カテゴリー: English

今年の英語最終日。来週の今頃はおせちを作ってるんだろうな。多分。今日読めなかった単語はrelinquishとChrysanthemum。覚えられる気がしない。菊は覚えておきたいな。今年は大統領選挙があったのでそれを聞くのも楽しかった。アメリカ人は沖縄の基地のことをどう思っているのかがわかったし。基地問題が話題に上ると非常に答えに困る。。ことも分かった。でもともかく今年も楽しく学べました。上達しないことは置いといて、先生ありがとう。続きはまた来年！

1)   Addressing the country on his 83rd birthday Friday, Emperor Akihito thanked the Japanese public for heeding his message earlier in the year indicating his desire to abdicate.

His annual birthday remarks followed his rare video message in which he said his advanced age could one day prevent him from fulfilling his duties as the symbol of the state. Currently, there are no provisions in law allowing an emperor to relinquish the Chrysanthemum throne.

2)   “Overseas, gambling addiction has become a serious social problem,” explains a source who is familiar with casinos. “In South Korea in 2000, the Kangwon Land casino that was previously only open to foreign visitors was also opened to locals. In the area adjacent to the resort, now pawnshops can be seen all over the place, and several hundred people who had lost everything they had to gambling are said to be living on the streets.

3)   Japanese police and firefighters are inspecting the scene of a massive fire in Niigata Prefecture to determine how it started and spread.

The fire broke out at a Chinese restaurant in Itoigawa City on Thursday morning and engulfed about 150 buildings including houses and shops. Six firefighters and two other people suffered injuries.

The restaurant owner claimed to have discovered the fire upon returning after a short absence.

4)   Officials at Japan National Tourism Organization say an estimated 1.9 million foreign visitors came to Japan in November. That’s a record high for the month.

5)   A group of people who evacuated due to the 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has spoken out about the many problems they face, including recent bullying of evacuee children.

A senior official of the group, Mitsuo Sato, said what has been reported about bullying is the tip of the iceberg. He said adults also face harassment and insensitivity.

A woman who voluntarily evacuated from Fukushima Prefecture with her daughter asked people to think about why they had to leave their home. She added that the nuclear accident is far from over.

6)   Japan’s cabinet ministers are to approve on Thursday a record-high budget plan for the next fiscal year.

The draft budget is expected to total about 833 billion dollars. That’s 6 billion dollars more than what was projected for the current year.

One-third of the money will be for social welfare, including ballooning spending on the needs of the country’s aging population.
7)   A senior Russian government official has expressed his willingness to implement deals reached with Japan during President Vladimir Putin’s recent visit.

Russian media report that Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov attended a parliamentary committee on Thursday to report on last week’s summit talks.

Morgulov said President Putin’s visit to Japan was a breakthrough and provided a major boost to the development of bilateral ties in economic, political, humanitarian, and various other areas.

プーチン来日についてと沖縄について。両方意見を言いにくかった。アメリカ人にとってはどちらも上から目線で言いたいことがあるのだなぁという感想で。

1) Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin wrapped up two days of talks on Thursday, with numerous economic deals but no big breakthrough on a territorial row that has over-shadowed ties since World War Two.

2) Emperor Akihito, 82, has a cold and fever and has cancelled morning duties, an official at the Imperial Household Agency said on Friday. The emperor has no planned duties Friday afternoon and this weekend and will rest at the Imperial Palace, the official said.

3) The Bank of Japan is likely to give a more upbeat view of the economy at next week’s rate review, sources say, as a pick-up in emerging Asian demand and positive signs in private consumption improve prospects for a solid, export-driven recovery. Japan surpassed China in October as the largest foreign owner of U.S. Treasury securities, the first time the countries have swapped places in nearly two years. Total foreign holdings fell for a fourth month.

4) Defense Minister Tomomi Inada has received a report from a new Japan Self-Defense Force peacekeeping unit in South Sudan. She urged the group to ensure its safety.

Inada talked with the unit’s commander, Colonel Yoshiro Tanaka, via video phone on Thursday. He said the situation in the capital, Juba, is relatively stable.

5) Japanese police say a street robbery in the spring of this year resulted in gold bullion worth about 600 million yen, or more than 5 million dollars, being stolen by men disguised as police.

The robbery took place near JR Hakata station in downtown Fukuoka City, southwestern Japan.

Investigators told NHK that men carrying attache cases containing gold were stopped for questioning by men wearing what looked like police uniforms.

6) The governor of the southwestern Japanese prefecture of Okinawa is to lodge a protest with the country’s central government over the accident involving a US marine Osprey transport aircraft.

Governor Takeshi Onaga plans to meet Defense Minister Tomomi Inada and other government officials in Tokyo on Thursday.

He also plans to call for determining the cause of the accident and demand the removal of Ospreys from Okinawa.

7) U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday rejected as “ridiculous” U.S. intelligence reports that Russia intervened in the presidential election on his behalf through targeted hacking, putting him at odds with top lawmakers who vowed to investigate the findings.

臓器移植についてどう思うかが今日のメインだったかな。それと生活保護世帯が増えているという硬めの話だった。

1)   The number of households on welfare in Japan marked a record high for the second straight month in September, as more elderly people need support.

Welfare ministry officials say the number of households receiving public welfare benefits rose by 266 from August to more than 1.63 million in September.

2)   A black swan at a zoo in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan, has tested positive in preliminary screening for the bird flu virus.

Officials at Higashiyama Zoo in the city of Nagoya say they tested the male swan on Tuesday after it appeared to grow weak. The bird later died. The swan was living in a pond on the zoo grounds until it was moved indoors last week.

3) Communist party chairperson Kazuo Shii took up the issue of new duties assigned to a Self-Defense Forces unit dispatched to South Sudan for UN peacekeeping operations. The new tasks would call on the SDF members to rescue foreign peacekeepers and others under attack using weapons.

4)   Japanese utility Kyushu Electric Power Co (KEPCO) on Thursday night restarted the No. 1 reactor at its Sendai nuclear power plant in Kagoshima Prefecture.  KEPCO said the reactor is expected to achieve criticality by Friday morning and commence power generation on Sunday.

5) Organ transplantation is not only a medical issue that involves patients and doctors. It naturally also involves fundamental ethical questions. The slow progress of organ transplantation in Japan is thought to be connected with the spirituality of Japanese people such as their view of life and death.

6)   The United States on Thursday approved a series of deals worth more than $7 billion to supply military helicopters, planes and missiles to four of its Arab allies. The green light, announced by the State Department, will mark another windfall for plane maker Boeing and other large U.S. defense manufacturers.

7)   Japan’s Foreign Ministry has officially announced Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to the country next week. The ministry said on Thursday that Putin will pay an official working visit from December 15th to 16th and hold meetings with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

歌うように記事を読むのって永遠にできない気がするなぁ。^^ 　一個読めない単語が入るとそこからガタガタになる。でも楽しいし緊張感が脳トレになってるかな。

1)   A top IOC official renewed his demand Thursday that Japanese organizers further reduce their $18 billion budget ceiling for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, saying the figure could scare off cities considering bids for future games.

2)   An elementary school pupil who evacuated from Fukushima in the wake of the 2011 nuclear disaster has skipped school for more than a week since a male teacher added “germ” to his name when addressing him in late November, a local education board in Niigata Prefecture said Friday.

3)   A 68-year-old Japanese man suspected of having been abducted by North Korea in 1985 was found alive in Japan in late November, police said Thursday.

Police officials denied the possibility that Masanori Katsuki, who went missing in Tokyo in February 1985, was abducted by North Korea, saying he was not involved in an accident or criminal incident.

Katsuki went missing after temporarily returning from the United States, where he had worked as a sushi chef. At the time, he was preparing to leave for the United States, the officials said.

4)   A Lower House committee has approved a bill to legalize casino gambling in Japan. Proponents tout the economic benefits of casinos, while opponents say they may fuel gambling addiction.

Friday’s vote came 2 days after the committee began deliberations on the bill, which was sponsored by a cross-party group of lawmakers.

The legislation won majority support from members of the main governing Liberal Democratic Party and the opposition Nippon Ishin Japan Innovation Party.

5)   Japan’s government estimates the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant will end up costing its operator more than 170 billion dollars. The figure includes the costs of decommissioning the facility, as well as compensation and decontamination work.

Tokyo Electric Power Company has said it will secure about 17 billion dollars to decommission the plant’s reactors.

However, government officials now say the total cost will be more than 4 times higher. They estimate about 70 billion dollars will be required for the work, which includes removing melted nuclear fuel and dealing with radioactive wastewater.

6)   U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday warned American firms wanting to relocate abroad that they will face punishment, as he announced a deal with air conditioning manufacturer Carrier to keep jobs in the country.

“Companies are not going to leave the United States anymore without consequences. Not going to happen,” Trump told workers at the Carrier plant in Indianapolis in his first major public remarks since winning the White House.

7)   Thirty-three traditional festivals from across Japan were added to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list on Wednesday, the international body said.

The festivals, most of which date back to the Edo period (1603-1868), are held in 18 prefectures across Japan and feature parades involving floats made with traditional woodwork and metalwork techniques, and decorated with lacquered products and dyed fabrics.

昨日はまた英語の予約をし忘れていた。慌てて今朝の枠を予約。^^ 今日は次の枠の予約があるからショートタイムでごめんと言われたけど、それが正しい時間だよ。こちらこそいつも延長ありがとう！

1)   Government narcotics agents have arrested 22 people believed to have formed a “pot community” in depopulated areas in and around Nagano Prefecture, where they hosted music events and allegedly smoked marijuana, the narcotics bureau said Friday.

Narcotics agents from the Kanto-Shinetsu Regional Bureau of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, whose jurisdiction covers Tokyo and nine surrounding prefectures, coordinated with police from Nagano and Kanagawa prefectures Friday to apprehend the male and female suspects ranging in age from 27 to 64.

2)   Japan’s Self-Defense Forces have recalled recruitment flyers that said Defense Minister Tomomi Inada is “not dependable enough,” while highlighting her gender, an SDF provincial office said Friday.

