Tag: Japan

A recent poll shows that the U.S. public is strongly supportive of the U.S. military’s Asia pivot:

New analysis of the Chicago Council survey results on Asian issues by Dina Smeltz and Craig Kafura shows that over three-fifths of Americans now express support for the U.S. rebalance to Asia and that American favorability toward its two closest American allies in the region, Japan and South Korea, have reached their highest levels since the poll was started. Sixty-two percent of Americans recognize that Japan is one of America’s top ten trading partners and 64 percent support a long-term U.S. military presence in South Korea. (Defense One)

Though a high percentage of the public supports troops in Korea, less people have a favorable opinion of South Korea compared to Japan:

Analysis of the Chicago Council poll results for Japan by Michael Green of CSIS underscores the high level of trust among Americans toward Japan, rating Japan fourth globally in favorability (at 62 out of 100) behind only Canada (79), Great Britain (74), and Germany (65). …………

My review of the Chicago Council poll results for Korea shows a growing gap in American favorability toward South Korea (55 out of 100) versus North Korea, which at 23 out of 100 scored the lowest favorability among nations included in the poll.

You can read more at the link.

Why don’t Japanese People wear Wedding Rings? http://t.co/0IbkuqKWQ6

— JamesTurnbull (@JamesTurnbull) October 27, 2014

They have some really weird fetishes in Japan:

Three men in Japan were arrested Thursday for operating a prostitution ring in which clients paid to sniff the bodies of teenage girls, Now News reports.

Authorities charged the men for violating the labor standards law.

The trio set up their business in an apartment in Tokyo. They recruited some 30 teenage girls aged between 16 and 18 and had them dress up in school uniforms, bathing suits other costumes. Customers would pay to sniff their bodies. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

Who the heck tries to rape somebody on an airplane?:

A Japan Airlines flight returned to Honolulu after a male passenger sexually assaulted a female passenger in the airplane’s bathroom, the FBI said.

FBI agents arrested Michael Tanouye on Saturday night at Honolulu International Airport for interfering with flight crew and for aggravated sexual assault aboard an aircraft. The 29-year-old resident of Hilo, Hawaii, was scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday.

An FBI affidavit says the flight was en route to Kansai International Airport when the attack allegedly occurred.

The woman, who was returning home to Japan with her mother after a four-day vacation in Hawaii, went to use the restroom about an hour and 45 minutes after takeoff. Tanouye allegedly forced his way inside, grabbed her by the shoulders and began to forcefully pull down her pants and underwear. [Japan Times]

You can read more at the link, but fortunately this guy was not able to complete the rape of this woman because she was able to push the emergency button in the bathroom to get help to subdue this loon.

Yes the headline is accurate, you can’t make this stuff up:

Japan expressed “deep regret” over the South Korean prosecution’s decision to indict a Japanese journalist for allegedly defaming President Park Geun-hye, underscoring the different stances toward press freedom and signaling that the nations’ already soured bilateral ties might hit another rough patch.

“(The indictment) is deeply regrettable in terms of the freedom of press and relationship between the two countries, as Korea ignored voices of concern repeatedly expressed by our government and by media inside and outside Japan,” Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters.

“It is in stark contrast to the common value of the international community, which is to respect the freedom of speech as much as possible and carry on with law enforcement only in a reserved manner.”

Later in the day, Tokyo’s Foreign Ministry called in diplomat Kim Won-jin from Korea’s embassy in Japan and expressed deep regrets for the indictment while adding that it was “deeply concerned about the situation.

Tatsuya Kato, head of the Seoul bureau of Japan’s Sankei Shimbun newspaper, was indicted Wednesday on defamation charges after he put out a report speculating that Park and an unidentified man might have had a secret meeting on the day of the deadly ferry disaster in April.

