Tag: Japan

You would think these people would have something better to do than protest at the Japanese embassy:

http://img.yonhapnews.co.kr/etc/inner/EN/2015/02/22/AEN20150222001900315_01_i.jpg

Scores of South Koreans assembled in central Seoul on Sunday to denounce Japan for holding a ceremony that promotes Tokyo’s territorial claim over South Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo.

In 2005, Japan’s Shimane Prefecture, which claims administrative sovereignty over the islets, designated Feb. 22 as a day to promote Takeshima, the Japanese name for Dokdo. Since then, Shimane has hosted various programs to strengthen its territorial claims to the islets on this day.

Tokyo sent a vice-minister-level official to this year’s ceremony as a government representative, marking the third year in a row that it has sent a ranking official to the controversial event.

Some 150 South Koreans, who belong to a civic group promoting South Korea’s sovereignty over Dokdo, gathered in front of the Japanese embassy here to call for Tokyo to cancel the designation.  [Yonhap]

You can read the rest at the link, but Shimane prefecture is basically the Mississippi of Japan.  It is a poor province and in the case of Shimane it is depended on fishing and the Dokdo Islets have good fishing grounds and thus why the government in Shimane continues to promote Takeshima Day.

It will be interesting to see what the South Korean reaction will be if the Japanese decide to expand their naval operations into the South China Sea:

Japan is interested in the South China Sea disputes gripping Southeast Asia for two main reasons. First, any tension in these waters could disrupt the free flow of traffic through critical sea lines, which are vital for resource-poor Japan’s economy and survival. Second, Japanese officials are closely monitoring how China handles these island disputes to try to discern how China might try to deal with Japan in their ongoing dispute over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.

The interconnectedness of these two issues is evident in the rife speculation that China might unilaterally declare an Air Defense Identification Zone in the South China Sea after it did so in the East China Sea in November 2013 (speculation which China has consistently denied). Such interconnectedness also leads to concerns that a negative outcome – a resolution of a dispute through the use or threat of the use of force – could set a precedent that affects other disputes. By supporting front-line states in the South China Sea, Japan sees itself as defending its own interests by upholding the norm of peaceful resolution, ironically, through military deterrence.

The U.S. would endorse a move in Japan’s security posture toward greater assertiveness and collaboration with Southeast Asian partners. Admiral Robert Thomas, commander of the Seventh Fleet, said in an interview to Reuters, “I think allies, partners and friends in the region will look to the Japanese more and more as a stabilizing function.”   [The Diplomat]

You can read more at the link, but the Japanese are seriously considering expanding air and naval operations into the South China Sea.  It seems to me this will just increase the chances of an incident between China and Japan happening.  The most likely incident would be the Chinese provoking Japanese patrols with their fishing boat fleet to create an incident.  I hope before the Japanese move forward with this that they really think through how they would respond to Chinese provocations against their forces.

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” lang=”en”><p>Livecams: <a href=”http://t.co/SALwnhTI3U”>http://t.co/SALwnhTI3U</a> RT <a href=”https://twitter.com/EarthUncutTV”>@EarthUncutTV</a> Mt Aso in ash venting mode now <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/volcano?src=hash”>#volcano</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Japan?src=hash”>#Japan</a> <a href=”http://t.co/DU0Ax9Sa3d”>pic.twitter.com/DU0Ax9Sa3d</a></p>&mdash; Steve Herman (@W7VOA) <a href=”https://twitter.com/W7VOA/status/562152879188746240″>February 2, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>

U.S. textbook publisher rejects Japan's demand for changes in sex slavery descriptions http://t.co/9TKu5DVIaS

— Yonhap News Agency (@YonhapNews) January 30, 2015

I never realized Japan even had such large brown bears much less one that killed 7 people until I read this article:

The scene of one of Japan’s worst bear attacks has been turned into a rather unique — and horrifying — roadside attraction.

In 1915 (Taisho 4) a Japanese brown bear (higuma, or Ursus arctos lasiotus) attacked a small hamlet of Rokusensawa in Sankebetsu, which is now incorporated into the municipality of Tomamae, about 100 kilometers northwest of Sapporo, the largest city on the island of Hokkaido.

The bear killed seven people in what came to be known as the Sankebetsu Brown Bear Incident. The township of Tomamae has attempted to capitalize on this gruesome part of its past by creating a “bear road” and a detailed reconstruction of the bear attack itself.  [Global Voices]

You can read the rest at the link, but this has got to be one of the deadliest bear attacks ever.

Japanese gamer's Dance Dance Revolution technique stuns the world http://t.co/we1ylvSw2z pic.twitter.com/IBKs2nEGrF

— DramaFever (@dramafever) January 3, 2015

Well at least Prime Minister Abe is showing remorse for World War II instead of expanding regional anger with his administrations’ past historical revisionist statements:

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday that his government would express remorse for World War II on the 70th anniversary of its end in August.