The A4-size advertisement, made by a male SDF member at the office in Odate, Akita Prefecture, said, “Defense Minister Inada is not dependable enough, but we want a dependable person like you to challenge yourself (to a career in the SDF)!” Just after the minister’s name, the word “woman” was inserted in parenthesis.

3)   Japan’s consumer prices fell in October, government data showed Friday, extending the longest string of declines in five years and underscoring its struggles to conquer deflation.

The weak inflation data—core prices excluding fresh food fell 0.4 percent from a year ago—come several weeks after Japan’s central bank pushed back the timeline for hitting its 2.0 percent inflation target.

The BOJ’s target is a key part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s faltering bid to pump up the world’s number three economy.

4)   Fidel Castro, who led a rebel army to improbable victory in Cuba, embraced Soviet-style communism and defied the power of 10 U.S. presidents during his half century rule, has died at age 90.

With a shaking voice, President Raul Castro said on state television that his older brother died at 10:29 p.m. Friday. He ended the announcement by shouting the revolutionary slogan: “Toward victory, always!”

Castro’s reign over the island-nation 90 miles (145 kilometers) from Florida was marked by the U.S.-backed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis a year later that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. The bearded revolutionary, who survived a crippling U.S. trade embargo as well as dozens, possibly hundreds, of assassination plots, died 10 years after ill health forced him to hand power over to Raul.

5)   U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has said he is going to pull the U.S. out of any further negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) pact, while the other 11 nations involved want it to be ratified. Are you for or against the TPP?

6)   Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday Russia’s deployment of missile systems on islands in the western Pacific isles that are also claimed by Tokyo was “regrettable”.

His comments came less than a month before Russian President Vladimir Putin is to visit Japan for talks aimed at progress on the decades-old territorial row. Moscow has already said it hoped the deployment would not damage efforts to settle the dispute.

7)   The Japan High School Baseball Federation (Koyaren) has submitted a proposal to allow girls to take part in baseball practice sessions at Koshien.

The issue of girls being on the field with boys at the National High School Baseball Championship tournament became the focus of media attention last summer when a female baseball team manager from Oita High was warned by tournament organizers for coming onto the field to help at practice sessions.

Tournament regulations specify that only males are allowed to play on the grounds as part of “hazard prevention” measures. The rules also apply to practice sessions.

 

トランプさん前と後はどう？って聞いたらまだ同じだよとのこと。そりゃそーだ。安倍さん来たね。日本ではどう報じられてるの？ってやっぱり興味あるのだねー。その後は高齢者の自動車運転（義母がまだ運転してるから心配だ）と三船敏郎の話。（７人の侍って人気あるねぇ外国人に）と大麻の話。お酒やタバコより大麻の方がいいんだけどね。って。お酒は人間性が変わるが大麻はただ静かになってお腹がすくっだけなんだって。

1)   Actor Tomokazu Miura, 64, and former idol singer Momoe Yamaguchi, 57, have been chosen the most ideal married couple of the year in an annual survey conducted by insurance company Meiji Sumitomo Seimei. The couple, who married in 1980, have been ranked first continuously for the past 11 years, Fuji TV reported.

2)   Following a spate of traffic accidents, some fatal, involving elderly drivers, the National Police Agency is urging senior citizens to drive safely and voluntarily return their driver’s licenses if they don’t feel confident.

This week, police handed out fliers and spoke to senior citizens seen behind the driver’s wheel in parking lots at local hospitals and other places at 97 locations nationwide, Fuji TV reported.

3)   Japan remains one of the world’s worst-performing nations in tackling climate change, think tank Germanwatch says.

Japan was deemed the second-worst performer of 57 countries and Taiwan, this year’s Climate Change Performance Index report showed.

The report said Tokyo’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions center on reactivating nuclear energy as more or less the only alternative to fossil fuels, “instead of sufficiently promoting renewable energy.”

4)   One day before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s first meeting with a foreign leader, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japanese officials said they had not finalized when or where in New York it would take place, who would be invited, or in some cases whom to call for answers

5)   With a law change planned to reduce the age of adulthood from 20 to 18 in Japan following the similar lowering of the minimum voting age, the society and those in their late teens seem less prepared for the government’s envisaged step.

In fact, a majority of teens appear not keen on the idea while many said 18- and 19-year-olds lack the ability to make judgment calls or are unable to take responsibility for their own actions.

6)   A police raid on a factory in a small town in Wakayama Prefecture has uncovered a massive haul of cannabis with a street value estimated at 2 billion yen ($18.3 million).

Police said Wednesday they have seized over 10,000 cannabis plants and arrested senior gang member Junichi Kimura, 54, along with three others, all from Osaka, on suspicion of possessing marijuana with intent to sell.

“I only dropped by for a visit,” Kimura was quoted telling police.

According to police, about 11,000 plants in various stages of growth were discovered. Some 4,000 of them, worth about 2 billion yen, were fully grown and ready for distribution.

7)   Prosecutors alleged Tuesday that a 20-year-old man being tried over the murder of a beautician in Hokkaido last year wanted to replicate killings he had simulated in video games.

At the Kushiro District Court, the defendant pleaded guilty to the murder of 31-year-old Erika Konno and the destruction of her body in August last year in Hokkaido’s Tokachi region. The alleged perpetrator’s name is being withheld because he was a minor at the time of the incident.

8)   Hollywood celebrated the life of legendary Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune on Monday, honoring him with a star on its iconic Walk of Fame two decades after his death.

Mifune rose to stardom through Akira Kurosawa’s classics, including “Rashomon” (1950) and “Seven Samurai” (1954), with masculine portrayals of powerful warlords that earned him a reputation as the world’s best samurai actor.

9)   What do you think the Japan-U.S. relationship will be like after Donald Trump takes power?

A)   The relationship will get worse than it is now.

B)    The relationship will improve.

C)    The relationship will generally be about the same as it is now.

10)   Using smartphones to measure how much time people spend looking at those phones confirms that more screentime is tied to poorer sleep, researchers say.

“This is the first study to directly measure actual screen time in natural environments and compare it to sleep quality,” said senior author Dr Gregory M. Marcus of the University of California, San Francisco.

当然、トランプさんについて。^^ さてどうなることやら。日本はアメリカ軍を駐留させるために100%の維持費を払った方がいいよ。それ以外の道は核兵器を持つぐらいしか中国と戦えないでしょ。って。きゃー。やっぱりいきなりそうなる？とういうか大方のトランプさん派の意見なのか？というような刺激的な話からトランプタワー前でデモしてるのはお金をもらっている学生ばかりで、バスで運ばれて来るんだよ。って言ってたけど本当？

1)   Japan is now paying “enough” for the cost of stationing U.S. forces in the country, Defense Minister Tomomi Inada said Friday, though she was silent on how the government would respond if the next U.S. administration led by Donald Trump demands an increase in Japan’s budget.

2)   Lady Gaga besieged Trump Tower. Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence penned a thoughtful essay. Miley Cyrus posted a tearful video.

Hillary Clinton’s celebrity supporters were in deep mourning Thursday as Hollywood came to terms with Republican Donald Trump’s stunning election as U.S. president.

Pop princess Katy Perry, whose Twitter followers outnumber the populations of most European countries, urged her fans not to “sit still” or “weep.”

“We are not a nation that will let hate lead us,” she said.

3)   A Japanese journalist deported from Iraq denied on Thursday allegations by Kurdish officials that he is a sympathizer of the Islamic State extremist group.

Kosuke Tsuneoka told reporters in Tokyo that he was in Mosul only to report as a journalist on the battle to retake the IS-held city. Iraqi and Kurdish troops are currently fighting to expel the militant group out of Mosul.

“Let me remind you that I’m not an IS member, not even a supporter,” said the Muslim convert who also goes by Shamil Tsuneoka. “I’m fundamentally against the belief of the Islamic State group … That is not the Islam that I believe in.”

4)   Police are investigating the discovery of 11 cat carcasses found buried in a park in Sagamihara City, Kanagawa Prefecture, earlier this week.

According to police, a park maintenance worker noticed the back part of a cat’s body sticking out of the ground at around 3 p.m. on Nov 7 in Matsugae park in the city’s Minami Ward, Fuji TV reported. An additional five cat carcasses were discovered buried at a depth of 30 cm. Police said another five carcasses were found buried at the root of two trees near the initial discovery site.

5)   Tokyo Olympic organizers agreed Wednesday to hold some of the baseball and softball competition of the 2020 Games in Fukushima, the region devastated by the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster.

While the primary venue for baseball and softball is expected to be Yokohama Stadium, several cities in Fukushima are being considered for games in the preliminary rounds.

6)   Tokyo stocks soared 6% in opening trade on Thursday after diving the previous day on Donald Trump’s shock win in the U.S. presidential election, as global stocks and the dollar rallied.

7)   Do you know who your neighbors are? Probably you don’t. Who cares who they are? Modern urban life liberates us from the neighborhood. Our social and professional ties span the city, span the globe. Next door is another planet.

8)   We will play a leading role in the global community’s efforts to deal with climate change and fulfill our responsibility to safely pass down this precious Earth to our children and their children.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, after Japan ratified the Paris Agreement on fighting global warming. (Kyodo)

9)   Frustrated by the high price of antiviral drugs, thousands of patients from London to Moscow to Sydney are turning to a new wave of online “buyers clubs” to get cheap generic medicines to cure hepatitis C and protect against HIV infection.

While regulators warn that buying drugs online is risky, scientific data presented at a recent medical conference suggest that treatment arranged through buyers club can be just as effective as through conventional channels.

10)   Japan executed a death row inmate Friday, the Justice Ministry said in announcing the 17th execution in about four years since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe returned to power in December 2012.

The ministry said Kenichi Tajiri, 45, was hanged for killing two women in two murder-robbery cases in Kumamoto, southwestern Japan.

