作者別: masago

今日はここから韓国と南スーダンと震災の話。

1)   “Radiation! Bang bang!”

Gesturing as if with guns, two boys in Tokyo repeatedly taunted a girl whose family fled to Japan’s capital to escape radioactivity unleashed by the Fukushima nuclear crisis of 2011.

The girl began to skip classes, and switched schools to escape the bullies, her mother told Reuters. But the very radiation that uprooted the family brought more pain in her new home.

“For her to be called ‘radioactive’ was heartbreaking,” said the mother.

Six years after an earthquake and tsunami sparked the Fukushima meltdown, several cases of “nuclear bullying,” as the Japanese media calls them, have prompted discrimination similar to that suffered by survivors of the World War Two atom bombs.

2)   Support for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has plunged after questions were raised in parliament about a murky land deal involving an elementary school to which his wife had ties, according to an online poll published this week.

Abe has said neither he nor his wife, Akie, was involved in the deal for state-owned land purchased by Moritomo Gakuen, an educational body in the western city of Osaka.

3)   In a historic, unanimous ruling Friday, South Korea’s Constitutional Court formally removed impeached President Park Geun-hye from office over a corruption scandal that has plunged the country into political turmoil and worsened an already-serious national divide.

4)   Six years after a huge tsunami ravaged Rikuzentakata, the coastal city in northeastern Japan is moving on to rebuild tourism with a unique home stay program.

The “minpaku” private lodging program organized by the city’s tourism promoting organization Marugoto Rikuzentakata enables visitors to get a taste of the daily lives of local fishermen, farmers, and other residents while learning about the disaster.

5)   Computers of Japanese companies and individuals are becoming the prime target of an attack using “ransomware”—programs that bar victims from accessing their business files or family photos unless they pay money to do so.

A computer gets infected with ransomware typically when its user opens a file attached to a spam email from a sender pretending to be a company, often a parcel delivery company, according to the government-affiliated Information-Technology Promotion Agency.

6)   A 36-year-old truck driver who was playing Pokemon Go when he hit and killed a 9-year-old boy last year, was sentenced to three years in prison Wednesday by the Ichinomiya branch of the Nagoya District Court.

7)   Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Wednesday he plans to visit Germany, France and Italy from March 19 for talks with the countries’ leaders on ways to address security and other challenges facing them.

8)   Rattled by North Korean military advances, influential Japanese lawmakers are pushing harder for Japan to develop the ability to strike preemptively at the missile facilities of its nuclear-armed neighbor.

9)   China is violating its free-trade pledges by pressing foreign makers of electric cars and other goods to give technology under an industry development plan that is likely to shrink access to its markets, a business group said Tuesday.

The report by the European Union Chamber of Commerce adds to  complaints Beijing improperly shields its new developers of robotics, software and other technology from competition.

10)   The top U.S. commander in the Middle East signaled Thursday that there will be a larger and longer American military presence in Syria to accelerate the fight against the Islamic State group and quell friction within the complicated mix of warring factions there.

11)   Japan’s Prime Minister says his administration will end its main UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan. The government will not send another team to replace the current unit. Japan’s top government spokesperson says the country’s withdrawal from a UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan is not due to worsening security there.

12)   The Osaka prefectural government may decide not to approve a plan to open an elementary school in Toyonaka City in April. It is concerned that the school’s operator has failed to give convincing answers to the questions raised over a controversial land deal.

Moritomo Gakuen wants to open the school on a plot it bought from the Japanese government. But the operator has been mired in controversy since it came to light that the site was purchased for a fraction of its market value.

13)   25 Filipino women have arrived in Japan to engage in housekeeping work under the government’s strategic special zone program. They will start working in April in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo. At present, foreigners can perform this type of work in Tokyo, Kanagawa, and the city of Osaka.

The women are allowed to work for up to 3 years. Live-in jobs are prohibited in order to protect the workers from possible abuse.

