Random Japan

FOREIGN INTRIGUE
The defense ministry said that the number of sorties flown by the ASDF “to intercept foreign aircraft flying near Japanese airspace” surged by 29 percent in 2010.

Ten Japanese tourists were injured when their sightseeing bus hit a wall in Seoul.

After the Japanese Embassy in France lodged a complaint with a local TV station for airing a program that mocked the March 11 disaster, the network responded by saying that its show “criticizes anything and is not a news program.”

The University of Arkansas-Fort Smith has set up a scholarship fund for “two Japanese students who want to study abroad but face financial difficulties because of the [March 11] disaster.”

Three North Koreans who had been granted asylum at a Japanese consulate in northeastern China were given permission by Beijing to leave for Japan.

Two mountain climbers died in an avalanche on Mt. Shirouma in Nagano Prefecture, but nine others escaped with their lives.

During a visit to Tokyo, the Dalai Lama warned that a “cultural genocide is taking place” inside Tibet.

A meeting of environment ministers from Japan, China and South Korea was held in Busan to discuss bird flu, yellow sandstorms and the need “to promote information-sharing” during extreme natural disasters.

Talk about dumb luck: it is now believed that the hydrogen explosion at the no. 4 reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on March 15 might have helped prevent a meltdown “by causing a flow of water into the pool the rods are stored in.”

The Japan Business Federation announced that 80 percent of its members plan to enact some type of energy-saving program to meet government power-consumption reduction targets by this summer.

The government has also pitched in by extending its “Cool Biz” promotion for office workers to wear casual clothes by two months.

Stats

30
Percent of Japanese who say they are in favor of ditching the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution

22,000
Okinawa residents who have filed a lawsuit seeking a ban on nighttime flights at the US’ Kadena Air Base

21,000
People who gathered for a May Day rally at Yoyogi Park

5
Pacific Nations Cup matches that the International Rugby Board relocated from Japan to Fiji due to the March 11

YOU’VE COME A LONG WAY, BABY
After beating out hundreds of other hopefuls to earn a spot on the Oakland Raiders’ cheerleading squad, 22-year-old Kisato Nishimura said, “I would like Japanese people to know more about the NFL through dance.”

A report by the Asian Development Bank and the International Labor Organization found that the lack of job opportunities for women in Asia was costing the region at least $42 billion annually.

If Japan’s Fair Trade Commission approves the merger of Nippon Steel Corp. and Sumitomo Metal Industries, it will result in the creation of the world’s second-largest steelmaker.

Mitsubishi says it has developed a forklift that is “the world’s first with a cabin that shields against radiation.”

A Japanese IT industry group said that domestic shipments of new PCs have regained the levels they were at before the 2008 global financial crisis.

Four Japanese were reportedly injured in an explosion at a café in Marrakesh, Morocco. Fourteen others were killed in the blast, 11 of them foreigners.

Fifty-eight people were sickened and four died of E. coli poisoning after eating raw beef at a yakiniku chain in Toyama.

ANA said that it failed to announce an incident in which five people were hurt by turbulence last month because “it initially thought all five had suffered only minor injuries.” In fact, a flight attendant is in serious condition.

How Do you Eat?

Alone Again Naturally

The Bank

That Wasn't A Bank

Inspection

Club?

Kashima's Iwamasa trying to make the best of a difficult situation

By ANDREW MCKIRDY
Staff writer
KASHIMA, Ibaraki Pref. — The effects of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami have reached into every corner of Japanese soccer, but Kashima Antlers defender Daiki Iwamasa is determined not to let them smother his team's title challenge this season.

The seven-time J. League champions have long since returned to their damaged training facilities, but ongoing repairs to their stadium have forced a continuing life on the road. Tokyo's National Stadium is providing refuge until Kashima Stadium reopens on June 4, but recent results have betrayed a team desperately yearning for home.