日本人はヒラリーになった方がいいと思ってるの？って聞かれたがどうなんだろう。むしろオバマさんもう一回でどう？という感じだ。どちらにしてもNeverending electionの空気が漂ってるそうでげんなりだそう。どうなるのかなぁ。

1)   Funeral services and a tomb for Prince Mikasa, uncle of Emperor Akihito, who died Thursday at age 100, will cost an estimated 289 million yen, with the cabinet deciding Tuesday to disburse 209 million yen of the cost from the government’s reserve funds for fiscal 2016.

2)   Japan is set to approve the Paris accord on fighting global warming on Friday, the day the pact will go into force, after the country’s ruling and major opposition parties struck a deal on parliamentary voting schedules.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party agreed to vote on approval of the Paris Agreement at a House of Representatives committee Wednesday and at the lower house’s plenary session on Friday. It has already passed the upper house with a unanimous vote.

3)   With the United States set to elect its next president on Nov 8, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton appears to be a better—and safer—choice than her Republican rival Donald Trump for Japan and other U.S. allies, given her deep understanding of the importance of alliances.

4)   A driver in the first vehicle accident fatality in Japan linked to playing the popular smartphone game Pokemon Go was sentenced Monday to 14 months in prison.

A city in Japan will demand the U.S. operator of the popular smartphone application Pokemon Go disable the game while a player is driving after the recent death of a 9-year-old pedestrian.

5)   In an extraordinary display of abject apology during a moment of supreme crisis, South Korean President Park Geun-hye took sole blame Friday for a “heartbreaking” scandal amid rising suspicion that she allowed a mysterious confidante to manipulate power from the shadows

6)   Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike says it could take as long as 15 months to conduct another environmental impact assessment for a new wholesale food market.

The relocation of the market from Tsukiji in downtown Tokyo to Toyosu on the waterfront had been scheduled for this month. But the governor postponed it until test results show whether the new site is safe.

7)   The Environment Ministry on Tuesday urged workers across Japan to wrap up for winter as the energy-saving Warm Biz campaign got under way.

However, the weather didn’t cooperate with much of Japan yet to experience cold temperatures. In Tokyo on Tuesday, the temperature rose to 21 degrees, but is expected to reach only 14 degrees on Wednesday before going up again.

今朝は満遍なく記事について話した感じ。ハロウインイベントはもはやバレンタインを超えたとな。あと大統領選挙もまたわからなくなって来たらしいし（先週はもうトランプはだめそうだったが。。。）核兵器禁止条約なんで日本は反対したの？と聞かれて、賛成することが「核なき世界へ」続く正しい方向とは違うからって岸田さんは言ってたよと言ったら「はぁ？」言うので同感だ。

1)   Young people dressed in Halloween costumes have started to gather near Tokyo’s Shibuya Station on Friday, 3 days before the actual holiday of October 31st. Tokyo police are deploying officers as crowds of revelers are expected every night through Monday.

Experts say the imported Western custom has become popular in the country as an autumn festival. The total value of spending associated with Halloween in Japan is estimated at more than 1 billion dollars, second to Christmas and surpassing that of Valentine’s Day.

2)   Japanese employees are reporting increased stress in the workplace, with those in their 30s having a high rate of mental disorders due to overwork. The health ministry analyzed more than 2,000 cases of workers’ compensation for mental illness from January 2010 to March last year. At least 368 of the people apparently committed suicide.

Their mental disorders were caused by the type of their work and changes in their workload. Another factor was interpersonal problems, including harassment and bullying at workplaces as well as problems with bosses.

3)   NHK has learned that the Tokyo metropolitan government sees various problems with the proposals for the venue for the rowing and canoeing events of the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The proposals include: building a permanent facility in Tokyo’s waterfront area; building a temporary facility in the same place; or using an existing course in Miyagi prefecture.
The officials found that a permanent facility in Tokyo is projected to generate an annual loss of 200 million yen, or about 2 million dollars, after the Olympics.

4)   Japan’s Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida has defended the country’s decision to oppose a UN committee resolution calling for a total ban on nuclear weapons. The United States and other nuclear powers opposed the resolution. Japan also voted against it.

Kishida told reporters in Tokyo on Friday that the resolution would only widen the gap between nuclear and non-nuclear weapons states. He said the 2 sides must work together to achieve results, and a practical approach based on cooperation is needed.

5)   The Okinawa prefectural assembly has adopted a resolution protesting an incident last week in which police officers from another prefecture insulted anti-base protesters with derogatory words.

The Okinawa prefectural assembly adopted the resolution by a majority vote on Friday. It condemns the officers’ remarks for, “trampling on the pride and dignity of Okinawa’s people, and for causing them deep, intractable mental scars”. It demands that the incident never be repeated again.

6)   Police in Ichinomiya City, Aichi Prefecture, have arrested the driver of a truck after he hit and killed a 9-year-old boy on Wednesday afternoon. The driver, Nobusuke Kawai, 36, has admitted he was playing Pokemon Go and did not see the boy.

According to police, the incident occurred at around 4:10 p.m. as the boy, Keita Noritake, was on his way home from school..  The driver, Nobusuke Kawai, 36, was arrested at the scene and charged with dangerous driving resulting in death.

7)   Japan’s estimate of dismantling the Fukushima nuclear plant is ballooning far beyond the utility’s estimate of 2 trillion yen ($19 billion). A government study released Tuesday found decommissioning the Fukushima Daiichi plant already has cost 80 billion yen ($770 million) over the last three years. The ministry overseeing nuclear power said the decommissioning costs will continue at several hundreds of billions of yen a year.

8)   A teacher at Kofu Josai Yamanashi Prefectural High School got angry when a student came to school with the sides of his head shaved. The teacher, a man in his 50s, slapped the boy at least 10 times at an after-school club activity and then ordered three other students to help him forcibly shave the boy’s head, Sankei Shimbun reported.

Another male instructor who was at the scene verbally abused the student, and forced the other three students to shave their hair off as an act of collective responsibility.

9)   Seeking to lash Hillary Clinton to her husband’s sprawling post-presidential empire, Donald Trump accused the couple of turning to corruption to enrich themselves while in public service.

On Thursday, the GOP nominee cited newly released emails from her campaign chairman’s personal account showing Doug Band, a former Bill Clinton aide, describing overlapping relationships between the Clinton Foundation and the family’s private gains

10)      Japanese scientists are getting an up-close lesson on how volcanic islands are formed.

Last week, they landed on Nishinoshima, which was just a rocky outcropping in the Pacific Ocean until two years ago, when spectacular eruptions spewed lava and ash, expanding it to 12 times its size.

家人が取材で仕事に行くために早く起こして世話を焼かねばならないから今朝の英語は20分間のショートタイム。大統領選と沖縄問題と豊洲とアイドルi⭐️ris(知らなかったので後で誰だろ？と調べた。)の話をした。

1)   What should be done about the debacle of the new Toyosu fish market which is supposed to replace the 80-year-old Tsukiji fish market, but which has been held up due to contamination issues?

Keep the fish market at Tsukiji and update its facilities if needed.

Relocate the fish market from Tsukiji to Toyosu only after it has been completely decontaminated and given the OK by independent experts.

Find a third location and build a new market.

2)   Japan’s two largest opposition parties refused to show up to parliamentary deliberations Friday on the ratification of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, protesting remarks made by the agriculture minister this week that suggested the ruling parties could steamroll the approval of the pact through the Diet.

3)   A riot police officer dispatched from Osaka to help local police respond to anti-base protests in Okinawa Prefecture hurled an ethnic slur at protesters, calling them “aborigines,” police officials said Wednesday.

The incident came amid intensifying confrontations between riot police and local people over the construction of helipads at a U.S. military training site in the northern part of the prefecture

4)   Hillary Clinton ramped up her pressure on Donald Trump in the election’s most competitive states Friday with an emotional TV ad targeting his criticism of a Muslim-American family. Trump vowed to go all-out in the final three weeks so he’ll have no regrets — even if he loses.

5)   The organizers of a photo contest in northeastern Japan have decided to withdraw their revocation and award a prize for a picture of a teenage girl who apparently committed suicide due to bullying. They had originally revoked the prize after learning the girl had died.

The organizers, including Kuroishi City in Aomori Prefecture, said at a news conference on Wednesday that the top prize will be awarded for the picture of Rima Kasai. She was a second-year junior high student in the city.

6)   What is your opinion of organizations such as Greenpeace and Amnesty International?

7)   So perhaps idol unit i☆Ris (pronounced “Iris”) is on to something. Rather than having fans purchase CDs when what they really want is to spend a few moments connecting with (and possibly proposing marriage to) their favorite member of the group, i☆Ris has streamlined the process with a new promotion that simply lets fans pay money to talk with them.

So how much will these three minutes in conversational paradise set fans back? A cool 10,000 yen. However, CD albums in Japan regularly cost about 3,000 yen, and as we mentioned, passionate idol fans often buy multiple copies. As such, even with 49 time slots per i☆Ris member, reservations are already starting to fill up.

ハリケーンマシューの後片付け話とBob Dylanがノーベル賞ってどうよ？（ただ歌で社会への不満を愚痴ってるだけなのに^^って言ってた）、それから大統領戦（もうどちらの候補にも嫌気がさしてるらしい。あれほどトランプを応援していたが）横道にそれすぎて記事は3個くらい読んだだけ。

1)   Major technology firms are racing to infuse smartphones and other internet-linked devices with software smarts that help them think like people.

The effort is seen as an evolution in computing that allows users to interact with machines in natural conversation style, telling devices to tend to tasks such as ordering goods, checking traffic, making restaurant reservations or searching for information.

2)   Japan will lease additional land next year to expand a military base in Djibouti, eastern Africa, as a counterweight to what it sees as growing Chinese influence in the region, three Japanese government sources said.

China is seeking closer ties with African nations that could help it gain access to natural resources and provide new markets. Beijing said late last year it would pump $60 billion into development projects on the continent, cancel some debt and help boost agriculture.

3)   Japan has protested to China over signs it is pressing ahead with maritime gas exploration in the East China Sea despite Tokyo’s repeated requests to stop, Japan’s top government spokesman said on Wednesday.

The exploration platforms are on the Chinese side of the median line between the two countries, but Japan accuses China of ignoring a 2008 agreement to maintain cooperation on resources development in an area where no official border has been drawn.