14)   A record 54,000 children in Japan were referred to child welfare centers in suspected abuse cases in 2016. The National Police Agency said on Thursday that reports on 54,227 children were filed last year. The figure was up 46 percent from 2015 and is the highest since comparable data became available in 2004.

トランプさんの話はなくて豊洲と森友の話が多かったかな。先生はフロリダにいるのだけどまたどこかに移ろうかなと言っていた。でもフロリダより好みの場所が思いつかないらしい。

1)   Former Tokyo Gov Shintaro Ishihara urged incumbent Gov Yuriko Koike on Friday to relocate the aging Tsukiji wholesale market to a nearby site without further delays, criticizing her reservations about the long-stalled project.

“She should be held responsible for wasting money,” Ishihara told the Japan National Press Club, referring to the running costs for the unused relocation facility in the Toyosu area which used to host a gas production plant.

2)   A bill that would make Saitama Prefecture the first local government in Japan to charge for helicopter mountain rescue operations was submitted to the prefectural assembly Thursday.

3)   In March, housing subsidies run out for those who fled the Fukushima nuclear disaster from areas other than the government-designated evacuation zones, and as the clock ticks down, they have had to decide whether to return or move once again.

Many of these so-called voluntary evacuees are mothers concerned to avoid any risk to their children’s health, with the fathers remaining back in Fukushima Prefecture, according to freelance journalist Chia Yoshida.

4)    Would you support a complete ban on smoking in public places in Japan?

5)   Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday he does not intend to start a probe into the government or his ruling Liberal Democratic Party as questions mount over their possible roles in a controversial sale of government-owned land in Osaka.

6)   The Japanese government pension fund said Friday it posted a record investment profit of 10.50 trillion yen ($91.90 billion) in the October-December period, boosted by a rally in stocks at home and abroad following Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election last November.

The Government Pension Investment Fund, the world’s largest pension fund, logged the biggest investment profit for a quarter since fiscal 2001, when it started managing its investments on its own.

7)   With a month to go this fiscal year, Japan’s installation of new wind power capacity in 2016-17 is set to come in almost double that of the previous 12 months, propelled by higher tariffs guaranteed by Tokyo and a rising number of offshore wind farms.

8)   A North Korean envoy rejected a Malaysian autopsy finding that VX nerve agent killed Kim Jong Nam, saying Thursday the man probably died of a heart attack because he suffered from heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure. Malaysia dismissed the claim.

9)   Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday it was inappropriate that a kindergarten in Osaka run by a controversial school operator made children cheer for him during a sports event.

“I have no intention whatsoever of making a kindergarten say (such a thing). I think it is inappropriate,” Four preschoolers raised their right hands and shouted twice, “Go fight, Prime Minister Abe.”

Video footage showed the children also saying, “Adults should protect the Senkaku Islands and Takeshima. Chinese and South Korean people who treat Japan as a bad (country) should amend their minds.” They also said, “The passage through the Diet of the security legislation was good.”

10)   Smartphones have become a mine of personal information, holding bank data, credit card information and addresses, making them the preferred target for cybercriminals, experts warn.

“Cybercriminals go where there is value, and they have understood that the smartphone has become the preferred terminal for online shopping and payment,” said Tanguy de Coatpont, Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

11)   SpaceX plans to launch two paying passengers on a tourist trip around the moon next year using a spaceship under development for NASA astronauts and a heavy-lift rocket yet to be flown.

The launch of the first privately funded tourist flight beyond the orbit of the International Space Station is tentatively targeted for late 2018, Space Exploration Technologies Chief Executive Elon Musk told reporters on a conference call.

12)   The Japanese government is planning to reduce penalties for those who plot serious crimes like terrorism but turn themselves in before actually committing them under a contentious anti-conspiracy bill it is preparing, sources close to the matter say.

The government plans to submit the bill to the ongoing Diet session to amend the law on organized crime to criminalize the act of making preparations for terrorism.

13)   Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso says he’s in the process of arranging his first round of economic talks with US Vice President Mike Pence for mid-April.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Donald Trump agreed in February to launch dialogue between their deputies to deepen economic relations.

