Random Japan

AFTERSHOCKS
A motorist in quake-hit Iwate died of carbon monoxide poisoning while waiting for gasoline in a line that stretched longer than a kilometer. The man had been trying to keep his car warm with a kerosene heater.

Billionaire US investor Warren Buffett apparently believes that the earthquake “is the kind of extraordinary event that creates a buying opportunity for shares in Japanese companies.”

It was reported that Kansai Electric Power Co. will invest up to ¥100 billion in an effort “to make its nuclear plants more resistant to earthquakes and tsunami.” Maybe they could ask Warren Buffett for some help.

The speaker of the Osaka Prefectural Assembly was forced to apologize after calling earthquake-inflicted damage at a local government office “a divine fortune.” The pol had opposed a plan to move all municipal offices to the damaged building.

It was reported that some teachers and school officials in Tohoku are holding graduation ceremonies at evacuation centers. Others are visiting their students’ homes to hand-deliver diplomas.

The central government is mulling whether to establish a full-fledged federal agency that would specifically deal with post-quake reconstruction.

Stats
123
Number of nations and territories that have offered assistance to Japan in the aftermath of last month’s earthquake and tsunamis, according to the Foreign Ministry

28
Percent of Japanese pediatricians who have prescribed psychotropic medication to preschoolers, according to a health ministry survey

18
Rank of Japan among nations in “new wind power installations in 2010,” according to a report by the Global Wind Energy Council

1
Rank of China, according to the same report

LOOKING UP
For the fourth consecutive month, sales at convenience stores rose compared to a year earlier. In total, conbini around the nation raked in nearly ¥570 billion in February.

A Tokyo-based marketing research firm expects that “online supermarket sales [will] increase by 60 percent from fiscal 2009, to ¥46.8 billion in fiscal 2013.”

The Real Estate Economic Institute said that the number of new condominiums for sale in Tokyo rose 24.9 percent from a year before.

Police declined to file charges against former sumo wrestler Kotomitsuki over a baseball-betting scandal, though five other active wrestlers were indicted.

Stop the presses! The Kyodo news agency reported that a player on the Yokohama F Marinos soccer team was fined ¥250,000 for driving without a license last fall.

Sentence of the Week: “A man denies he was outside running around pretending to be a ninja, but acknowledges he did leave his 4-year-old son home alone sleeping while he went jogging earlier this month.” (via The Mainichi Daily News)

Look We're Just Like You

Even Though We're Nothing Like You

Taking Nuclear Road Trip

Ends In?

Moron's Arrested

For Being Moron's

More junior high textbooks mention Takeshima, Senkaku

BY YUTA HANANO STAFF WRITER
More junior high school textbooks will take up Japan's territorial disputes over the Takeshima and Senkaku islands starting next year, according to the education ministry, which will likely fuel the controversies with South Korea and China.

According to the ministry's screening of textbooks covering nine subjects, some of the textbooks state that the Takeshima islets were "unlawfully occupied" by South Korea, which also claims them and calls them "Dokdo."

The books will be used in junior high schools from spring 2012.