4)   Lashing back, Donald Trump heatedly rejected the growing list of sexual assault allegations against him as “pure fiction” on Thursday, hammering his female accusers as “horrible, horrible liars” as the already-nasty presidential campaign sank further into charges of attacks on women.

Campaign foe Hillary Clinton said “the disturbing stories just keep on coming” about her Republican opponent, but she let first lady Michelle Obama’s passionate response carry the day. Obama, in battleground New Hampshire, warned that the New York billionaire’s behavior “is not something we can ignore.”

5)   A teacher in her 30s who works at Nihon University’s Third Junior and Senior High School in the Tokyo suburban city of Machida, commenting after the Tokyo District Court rejected her claim that the school operator let her use her pre-marriage surname at work. The court ruled it is reasonable and necessary for an employer to demand employees use their names registered in the family registry.

6)   Try a lychee-flavored coffee infused with jasmine, or a “Chardonnay” espresso served in a wine glass—whatever your taste, Japan’s swashbuckling baristas are bringing some serious sex appeal to the drink.

In a country famous for its tea, the Japanese are increasingly turning to coffee as a quick-fix to help ease the daily grind. Hipster cafés are popping up everywhere, offering exquisitely curated beverages to satisfy even the fussiest of caffeine addicts.

Japan imports over 430,000 tons of coffee a year—behind only the United States and Germany—and boasts some of the world’s top baristas.

7)   Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to refrain from visiting the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine during its autumn festival next week to avoid damaging Japan’s relations with South Korea and China ahead of a summit of the three countries later this year, government sources said Thursday.

The Japanese government is planning to host in early December a trilateral summit of the three countries for the first time in five and a half years, with the aim of deepening cooperation for regional stabilization.

8)   Tokyo’s governor said on Wednesday that now was the last chance to take steps to rein in soaring costs for the city’s 2020 Olympics, projected to cost 3 trillion yen – over four times higher than planned.

Gov Yuriko Koike, who took office in August, ordered a review of Olympic expenses that last month recommended changing three venues to save money, a move criticised by both the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee and international sports officials.

9)   Book shops and music stores in Japan on Friday set up special sections devoted to renowned singer-songwriter Bob Dylan after he was awarded the Nobel prize in literature for 2016 on Thursday.

A spokesman for HMV&Books Tokyo said he wants this to be an opportunity for young people to know about the legendary musician, Fuji TV reported.

As in previous years, acclaimed Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami had been anticipated to win the award, and fans were met with a mix of confusion and surprise as it was given to Dylan, media reported.

10)   Kumamoto Prefecture and its neighboring areas Friday marked six months since the first of two powerful earthquakes rattled Japan’s southwestern region, killing a combined 50 people, with rebuilding homes for displaced residents remaining an issue.

Local officials said all evacuation centers in Kumamoto are expected to be closed in the next few weeks, even though there are still 205 evacuees taking refuge at shelters as of Thursday.

11)   On Wednesday morning, the U.S. military fired Tomahawk cruise missiles from the battleship U.S.S. Nitze, destroying three radar sites on the coast of Yemen, on the Red Sea. The sites are controlled by Houthi rebels. The rebels have been fighting pro-government Yemeni forces. The U.S. is an ally of neighboring Saudi Arabia, which is also fighting the Houthi rebels.

今日は読めない単語が多かったー。発音の練習も難しい。まぁ楽しんでやろう。単語の勉強はボチボチと。^^

1)    Police increasingly suspect that the killing of two patients at a hospital in Yokohama may have been conducted by a person connected with the hospital and with some medical knowledge, investigative sources said Thursday.

The person may also have randomly sought to tamper with intravenous drips because some 10 unused drip bags were found with small holes, in a possible sign someone tried to inject into them surfactant compound, which police believe was used to kill the two patients.

2)   The Japanese government approved Friday a proposed contract with a joint venture to build Tokyo’s new National Stadium, the main venue for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics in the capital, at a construction cost of 149 billion yen ($1.47 billion).

3)   Spending among Japanese households tumbled last month and consumer prices fell again, data showed Friday, after the Bank of Japan announced it was overhauling a faltering bid to conquer deflation.

The disappointing data marked the latest red flag for the world’s number three economy.

4)   The Tokyo District Court on Thursday ordered the effective head of the Kyokuto-kai crime syndicate to pay damages over extortion by members of an affiliated gang.

The court ordered Keika So, the 88-year-old former Kyokuto-kai chairman, and other gang members, to pay about 200 million yen in damages to 27 men and women who had filed suit.

5)   Democratic Party leader Renho slammed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic and social policies Wednesday in her first opportunity as leader to directly go up against the premier in a question-and-answer session in the House of Councillors.

Renho, who was elected to lead the main opposition party on Sept 15, took aim at a policy speech Abe gave on Monday to open an extraordinary Diet session set to run through Nov 30. She alleged that the “Abenomics” economic and fiscal policy package has failed to live up to its goal of ending Japan’s long-term deflationary trend.

6)   “Salary thieves!” “Incompetents!”

The old are intolerable. They slow things down, screw things up, deck themselves in impressive titles, draw bloated salaries – and for what? For keeping everybody else – the energetic, quick-witted, well-adapted, competent, idea-generating young – down?

7)   In the quest for globalization, language remains top priority — especially in the medical field. Because non-Japanese have represented a very small percentage of patients in the country’s hospitals, there is a drought in medical support and assistance for non-speakers of Japanese. As the number of non-Japanese residing in and visiting Japan rises, there is an increasing need for multilingual support to make medicine more accessible to the foreign community.

To rectify the situation, Mayumi Sawada founded mediPhone, a medical interpreting service that aims to create a world in which medicine and healthcare is accessible to all.

8)   Demonstration is said to be the most successful form of marketing. Taichi Yamaguchi, Corporate Planning Division General Manager for TBM Co Ltd, puts his business card on the table, pours some water on it, then tries to tear it but can’t. The card is made of LIMEX, an innovative material manufactured from limestone that can be used to make “paper” and “plastic.”

The advantages of LIMEX are that it does not cause deforestation and saves on water and oil resources. Furthermore, limestone supplies are abundant in many countries, including Japan.

9)   Donald Trump abruptly resurrected Bill Clinton’s impeachment on Thursday, adding the former president’s infidelities to the already-rancorous 2016 campaign. Trump warned voters in battleground New Hampshire that a Hillary Clinton victory would bring her husband’s sex scandal back to the White House.

It was Trump’s latest effort to bounce back from Monday night’s debate performance, which has been widely panned as lackluster.

10)   Will the day come, three years from now, when “unagi” (eels) vanish from the dinner table? It appears that the EU is backing a moratorium on eel harvesting and if it passes, an expert tells Yukan Fuji (Sept 27), then three years from now, trade in illegally caught or transported eel fry used for fish farming (aquaculture) will be halted.

今朝はあれこれいろいろ話す前に発音のレッスンをした。なかなか難しいし気恥ずかしい。^^

1)   The Tokyo Prefecture government says that a slight amount of lead was found in water that has accumulated below the site of a proposed new food market. It would replace the aging Tsukuji market.

The results of the analysis of water that was collected on September 14th was made public on Friday.

They show that the amount of lead in the water is about one tenth the level permitted by environmental standards.

2)   Japan’s defense minister has asked the United States to prevent a recurrence after a fighter jet crashed off Okinawa Prefecture.

Tomomi Inada told reporters on Friday that the ministry has received no reports that the crash damaged ships or other property.

The Marine Harrier jet crashed on Thursday in waters about 150 kilometers off Point Hedo. The pilot was rescued.
3)   The mayor of Tsuruga City said on Wednesday the government’s decision to comprehensively review the Monju program is deeply regrettable. The reactor is located in the city.

Takanobu Fuchikami said when he met government officials on Tuesday to ask them to keep the program alive, they told him that they’d decided nothing and that they will consider a broad range of options. He added they hold him in contempt.

Fuchikami also said the officials indicated that they will respect the opinions of host communities.
4)   Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pledged more than 1.1 billion dollars in aid to Syria, Iraq and neighboring countries.

Abe announced the plan at a high-level UN Security Council meeting on Syria in New York on Wednesday.

He said the money will go toward food, water and vaccines, and promoting education and vocational training. He said Japan will work with international aid organizations to put the programs in place.

5)   The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has begun investigating the theft of data from US IT giant Yahoo.

The company announced on Thursday that hackers had stolen information for at least 500 million user accounts in late 2014. Experts say it’s the biggest security breach of the Internet age.

The FBI said in a statement that it takes this type of security breach very seriously and will determine how it occurred and who is responsible.
6)   SMAP, one of Japan’s most popular and longest-lived pop groups, will release a greatest hits album on Dec 21—10 days before its breakup.

The three-CD boxed album, called “SMAP 25 YEARS,” will consist of around 50 songs chosen by fans through online voting, out of about 400 the group has released since its CD debut in 1991, Victor Entertainment Corp said Wednesday.

7)   The FBI is gathering information about an incident involving actor Brad Pitt and his family aboard a private flight last week, the agency confirmed Thursday.

Spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said the FBI is still evaluating whether to open an investigation into allegations Pitt was abusive during the flight toward one of his six children with actress Angelina Jolie Pitt, as several media outlets have reported.

今日は最初にアクセントの練習をした。もっと上手に読めるようになりたいなー

 

1) Game geeks with a heart for digital romance have something to celebrate as sensual, soft-spoken cyber women are blurring the line between reality and fantasy at the Tokyo Game Show.

Virtual reality took center stage at the annual exhibition Thursday, with Sony Interactive Entertainment showcasing PlayStationVR (PSVR), a much-anticipated head-mounted display debuting next month.

Dozens of software titles for the device are in the pipeline, allowing players to fly like an eagle, drive sports cars in high-speed races, and explore castles.

Gamers can also indulge in fantasy by flirting with virtual females thanks to increasingly realistic VR technology.