14)   A campaign to boycott Lotte Group’s products is growing in China in opposition to the planned installation of an advanced US missile defense system in South Korea.

The protest began when the South Korean government said on Tuesday that it officially acquired a golf course in the country’s south from Lotte Group as a site for deployment of the system.

Seoul says it will install the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system this year to boost its defense against nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.

15)   Police in Japan have arrested an environment ministry official for alleged bribery over decontamination work following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

Fifty-six-year-old Yuji Suzuki, who works at a ministry sub-branch in the prefecture, is suspected of helping a construction company land such work in exchange for wining and dining.

Fukushima and Tokyo police found that Suzuki was provided entertainment at hostess bars and a free trip worth about 1,750 US dollars from the construction firm in Toyama Prefecture.

ハルキの新作はどんな話なの？と聞かれた^^ 　そのうち買おう。多分文庫になったらかな。

1)   Japan’s prime minister will spend Friday afternoon meditating while staff at some of the country’s biggest firms are also quitting work early—in time for a bit of shopping or maybe a boozy train ride.

Welcome to Premium Friday, Japan’s latest bid to tackle two perennial problems—sluggish consumer spending and notoriously long working hours blamed for a national health crisis known as “karoshi,” or death from overwork.

2)   Residents near the U.S. Kadena Air Base in Okinawa were awarded about 30.2 billion yen ($267 million) in a court ruling Thursday, marking the largest damages payment levied against the Japanese government in a suit over noise from a military installation.

The Okinawa branch of the Naha District Court, however, turned down a request by 22,000 nearby residents to ban nighttime and early morning flights at the biggest U.S. air base in East Asia.

3)   “White-hat” hackers who spot a security vulnerability in a computer system or network may be one of the most sought-after professions in Japan today with technology firms struggling with increasing threats of cyberattacks.

In an effort to strengthen education on system security and train ethical hackers, a state-run Japanese college has launched a bug-hunting contest among its students

4)   Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Friday that his wife Akie has resigned as honorary principal of a soon-to-open elementary school after revelations that its nationalist operator had bought central government-owned land at far below its appraised value.

5)   Workers at Yamato Transport Co have asked the delivery service firm to limit the volume of packages accepted from clients amid labor shortages, sources close to negotiations between management and labor said Thursday.

The two sides will negotiate ways to deal with tough working conditions, particularly delivery truck drivers’ long working hours, in this year’s spring wage talks as the growth of online shopping services has led to a surge in the number of parcels.

6)   U.S. President Donald Trump is yet to name an ambassador to Japan. Which is more important for incoming ambassadors: To be well connected to their head of state or to have a good knowledge of the country where they are being posted?

A)   Top of Form 1

Be well connected to their head of state.

B)   Have a good knowledge of the country he or she is being posted to.

C)   Both, if possible.

7)   The Trump-Abe summit just concluded was, in both formal and informal terms, a ringing confirmation of the U.S.-Japan alliance. It also stressed the transcendent importance of U.S.-Japan relations as a whole in American global diplomacy.

Trump also pointedly thanked Japan for hosting U.S. armed forces, and made no mention of “burden-sharing,” departing markedly from his campaign-trail skepticism of Japan’s contributions to mutual defense.

8)   North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un’s half brother was assassinated with a lethal nerve agent manufactured for chemical warfare, Malaysian police said Friday.

Releasing a preliminary toxicology report on Kim Jong-Nam’s murder at a Kuala Lumpur airport, police said the poison used by the assassins was the odourless, tasteless and highly toxic nerve agent VX

Bottom of Form 1

今朝は通常トピック、でもないか・・暗殺とかそういう話。怖いねー。と。

1)   U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Thursday pledged that Washington would use the full range of its arsenal, including nuclear weapons, to defend allies Japan and South Korea against North Korea if needed.

2)    Prosecutors on Thursday released an 88-year-old man whose truck plowed into school children, and he is unlikely to be charged with any crime as it appears he suffers from dementia without realizing it, an investigative source said.

