example had its investigative committee draft a proposal for this purpose. The resulting draft includes, among others, a proposal to monitor
internet browsing history for counterterrorism purposes.
For various reasons, there are a huge number of
bicycles abandoned outside train stations and on roadsides in Japan. But instead of them just going to scrapyards and recycling stations, a non-profit group has taken those that are still repairable and functional and given them to healthcare professionals in developing countries that need them more.
Japanese hammer thrower
Koji Murofushi lost his appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sports over his exclusion as a candidate for the International Olympic Committee's Athlete's Commission. He was originally excluded for
unfair campaigning at the London Olympics 2012.