2)   A Japanese court on Friday ruled against Okinawa Gov Takeshi Onaga’s move to block the relocation of a key U.S. air base within the island prefecture, making the first judicial judgment on the high-profile dispute between Tokyo and Okinawa that is certain to be appealed by the prefectural government.

The Naha branch of the Fukuoka High Court determined that it was “illegal” for Onaga last October to revoke his predecessor’s approval for landfill work required for the controversial plan to move the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from a crowded residential area to the less populated Henoko coastal area of Nago.

3)   The Tokyo Taxation Bureau has imposed about 12 billion yen in additional tax on a Japan subsidiary of Apple Inc in connection with iTunes Store software sales profits, sources familiar with the matter said Friday.

The tax authority says iTunes K.K., located in Tokyo’s Minato Ward, should have paid taxes on some 60 billion yen in software sales profits it transferred over two years to 2014 to an Apple subsidiary in Ireland that holds the software copyright, they said.

4)   The number of child abuse cases Japanese police reported to child consultation centers between January and June rose to a record 24,511, with psychological abuse covering nearly 70% of the cases, police data showed Thursday.

The abuse of minors aged below 18 was up 42.3% from the same period last year, exceeding 20,000 for the first time since half-yearly comparable data became available in 2011, according to the National Police Agency.

5)   Tokyo Gov Yuriko Koike announced on Wednesday a new plan to reduce overtime work, stating that Tokyo would be the frontier to enhanced working conditions.

Koike called for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (“Tocho”) staff to aim for zero overtime work, which she said was a long existing issue in Japanese society that leads to not only health problems but also decreased time for workers to to spend with their families, Fuji TV reported.

The governor plans to make 8 p.m. the latest anyone should be working, and in so doing, will be appointing a “Tocho Overtime Prevention Team” in each department and organizing “Overtime Reduction Marathons” where lights will be turned off in order to encourage staff to go home. She said strict monitoring will take place for staff who leave after 8 p.m.

6)   The Democratic Party selected acting leader Renho as its new chief Thursday, making the 48-year-old third-term member of the House of Councillors the first woman to head Japan’s main opposition party.

After easily defeating her competitors, the former administrative reform minister pledged to turn around the largest opposition party, which is doing poorly in opinion polls.

Renho edged out former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara and lower house lawmaker Yuichiro Tamaki despite fumbling questions over her dual nationality toward the end of the two-week leadership race.

7)   In Japan, it’s called “shinrin-yoku,” which translates as forest bathing. It’s the practice of immersing yourself in nature to improve your well-being, and interest in the concept is growing, with spas, resorts, retreat centers, gardens and parks offering guided “forest bathing” experiences.

These programs take participants into the woods for a slow, mindful walk to contemplate nature with all the senses. It’s not a hike, because you don’t go far or fast. And while the term forest bathing may lend itself to jokes about nude hot springs, rest assured: You don’t take off your clothes.

8)   What do you think of the quality of school education in Japan? If you have a child at school, are you happy with that school?

9)   Japan will step up its activity in the contested South China Sea through joint training patrols with the United States and bilateral and multilateral exercises with regional navies, Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada said on Thursday.

10)   Japan’s public spending on education ranked the second lowest among 33 comparable member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an OECD report for 2013 showed Thursday.

Japan narrowly avoided the last place which it saw in 2012 as the ratio of its educational expenditure to gross domestic product stood at 3.2%, a tad higher than Hungary’s 3.1%.

The average ratio of such public spending-to-GDP among OECD countries was 4.5%, with Norway leading the list at 6.2%, followed by Denmark at 6.1% and Belgium, Finland and Iceland tying at 5.6%.

Japan’s total public and private funding on education per child was, however, found to be higher than the OECD average given higher costs on universities and kindergartens in Japan.

今日は全部はできなかった。引きこもりとポケモンGOの話で終わった気がする。

1)   Japan’s nuclear watchdog has decided to make operators of nuclear power plants and other nuclear facilities check the background of their workers to prevent terror attacks.

Following the recommendation of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Nuclear Regulation Authority will introduce the new regulation in late September, although the actual implementation is expected to be from next year or later due to necessary procedures, such a revision of the rules regarding the handling of nuclear materials.

2)   Several hundred American service personnel who say they became sick from radiation after participating in relief operations for the 2011 tsunami that set off the Fukushima nuclear disaster are now getting high-profile support in Japan.

Junichiro Koizumi, prime minister from 2001 to 2006, told reporters Wednesday he has set up a special fund to collect private donations for the former service members, with the goal of collecting $1 million (100 million yen) by the end of next March, mainly to help with medical bills.

3)   An estimated 541,000 people between the ages of 15 and 39 in Japan avoid social contact and shut themselves in their homes, according to a government survey.

The figure compares with the previous Cabinet Office survey in 2010 that showed an estimated 696,000 such people—known as “hikikomori”—across the country. Despite the decline, the latest survey does not give an overall picture of the full extent of the phenomenon as it did not include those aged 40 or older.

But the survey does highlight a trend in which people who have withdrawn from society have done so for longer periods, as those who have shut themselves in their homes for at least seven years accounted for about 35 percent of the total.

4)   Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged 45 billion yen ($440 million) on Wednesday to help Asian countries strengthen counter-terrorism measures, a government spokesman said, as the region sees a surge in large-scale attacks.

Police blamed a bombing last week in Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s home town that killed 14 people on rebels linked to Islamic State, while 22 people were killed in a July attack on a cafe in the Bangladeshi capital.

“As our first ever support for anti-terrorism and anti-extremism steps in Asia, we will carry out an aid program worth 45 billion yen for the next three years,” Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda quoted Abe telling a meeting of leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) grouping.

5)   A British MP slammed Air China for alleged “racist” travel advice offered to clients visiting London.

The airline’s “Wings of China” magazine reportedly provides safety advice to travellers based on the race and nationality of local residents.

“London is generally a safe place to travel, however precautions are needed when entering areas mainly populated by Indians, Pakistanis and black people,” the magazine says, according to a photograph published by CNBC.

“We advise tourists not to go out alone at night, and females always to be accompanied by another person when travelling,” the magazine adds.

6)   “Pokemon Go will be the end of Japan!” screams the headline in Jitsuwa Bunka Tabuu (October). Okay, so Nintendo’s share prices briefly shot up by 80% and the 2,900 McDonald’s outlets where the cute characters could be hunted reported their year-on-year revenues up by 26.6%. Big deal.

Soon after the game’s July 22 release in Japan, throngs of people staring at their smartphones could be seen flocking to such parks as Shinjuku Gyoen and Setagaya Koen in Tokyo and Tsuruma Koen in Nagoya’s Showa Ward, to hunt “rare” Pokemon.

It goes without saying that Pokemon Go requires players to engage in the act of so-called “aruki sumaho” (walking while looking at or operating a smartphone). It’s dangerous. In a survey of actual users undertaken by Tsukuba University, 42% of mothers accompanying small children said they had the experience of bumping into someone while texting, and 47% of people over age 70 said they had been jostled by someone using a phone. The same experience was stated by 50% of wheelchair-bound individuals questioned in the survey.

7)   Scientific techniques that can wipe out invasive species or alter mosquitoes’ ability to carry disease are pushing ahead, raising concerns about the ethics of permanently changing the natural world, experts say.

This fast-moving field of science—which involves changing the biology of creatures by interfering with their DNA—is increasingly being debated not only for human health purposes, but also in conservation circles.

Perhaps the most controversial type of research is known as a “gene drive,” which ensures that a certain trait is passed down from parent to offspring. It eventually leads to genetic changes throughout the entire species.

8)   “If people aren’t marrying and aren’t dating, they must be doing something to satisfy their need for intimacy, whether they are opting for sexual and romantic alternatives such as prostitutes, romantic video games, celebrity obsessions, pornography or pets.”

Masahiro Yamada, a sociologist at Chuo University who coined the term “parasite single,” which refers to people who live with and depend on their parents well into adulthood. (The Economist)

9)   A half-Indian beauty queen with an elephant trainer’s license was crowned Miss Japan on Monday, striking a fresh blow for racial equality.

Priyanka Yoshikawa’s tearful victory comes a year after Ariana Miyamoto faced an ugly backlash for becoming the first mixed-race woman to represent Japan.

Social media lit up after Miyamoto’s trail-blazing triumph as critics complained that Miss Universe Japan should instead have been won by a “pure” Japanese rather than a “haafu”—the Japanese for “half”, a word used to describe mixed race.

10)   The director of a documentary film introducing the lives and voices of Japanese people who support whaling said Monday she has started a campaign on an international crowd-funding site so she can screen her film in the United States.

The 107-minute movie is touted as a “counter” documentary to the Oscar-winning U.S. film “The Cove,” which threw the Japanese whaling town of Taiji into the international spotlight with bloody scenes of its annual dolphin hunt.

Keiko Yagi, the director of “BEHIND THE COVE – The Quiet Japanese Speak Out!” said she believes it is important to provide the American public with “a chance to hear the other side of the debate on the whaling issue.”

今日は忘れずに予約できた。^^ 読めなかった単語はeagerness/statutory/stagnation

 

1)   The Japanese government plans to lower the age of adulthood under the Civil Code from 20 to 18 by submitting a reform bill to the Diet possibly next year, government sources said Thursday.

The planned amendment would change the entitlements of an adult under the law for the first time since it was enacted in the late 19th century, enabling 18- and 19-year-olds to sign contracts and get married without the consent of their parents and other statutory agents.

2)   An approach to seek the initial return of two of four disputed islands which are administered by Russia but claimed by Japan has re-emerged in the Japanese government to advance talks over the decades-old territorial row, bilateral diplomatic sources said Thursday.

The move comes on the eve of planned talks between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of a two-day economic forum through Saturday in the Russian Far East port city of Vladivostok.

3)   Japan’s defense ministry requested a record budget on Wednesday, with funds for an anti-ship missile system to defend islands at the center of a territorial dispute with China.

Tokyo is determined to defend the uninhabited islets in the East China Sea—administered by Japan as the Senkakus but claimed by China as the Diaoyus—as Beijing steps up its claim.