Abe is known for his nationalist views, and many analysts have speculated that he may downplay Japan’s responsibility for the war. At a year-opening news conference Monday, he sought to reassure the world that he wouldn’t veer from past official statements on Japan’s wartime responsibility.

“The Abe Cabinet will uphold the general stance on history of successive prime ministers, including the Murayama statement,” he said, referring to the 1995 apology made by then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama on the 50th anniversary of the war’s end.

He said the government would draft a new statement “that includes Japan’s remorse for the war,” though he stopped short of saying it would apologize.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

This is a start at least to these two countries learning to play nice with each other:

South Korea, the U.S. and Japan will sign a trilateral information-sharing arrangement on Monday to better handle the evolving nuclear and missile threats from North Korea, Seoul’s Defense Ministry said Friday.

The arrangement is expected to strengthen the three-way security cooperation that has been lackluster due to historical and territorial feuds between Seoul and Tokyo, and Seoul’s push for a deepened strategic partnership with Beijing.

South Korea’s Vice Defense Minister Baek Seung-joo, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work and Japan’s Vice Defense Minister Masanori Nishi will sign the arrangement separately in their respective countries on Monday.

Under the deal, South Korea and Japan will not directly share their military information, but they will share it via the U.S. upon their consent, Seoul officials explained. Such an indirect method has been devised apparently in consideration of the public sentiment in the South against any military collaboration with its onetime colonizer.

“If South Korea offers information to the U.S., the U.S. would provide it to Japan upon South Korea’s consent. On the other hand, if Japan offers information to the U.S., the U.S. would give it to the South upon Japan’s consent,” a senior official at the Defense Ministry told reporters, declining to be named.

“The sharing will be limited to information about North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats. The country that has produced a particular piece of information will determine to what extent it will share its information.”  [Korea Herald]

You can read more at the link, but an example of how this would work is if the Japanese received intelligence of an imminent nuclear test they would give that intelligence to the US to give to South Korea instead of directly.  The whole setup seems juvenile, but President Park remembers what happened to President Lee Myung-bak when he tried to pass this deal a few years ago and it caused a public outcry and he had to cancel the deal.  It was so bad he had to fly to Dokdo to prove he was not a Japanese traitor.  Park is being smarter about this intelligence sharing deal with this indirect approach and noticed when she is having the deal signed; right in the middle of the holidays when few people are paying attention.

Considering how many more US and Japanese F-35s will be located in Japan it makes sense that the deep maintenance facility would be located there.  Of course the ROKs have to show their displeasure with this:

South Korea said on Thursday it will not send its F-35 fleet to Japan for heavy airframe maintenance, one of the two Asian hubs chosen by the United States to service the Lockheed Martin Corp stealth fighter.

Instead, it is likely to fly the jets to Australia for maintenance, about eight times further away than Japan and well beyond their operating range. The three nations, all key U.S. allies, are the only countries in the region to have ordered the F-35s.

The F-35 program has been lauded as an example of the United States and its allies working together to bolster inter-operability, but in Asia the maintenance plan is bringing traditional rivalry between Seoul and Tokyo to the fore.

The three-star air force general who runs the F-35 program for the United States, Chris Bogdan, told reporters on Wednesday that Japan would handle heavy maintenance for the jets in the northern Pacific from early 2018, with Australia to handle maintenance in the southern Pacific.

“There will never be a case where our fighter jets will be taken to Japan for maintenance,” said an official at South Korea’s arms procurement agency, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration.

“South Korea has the right to decide where to conduct maintenance for its F-35 jets, and it will decide whenever the need arises.”

The plan at the moment is for the 40 F-35s to be acquired by South Korea to be serviced in Australia, an Australian defense ministry source told Reuters on condition he wasn’t identified.

South Korea will receive the first of the stealth planes in 2018.

A source familiar with the F-35 program said South Korea could, at a later stage, negotiate with Washington on the possibility of handling the heavy maintenance of its own F-35 jets.

Such a deal would require a significant investment by Seoul, including specialized equipment used to test the jets’ stealth. [Reuters]

You can read more at the link, but when the ROKs decided to pursue the F-35 you would think that this was something that was discussed as part of the contract talks; so this should not be too surprising. I would not be surprised that this is just a big media show for domestic consumption now.  2023 is the earliest that the ROK’s F-35 need servicing so a lot can change by then.   So it makes sense that Korean politicians now do not want the headache of being accused of compromising defense of the nation to Japan needlessly and let politicians down the road work something out where these planes are quietly serviced in Japan.

Potato shortage forces Japanese McDonald's to downsize sizes even more http://t.co/FdZ8HvsNCU pic.twitter.com/eBioUhgMIo

— DramaFever (@dramafever) December 16, 2014