Citing an earlier opinion piece by Korean media, the 48-year-old said that Park’s whereabouts were unknown for seven hours, which incited rumors on the supposed secret meeting.  [Korea Herald]

You can read the rest at the link, but I think the Park administration is actually using this reporter as a preemptive strike to stop online rumors like the mad cow lies passed around online by the Korean left that deeply damaged the prior Lee Myung-bak presidency.  Notice that this Japanese reporter simply passed along rumors that the Korean media had already reported.  However, the Park administration knows that it is unlikely that anyone on the Korean left will come out and defend a Japanese journalist which is why they are indicting him and not anyone in the South Korean media.  This then will allow them to move forward with their planned Internet crackdown.

There has been some pretty dramatic images coming out of Japan from the eruption of Mt. Ontake in Japan in recent days and now the US military is warning servicemembers stationed at Yokota Airbase to take precautions in case the ash falls on the base:

Military officials are warning personnel at Yokota Air Base, the headquarters of U.S. Forces Japan, to be prepared for ash fallout from an erupting volcano.

Central Japan’s Mount Ontake erupted shortly before noon Saturday, stunning more than 200 hikers who were on the popular 10,062-foot peak at the time. At least seven are listed as missing and another 40 people were injured.

The eruption spewed large white plumes of ash high into the sky. Two Jetstar flights headed to Tokyo’s Narita International Airport diverted to Kansai International Airport in western Japan as a precaution, The Associated Press reported.

Watch video of hikers overtaken by ash cloud

Yokota resdents were advised Saturday by base officials to remain indoors with pets to avoid breathing any ash that might fall.

They also were told to minimize vehicle use during periods of heavy ash fall because of reduced visibility and potential damage to air intakes. People should wear protective equipment when handling and cleaning ash fallout, officials said.

By Sunday afternoon, no ash appeared to have fallen on the base, and a number of people were outside on a warm and sunny fall day. There also was no immediate impact on Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Yokosuka Naval Base, Misawa Air Base or 7th Fleet installations, Navy officials said shortly after the eruption. (Stars & Stripes)

You can read more at the link.

North Korea has decided to play the delay game in regards to the report on abductions they promised to deliver to the Japanese:

North Korea will not announce the preliminary report on its probe into the fate of more than a dozen Japanese nationals it has admitted to kidnapping decades ago when it holds a new round of talks with Japan next week, an envoy from the communist country said Saturday.

Song Il-ho, the North Korean ambassador for normalization talks with Japan, made the remarks as he arrived in China’s northern city of Shenyang earlier in the day for talks with Junichi Ihara, head of the Japanese foreign ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau.

The Monday talks between Song and Ihara come after North Korea failed to produce its first report on its probe into the abduction issue, causing Japan to complain about the slow pace of the investigation. In May, Pyongyang agreed to re-investigate the abductions and, in return, Tokyo lifted some of its sanctions imposed on the North over its missile and nuclear programs. [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but this is a classic North Korean negotiation tactic to make promises in exchange for something they want.  Once they get what they want which in this case was the easing of Japanese sanctions they then renege on the promise for some made up reason in hopes of receiving more of what they want for little to nothing in return.

I think this is a perfect example of the lack of seriousness many people who advocate for the comfort women actually have towards this issue.  Is it really appropriate to dress up, have a gala, and then smile and take pictures with a statue like that representing a horrific issue from World War II?  If this girl got heavily criticized for smiling in photo she took while visiting Auschwitz what about these people?  You would think that such a statue would be presented at an appropriate location in a solemn ceremony.  Instead this appears to be another movie and promotion being pushed by the Chinese government to promote nationalism and anti-Japanese sentiment within the population.

Pyongyang Receives Key Japan Officials Before Report Release http://t.co/dfAf17X3KD

— The Diplomat (@Diplomat_APAC) September 9, 2014

'Horrendous'; Japan's GDP growth revised to -7.1% in wake of sales tax increase http://t.co/dpANFqRkvy

— TwitchyTeam (@TwitchyTeam) September 8, 2014