4)   About 1,600 people are stranded and 17 are unaccounted for in the northeastern prefecture of Iwate Thursday after Typhoon Lionrock battered the area Tuesday.

Local authorities said that some 1,600 people in eight municipalities are stranded. The municipalities include the town of Iwaizumi, where nine bodies were found in a nursing home, with town officials saying they have lost contact with 17 residents, mostly elderly people.

Authorities are unable to approach the affected areas by road due to flooding and damage, they said, adding that members of the Self-Defense Forces and police are trying to assess the situation and mount a rescue operation, according to the prefectural government.

5)   A health ministry panel unveiled a report Wednesday calling for a 100% ban on smoking in indoor public spaces including restaurants.

In the report, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare warned that passive smoking definitely increases the risk of lung cancer.

The move comes as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government has expressed eagerness to combat passive smoking in Japan ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics and Paralympics.

6)    FamilyMart Co Ltd and UNY Group Holdings Co Ltd merged on Thursday, creating Japan’s second-largest convenience store chain.

FamilyMart, Japan’s No. 3 convenience store chain, and UNY, the owner of fourth-ranked Circle K Sunkus, agreed last October on a merger which will see around 6,250 Circle K Sunkus stores renamed as FamilyMart, Sankei Shimbun reported.

The merged company, called FamilyMart Uny, will operate about 17,000 convenience stores in Japan. 7-Eleven Japan is the industry leader with 18,572 stores. Lawson is third with 12,995 stores in Japan.

7)   Japanese household spending fell less than expected in July and the jobless rate hit a two-decade low, offering some hope for policy makers battling to pull the world’s third-largest economy out of stagnation, data by the Internal Affairs Ministry showed on Tuesday.

8)   When Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced his new cabinet in August, it was again a primarily male affair. At a time when Abe has been discussing the empowerment of women, just three of the 19 ministers are female.

For Japan to gain a bigger voice in politics, boardrooms and other areas of society, women are going to have to do a lot of the work. In human resources, women from Japan and overseas are beginning to assert themselves in the business world, bringing new and innovative ideas to corporate Japan.

無事今日受講できた。マイケル先生の方が私より日本のニュース通であることに時々ビックリする。^^

1)   Actor Yuta Takahata, 22, also famous for being the son of popular actress Atsuko Takahata, has been arrested for allegedly raping and assaulting a woman in her 40s in Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture.

According to police, the incident occurred at around 2 a.m. on Tuesday at a business hotel, where Takahata was staying for the filming of his latest movie “Ao no Kaeri michi.”

Police said Takahata assaulted the victim, an employee at the hotel, after returning from a night out drinking with colleagues.

2)   A man playing the smartphone game Pokemon Go while driving hit 2 people in western Japan, leaving one dead and the other seriously injured.

The accident took place in Tokushima City on Tuesday evening. The 39-year-old man driving a compact car hit 2 women crossing a street.

The 72-year-old woman died. The 60-year-old woman was seriously injured.

The police arrested the driver on the spot.

The police say the man told them that he was playing Pokemon Go

3)   Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told African leaders on Saturday that his country will commit $30 billion in public and private support for infrastructure development, education and healthcare expansion in the continent.

Resource-poor Japan has long been interested in tapping Africa’s vast natural resources, even more so since dependence on oil and natural gas imports jumped after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster shut almost all of Japan’s nuclear reactors.

4)   Russia has invited Japan to join a humanitarian mission in civil war-hit Aleppo in northern Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry said Friday.

Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov invited Japanese participation during a meeting with Japanese Ambassador to Russia Toyohisa Kozuki on Thursday, the ministry said.

In the meeting, Antonov showed readiness to deepen military cooperation between Japan and Russia through joint exercises.

5)   Three years of so-called Abenomics, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s bold stimulus program, has failed to dislodge a deflationary mindset among businesses and consumers.

As the world’s third-largest economy falters again – with a stronger yen gnawing at overseas profits and domestic consumption sapping companies’ confidence to invest or sufficiently raise wages – firms that increased their prices in the hope of a sustained recovery are rethinking their strategy.

Many consumers, with little extra to go around, are opting for cheaper products – welcome news for the discount retailers who flourished during two decades of economic stagnation.

6)   While swimming at the wave-generating “Cobalt Beach,” one of the most popular pools at the Tokyo Summerland complex in Akiruno City on August 21, nine women between the ages of 18 to 24 were slashed on their buttocks or torsos by a person or persons unknown. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police have been poring over security camera recordings, but have yet to collar a suspect.

As a result, Yukan Fuji (Aug 26) reports that other swimming pools in the greater Tokyo area are taking extra security precautions over the upcoming weekend.

7)   Burkinis banned on dozens of beaches, no veils in schools, no niqabs in the neighbourhood: in secular France, the law imposes restrictions on anything connected religious affiliation.

In 2010, France became the first country in Europe to ban the full-veil with a law banning “the covering of the face in public spaces” which was adopted in October 2010 and applied in April a year later.

8)    Officials in several states are scrambling to deal with a series of heroin overdose outbreaks affecting dozens of people and involving at least six deaths.

The spikes in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia over the past few days have seen rescue workers rushing from scene to scene to provide overdose antidote drugs.

While it’s unclear if one dealer or batch is responsible for the multistate outbreak, the spikes reflect the potency of heroin flooding the Midwest.

In Cincinnati, police on Friday asked for the public’s help in identifying the source of the heroin behind an estimated 78 overdoses in two days.

オリンピックでのアメリカ選手の強盗にあったという嘘が恥ずかしいよ。と言っていた。^^

1)   Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike is on her way to Rio de Janeiro to attend the Olympic flag handover ceremony.

Koike took office earlier this month. She left Haneda Airport for the Brazilian city on Thursday, starting a week-long trip.

She will receive the Olympic flag from the city mayor at the closing ceremony of the Games on Sunday. Tokyo hosts the next Olympics in 2020.
2)   Sweltering heat gripped eastern and western Japan on Wednesday. Temperatures rose to nearly 40 degrees Celsius in some parts of the country.
3)   A human rights advocacy group has criticized an immigration facility near Tokyo for serving a Muslim detainee a dish containing pork.

Islamic teachings ban consumption of pork.

4)   A school event meant to teach students about the plight of atomic bomb survivors in Nagasaki City, southwestern Japan, has been cancelled due to a bomb threat.

The school was to hold the event on August 9th, the anniversary of the 1945 atomic bombing, and on the following day. It is located near ground zero.

The cancellation came after the Nagasaki Prefectural Government last month received an email threatening to bomb elementary and junior high schools in the prefecture. The email stated the bombing would occur on August 10th.

5)   Sweltering heat gripped eastern and western Japan on Wednesday. Temperatures rose to nearly 40 degrees Celsius in some parts of the country.

Daytime highs in Tatebayashi City, Gunma, rose to 39.6 degrees. At Sano City in neighboring Tochigi Prefecture, it reached 38.3 degrees.

6)   The US Olympic Committee has apologized for what it called unacceptable behavior by 4 US swimmers who were found to have lied about being robbed at gunpoint.

The committee on Thursday confirmed the version of events given by Brazilian police who determined that the athletes were not robbed.

The swimmers include Ryan Lochte, who won a gold medal in the men’s 4-by-200-meter freestyle relay at the Rio Games.

Lochte first said they were robbed at gunpoint when their taxi was stopped on the way to the athletes’ village from a club in Rio de Janeiro early on Sunday.

7)   Japanese direct investment in China continues to fall as a result of rising labor costs and concern about the slowing economy.

China’s Commerce Ministry says direct investment from Japan was 1.91 billion dollars from January through July. That’s down 10.9 percent from the figure for the same period of last year.

Officials at an association of Japanese companies in China say investment is especially weak among firms that seek to export products from China to Japan and other countries.

熱中症とか天皇陛下とか中国とかイチローとかの話でした。あ、マックが売り上げが上がったんだってね、って話もしたな。^^ 単語をさぼってるので英語力は伸びないけれど気軽な話をするのが楽しい土曜日の朝。アメリカの大統領選の話はなんとなく聞きづらい。

1)   The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said Tuesday that 6,588 people were taken to hospitals nationwide to be treated for heatstroke in the week from Aug 1 to Aug 7.

The figure was an increase of 2,525 over the previous week as a heatwave covered most of Japan, agency officials said.

Twelve deaths were attributed to heatstroke, while 822 people had to be hospitalized due to their condition. Of the total number hospitalized, 3,330 were aged 65 and older.

5)   Tokyo’s new governor, Yuriko Koike, has reacted positively to the idea of operating a recreational complex including a casino in the city.

In an interview with NHK on Monday, she touched on a bill aimed at legalizing casinos that is under deliberation in the Diet.

Koike said that the city needs to constantly attract more visitors from overseas.

She said the casino plan would make the city more attractive.

6)   The Emperor of Japan addressed the public in a video message.
Emperor Akihito’s message alluded to his wish to abdicate.

He spoke for around 10 minutes.

He said he is worried that it may become difficult for him to carry out his duties as the symbol of the state, considering the gradual decline in his physical condition.

“There are unreasonable aspects to Japan’s imperial system. To justify the restriction of his human rights to that degree, he should have the choice to become emperor or not and one way to secure that right is to enable him to abdicate if he wishes.”

 

Shojiro Sakaguchi, a law professor at Hitotsubashi University, noting that the emperor’s rights are restricted under the system, including the right to express his views and marry freely. (Kyodo)

10)   China’s exports fell again in July by an unexpectedly sharp margin while a decline in imports accelerated.

12)   Ichiro Suzuki defined his career with speed and sharp hits. It was only fitting he flashed both in his historic moment.

Suzuki lined a tripled off the wall for his 3,000th career hit in the major leagues, becoming the 30th player to reach the milestone as the Miami Marlins beat the Colorado Rockies 10-7 Sunday.

13)   American special operations troops have for the first time started directly supporting Libyan forces battling the Islamic State group in their key stronghold of Sirte, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.

15)   The US government says it is in close communication with Japan and monitoring the situation around the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. Chinese government ships have stepped up activities in the area since last Friday, repeatedly violating Japanese territorial waters.