The man was arrested on suspicion of negligent driving resulting in death and injury after a minitruck he was driving struck a group of school children as they were walking to school in Yokohama last October.

3)   Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he hopes that new government-business initiative, called “Premium Friday,” will boost economic consumption.

Abe met Wednesday with the government’s Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy to discuss the introduction of “Premium Friday,” which allows employees to finish working at 3 p.m. on the last Friday at the end of each month. It is set to begin on Feb 24

4)   Products bearing the image of “Kumamon,” the black bear mascot of quake-hit Kumamoto Prefecture, racked up sales of at least 128 billion yen ($1.1 billion) in 2016, the prefectural government said Wednesday.

5)   The leaks are real. But the news about them is fake. The White House is a fine-tuned machine. Russia is a ruse.

For its stunning moments and memorable one-liners, Donald Trump’s first solo news conference as president has no rivals in recent memory.

6)   Tired of the usual box of chocolates? Try a bug cocktail or a caramel creepy crawly for Valentine’s Day.

A Tokyo bar on Sunday offered courageous couples and curious gourmets a special menu of desserts and drinks made with insects ahead of Tuesday’s holiday.

“They are crispy like the skin of walnuts and go pretty well with chocolate,” Sayumi Makino, 20, told Reuters Television at the Duranbar in central Tokyo.

The menu ranged from a cranberry and water bug cocktail to caramelized worms with almonds and cashews. The whipped cream on some desserts included the internal fluids of giant Thai water bugs, known for their sweet taste.

7)   A 70.2% majority of Japanese people are satisfied with recent talks between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Donald Trump, while 19.5% said they are dissatisfied, according to a Kyodo News survey conducted Sunday and Monday.

How do you distinguish between real and fake news?

今日は前半に安倍総理がトランプ大統領と会ってるねーって話からまたもトランプ大統領でり上がり時間がなくなってしまったので発音の練習と猫の記事を無理やり入れて終わる^^　明日大統領たちと一緒にゴルフやってみたら？とふざけて言ったらそんな暇はないよ、まぁ日本の女優さんが来た時ならやるけどね。とアメリカンな答えでした。

犬の方が猫より頭いいと思う？と言う問いかけからの猫記事

Cats are as good as dogs at certain memory tests, according to a new Japanese study published in the journal Behavioural Processes. The study findings suggest that cats are just as smart as dogs, researchers say.

The study was conducted using 49 domestic cats and different bowls of food. The findings shows that cats can recall memories of positive experiences, such as eating a delicious snack. The experiment was a test of episodic memory, or memory of past events and experiences that occur at a particular time and place. It was modeled off of a similar 2012 study conducted on dogs.

Kyoto University psychologist Saho Takagi told BBC News that both cats and dogs may have episodic memory similar to that of humans. “Episodic memory is viewed as being related to introspective function of the mind,” Takagi said. “Our study may imply a type of consciousness in cats.”

A Feline Study 

In one phase of the experiment, cats were led to four open containers of food, and were permitted to eat from two of them. After fifteen minutes passed, the containers were replaced with empty ones, and the same cats returned to the room in search of food. Here, researchers found that they spent more time exploring those containers from which they had already eaten than others.

That cats were able to remember “what” and “where” information about the food bowls suggests they have episodic memory. Still, it’s unclear whether cats can experience past memories in the same depth that humans do.

“It’s hard to know if the cats actually subjectively remember the experience of going to that particular bowl, such as the colors and the sounds,” Nick Diamond told TFK. He is a researcher at the University of Toronto and Rotman Research Institute. “So when we study [episodic memory] in animals, scientists tend to boil it down to the what, the where, and the when without getting into the experience of what the animal is remembering, which is certainly tough to figure out.”

Still, the study’s results may have practical applications. “It opens the door to new studies examining how long cats’ memories can be,” Yale University Professor Laurie Santos told BBC News, “and whether they also remember richer episodes in their own life as humans do.”