But she said the US is aware that the islands have been under Japanese administration and that they fall within the scope of the US-Japan security treaty.

17)   McDonald’s Holdings Japan has posted its first mid-term operating profit in 2 years. The change in fortunes follows a series of food safety scandals that scared away customers.

Company officials on Tuesday reported an operating profit of about 460,000 dollars for the January-June period. Sales were up 23 percent from the year before.

The officials credit the sales rebound to fresh menus and renovated outlets. They say shutting down unprofitable branches also helped to flip earnings into the black.

 

どうして覚えてたはずの単語がどんどん抜けてくのかなー。英語の語彙が少ないから日本語で話すときより選択の幅が少なくて逆にはっきり意見が言える。好きとか嫌いとか。曖昧な言い方を知らないから。ということ。^^

1)   Japan’s troubled 2020 Olympics will be a success, Tokyo’s new governor insisted Thursday, after she and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe put aside political differences for the good of the Games.

Tokyo’s Olympic preparations have suffered high-profile setbacks including soaring costs, allegations of corruption.

Responsibility for fixing that now lies with Yuriko Koike who became the first woman to be elected chief executive of the megacity at the weekend, in a vote held after the previous governor resigned over a financial scandal.

2)   Child abuse in Japan reached its worst level on record in fiscal 2015, with the number of cases handled by welfare officials surpassing 100,000 for the first time, a government survey showed Thursday.

A total of 103,260 cases were handled at child consultation centers nationwide in the year through March, up 16 percent from the year before and marking the 25th consecutive annual increase since the government started taking tallies in fiscal 1990, according to the preliminary report.

3)   Tournament officials banned a schoolgirl from a practice game at Koshien Stadium on Tuesday in the lead-up to the 98th National High School Baseball Championship tournament, citing concerns for her safety. The girl, who acts as manager for her high school baseball team, was passing the ball to players on the ground as part of their usual fielding practice, and had been on the field for roughly 10 minutes when tournament officials noticed her and prohibited her from continuing.

4)   Emperor Akihito is likely to express his thoughts on his role in a video message Monday amid growing speculation that he is considering abdicating, sources said Thursday.

The Imperial Household Agency is arranging for the 82-year-old emperor’s message to be made public Monday afternoon, the agency sources said, adding he is expected to read out a statement prepared in consultation with senior agency officials.

5)   Actress Reiko Takashima, 52, has announced her divorce from former actor Noboru Takachi, 51, who was arrested in June on suspicion of possessing stimulants and marijuana.

Takashima’s agency informed the press in a fax that she had filed for divorce after 17 years of marriage from Takachi whose real name is Joji Osaki. The fax read, “We hope you can understand her decision and continue to warmly watch over her,” Sankei Shimbun reported Tuesday.

6)   A rash of thefts around the Haworthia, a popular succulent plant, is taking place in Japan. The plant has been trading at high prices among people who value it recently.

An association of Haworthia lovers in Japan says a pot of Haworthia bred and improved in Japan can be sold online for nearly 1,000 dollars. Some can fetch a price as high as about 10,000 dollars.

7)   The International Olympic Committee has approved 5 sports to be added to the Tokyo 2020 Games. IOC officials approved a proposal by the Tokyo organizers on Wednesday.

They agreed to add surfing, skateboarding, karate, sports climbing, plus returning baseball-and-softball.

The new sports will supplement, rather than replace, regular events.

8)   Japanese government officials have revealed the details of a stimulus package worth more than 280 billion dollars. They are now working on ways of funding it, as they draw up an extra budget for the current fiscal year.

Officials plan to take about 40 billion dollars out of the general account for the secondary supplementary budget.

From that amount, the government plans to float construction bonds of about 30 billion dollars to bridge a funding gap.

The extra budget will cover a one-time payment of about 150 dollars to people on low incomes.

今日はなぜかグアムの話。時差の事を考えるとグアムあたりに住みたいそうだ。それとポケモンと神奈川の事件について。

1)   Do you think Russia should have been banned from the Rio Olympics over allegations of state-sponsored doping?

2)   Sarah Takeda thought she had a good little business renting a traditional tatami-mat room in her house on Airbnb.

But she and other hosts in Japan are learning the hard way that the home-sharing site’s fastest-growing market is also becoming the next flashpoint in a global battle over the sharing economy.

Hoteliers are up in arms, local residents complain that outsiders are invading their neighborhoods, and Japanese officials say renting out private homes is illegal.

3)   Executives at Hokkaido Railway Company are drastically reviewing their business in the face of losses caused by falling passenger numbers.

JR Hokkaido has posted an operating loss of more than 380 million dollars at current rates for the business year ended in March. It was one of the firm’s biggest losses in about 20 years.

Officials are reviewing money-losing train services. They are expected to announce later this year which lines the company cannot maintain on its own.

They are considering abolishing unprofitable lines and replacing them with bus services.

4)   The new governor of Kagoshima Prefecture in southwestern Japan says he plans to request, possibly next month, for a temporary halt of the only nuclear plant in the country currently in operation.

Satoshi Mitazono took office as governor on Thursday following his election victory on July 10th. During his election campaign, he called for a halt of the Sendai nuclear power plant in the prefecture. The two reactors at the plant are currently online.

At a news conference, the new governor said people in Kagoshima are worried about the Sendai nuclear plant after the series of powerful earthquakes in neighboring Kumamoto in April.

5)   A probe using an X-ray-like detector has found that a large amount of melted nuclear fuel apparently remains at the bottom of one of the damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company released images of the No. 2 reactor on Thursday. One of the images shows a large black shadow at the bottom of the reactor. In photos taken by a muon detector, black shadows represent heavy metals such as uranium.

TEPCO says the image suggests that most of molten fuel mixed with structural objects within the reactor and accumulated at the bottom. It estimates the amount of the accumulated materials at 160 tons.
6)      Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has ordered a review of the current state system for compulsory hospitalization of people considered at risk of harming themselves or others. The request comes after the recent knife attack at a facility for people with intellectual disabilities.

Abe instructed his ministers at a meeting on Thursday. 19 people were killed in Tuesday’s attack at the facility in Sagamihara. Twenty six others were injured.

The Prime Minister said it was deplorable that so many innocent, defenseless people were killed and injured. He said he offers his deepest condolences to the families of the victims.

7)   Pokemon Go has become a global phenomenon. But managers at many public and private facilities around Japan are telling the developers of the augmented-reality game that they don’t want to play along.

Officials at several Japanese railway companies are worried that players absorbed in the game will bump into passengers or fall off platforms. So they’ve asked the developer to exclude their properties from the game.

But they say many of the game’s characters have appeared at major stations or on rail tracks…despite the developer’s promises to keep them away.

8)   Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga says Japan’s Self-Defense Forces will continue with its peace-keeping operations in South Sudan despite the general deterioration in security in the country.

Suga on Thursday mentioned a recent incident in which a vehicle carrying staff of a Japanese aid agency was shot at.

He said that the Japan International Cooperation Agency, or JICA, reported that a vehicle carrying 4 staff members came under gunfire on July 8th, at around 6 PM, local time. The members were on their way back to their hotel. He said the vehicle was bullet-proofed, and nobody was injured.

やっぱりポケモンGOの話^^ がメインに。

1)   The wait is over for Pokemon Go fans in Japan.

Players began tweeting about it as soon as it was available Friday morning, and the Pokemon Co and the developer of the augmented reality game, U.S.-based Niantic Inc, confirmed its launch.

Pokemon Go is expected to be a huge hit in Japan, the country of the character’s birth.

2)   When Saori Ito went on maternity leave last year and stopped getting a regular paycheck from her cosmetics company, she became worried about her future – and wondered if this kind of anxiety is what awaits her after retirement.

The 34-year-old married mother of a one-year-old girl had doubts about the government’s ability to fund retirement for Japan’s growing ranks of elderly in the world’s oldest population.

So she set up a private, self-managed pension account.

Japan’s government loosened laws on pensions in May, allowing almost all working-age Japanese to join private defined-contribution retirement plans – similar to individual retirement accounts (IRAs) in the United States that allow workers to make regular contributions to an investment fund with tax breaks.

3)   Declaring America in crisis, Donald Trump pledged to cheering Republicans and still-skeptical voters Thursday night that as president he will restore the safety they fear they’re losing, strictly curb immigration and save the nation from Hillary Clinton’s record of “death, destruction, terrorism and weakness.”

4)   Is Honda’s walking robot Asimo marrying Pepper, the chattering robot from SoftBank?

Automaker Honda Motor Co. and internet company SoftBank said Thursday they will work together on artificial intelligence to develop products with sensors and cameras that can converse with drivers.

Asimo, first shown in 1996, walks, runs, dances and grips things.

Pepper, which went on sale last year, doesn’t have legs but is programmed to recognize mood swings in people it interacts with.

Major automakers and technology companies are interested in robotics to improve driving safety and comfort.

5)   The number of criminal cases detected by police in Japan in the January-June period fell 9.3% from a year earlier to 488,900, the lowest since 1989 when data for the half-year period became available, a preliminary report from the National Police Agency said Thursday.

The figure is well below that of the first half of 2015 when the police detected 538,778 crimes. The number of crimes for the whole of 2015 hit a postwar low of 1,098,969.

NPA chief Masahito Kanetaka told a press conference, “I believe a wide range of measures taken by the public and private sectors together for crime prevention are achieving effects.” An agency official attributed the decline also to measures taken against street crimes including installations of security cameras.

6)   The European Central Bank has decided not to alter its monetary policy while it waits to observe the longer-term impact of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union.

The bank’s policy board members met on Thursday in Frankfurt.

They opted to leave the main interest rate at 0 percent, and the bank deposit rate at minus 0.4 percent.

7)   Executives at Japanese telecom operator Softbank and Honda Motor say they are going to start joint research on artificial intelligence for vehicles.

Softbank Group officials say the companies will develop voice interaction technology that enables AI-equipped cars to understand the driver’s emotions.
8)   Japan’s central government has filed a fresh lawsuit against the Okinawa prefectural government over the planned relocation of a US base within the southwestern prefecture. The move is likely to intensify the clash over the relocation.

The central government plans to move the US Marine Corps Futenma Air Station from a densely populated area in the city of Ginowan to the less-populated Henoko district in Nago City. The Okinawa prefectural government opposes the plan.
9)   North Korea says it has carried out a firing drill of ballistic rockets, simulating preemptive strikes on South Korea.

The North’s state-run media reported on Wednesday that the nation’s leader Kim Jong Un ordered the drill by the Strategic Force of the Korean People’s Army.
10)   IEC Corp has officially announced that the Samurai Studio will open again in Asakusa, Tokyo, for a limited time this summer, following a successful project in the spring.

IEC, which has been providing educational services to the business community in Japan for the last 60 years, says the idea of the Samurai Studio is to provide an authentic cultural experience for foreign tourists. This time, the price has been reduced to 30,000 yen from 36,000 yen (not including tax) for two persons.

Guests will be able to dress up in samurai armor and pose for photos. The armor the studio will offer is authentic and used in TV period dramas on NHK.

通常のテキスト以外にポケモンGOと福岡の不審者などなど。7時からのクラスなのに目が覚めたら6:50で慌てて起きたのでボケボケになってしまった。

Police in Dazaifu, Fukuoka, said Friday they have arrested a 34-year-old man on suspicion of theft after he was seen rummaging through the mailbox of an empty house on July 1.
The man, who was wearing wearing a Playboy bunny girl costume when he was seen at the house, is also believed to be the same man seen wearing a Spider-Man costume and loitering outside empty houses earlier this year, Sankei Shimbun reported.
According to police, a woman witnessed the man looking through the mailbox of an unoccupied house at around 12:30 p.m. on July 1. She called a nearby police koban and said a strange man wearing black fishnet tights and high heels was loitering outside the house. When the “bunny girl” spotted the woman, he fled in a car.
Police identified the suspect, Tetsuya Fujisawa, from his car license plate; however, he has denied the charge and said he has no idea what they are talking about.

“Pokemon Go” has established a new US record as the most popular smartphone game.

The augmented reality game was developed by Japan’s Nintendo and other companies. A US research firm says “Pokemon Go” has about 21 million active daily users, surpassing the previous record of 20 million set by Candy Crush.

Players can visit real-life locations to capture virtual pocket monsters, or Pokemon.

Since its US release on July 6th, the number of free downloads has increased at a substantial speed and the game has topped the app charts.

A government survey on living conditions of households in Japan shows that 60 percent of the respondents are having difficulty making ends meet.

The welfare ministry conducted the survey in June and July of last year. More than 46,000 households responded.

 

Police on Saturday said a Chinese man, who was arrested earlier this month for overstaying his visa, has admitted to putting the body of a Chinese woman in a suitcase and dumping in a canal in Tokyo.

The body of Yang Mei, 34, was found in the suitcase floating in the canal near Tennozu Isle Station in Shinagawa Ward on June 27. Yang had been missing for more than two years.

Police quoted the suspect, in his 30s, was quoted as saying he used to live with Yang. Police said he will be charged with abandoning a corpse.

The corpse, clad in a camisole and short pants, was not badly decomposed when discovered. Reports said the woman had not been dead for long.

 

Yang came to Japan in September 2013 as a trainee to participate in the government’s Industrial Trainee and Technical Internship Program (TTIP). She was working at an auto-parts plant in Kyoto but disappeared from her dormitory after being seen in its cafeteria in March 2014. She was placed on a missing persons watch list by police in Kyoto.

 

1)   Reports that Japanese Emperor Akihito intends to abdicate within a few years could re-open debate about female succession, but any such move is likely to provoke strong opposition within the current conservative ruling party.

The 82-year-old monarch, who has had heart surgery and been treated for prostate cancer in recent years, expressed his intention to abdicate in a few years to the Imperial Household Agency, public broadcaster NHK said on Wednesday.

No reason was cited and agency officials later denied the earlier reports.

2)   A gunman at the wheel of a heavy truck plowed into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in the French city of Nice on Thursday night, killing at least 84 people and injuring scores more in what President Francois Hollande called a terrorist act.

The attacker, identified by a police source as a 31-year-old Tunisian-born Frenchman, also opened fire before police shot him dead. He had been known to the police for common crimes but not to the intelligence services, the source said.

3)   Police in Tokyo said Thursday have arrested an Air Self-Defense Force officer for using his smartphone to film up the skirt of a woman on a train.

According to police, Yukifumi Fujita, 50, a major at an ASDF academy in Meguro Ward, used a smartphone camera inside a bag to film up the skirt of a woman in her 20s on a train on the JR Yamanote line between Shibuya and Ebisu stations at around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sankei Shimbun reported.

A male passenger saw what Fujita was doing and detained him, police said.

4)   Twenty-one candidates have started official 17-day campaigning for the Tokyo gubernatorial election to be held at the end of this month.

Voters will go to the polls on July 31st to choose a successor to Yoichi Masuzoe. He resigned last month following a scandal over alleged misuse of political funds.

Masuzoe’s predecessor, Naoki Inose, also stepped down because of a political funds scandal.

5)   The Kansai Electric Power Company has appealed against a court injunction that blocks the restart of 2 reactors at its Takahama nuclear plant in central Japan.

On Tuesday the Otsu District Court in Shiga Prefecture issued a fresh injunction to suspend the operations of the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at the plant in neighboring Fukui Prefecture.

In March, the Otsu District Court issued an injunction to suspend the operations of the 2 reactors. It was the first injunction for reactors in operation. Residents in Shiga Prefecture sought the injunction.
5A)   Japan’s state minister for industry has ruled out the option of sealing off disabled reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant with a Chernobyl-style sarcophagus.

Yosuke Takagi met Fukushima Governor Masao Uchibori in Tokyo on Friday.

Uchibori said he was shocked to hear the word “sarcophagus” and called the option unacceptable.

6)   Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to use an upcoming summit to urge China to accept a recent ruling by an arbitration tribunal in The Hague regarding its claims in the South China Sea.

Abe will attend the 2-day Asia-Europe Meeting, or ASEM, that opens in the Mongolian capital, Ulan Bator, on Friday.

Abe plans to join other leaders in calling on China to accept the tribunal’s decision for a peaceful settlement of territorial disputes in the South China Sea. The tribunal ruled on Tuesday that there is no legal basis for China’s claims.
7)   People in southwestern Japan are still trying to find places to stay and rebuild their lives 3 months after the first in a series of earthquakes hit the region.

The jolts killed 49 people in Kumamoto Prefecture. An additional 6 were confirmed to have died due to the effects of the quakes, such as physical fatigue from the evacuation. One person remains unaccounted for.

Authorities say that as of Wednesday, 4,692 people remain in shelters. Many others are said to be spending the night in their garages or tents.

Officials say the quakes have affected more than 157,000 houses in the prefecture. More than 34,000 homes were fully or partially damaged.

8)   Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has suggested that he will seek approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal at an extra session of the Diet this year.

Abe was speaking to business leaders including Sadayuki Sakakibara, the chair of Japan’s largest business federation, Keidanren.

Japan and 11 other countries signed the TPP last year but none has completed domestic procedures needed for the deal to take effect.

9)   US government officials have launched a challenge against China at the World Trade Organization.

They say China’s export duties on key raw materials impose higher costs and substantial disadvantages on US manufacturers.

US Trade Representative Michael Froman has criticized China for imposing export duties of 5 to 20 percent on 9 raw materials including cobalt, copper and lead.

The USTR says these duties give Chinese manufacturers a competitive advantage by making the materials more expensive for US automakers and aircraft makers.

US trade officials hope to eliminate the duties by first aiming for a negotiated settlement with China.

10)   Japanese automaker Nissan Motor has introduced driver-assist features that enable its new minivan model to handle congested highway traffic on its own.

Nissan showed the minivan equipped with limited autonomous driving technology to media on Wednesday.

The firm said the model has an advanced camera that can recognize other vehicles and white lines between lanes.

The car can accelerate, brake and navigate highway traffic in one lane.

テキスト以外の内容、浜名湖のバラバラ遺体とベッキーについてのニュースについて話した。あとダラスの白人警官殺害の話とバングラディシュのテロ。世界がどんどん怖いことになっていく気がする。

1)   A major Japanese IT firm says it will launch a driverless bus service at a park near Tokyo next month.

DeNA got help on the project from a French venture company that develops self-driving technology.
2)   A Russian Soyuz spacecraft with three astronauts including Japanese Takuya Onishi on board has been successfully launched from Kazakhstan for a mission to the International Space Station.

The Soyuz was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 1:36 Thursday UTC.

9 minutes later, the spacecraft detached from the rocket and entered Earth’s orbit as scheduled at an altitude of around 200 kilometers.
3)   Much of Japan sweltered on Thursday. Temperatures above those of the human body were recorded in some places in central Japan.

A high-pressure system covering the country brought clear skies and a blazing sun to a wide area from east to west.

Koshu City in Yamanashi Prefecture recorded a high of 38.8 degrees Celsius. Kawane-hon-cho in Shizuoka Prefecture had 38.6 degrees, and Tokyo’s Nerima Ward was at 37.7 degrees. Normal human body temperatures are below 37 degrees Celsius.

4)   Tens of thousands of people in a western Japanese city enjoyed a night view of a river lit up by LEDs to mark the traditional star festival called Tanabata on July 7th.

Legend has it that 2 deities who are in love with each other are separated by the Milky Way and allowed to meet only once a year on that date. People in Japan celebrate the day by making wishes.
5)   A Japanese district court has given a former prefectural lawmaker a suspended prison term for fraud involving misuse of taxpayers’ money.

The Kobe District Court on Wednesday sentenced former Hyogo Prefectural assembly member Ryutaro Nonomura to 3 years in prison, suspended for 4 years.

Nonomura was accused of misusing more than 9 million yen, or about 89,000 dollars, over 3 years until his resignation in July 2014. Prosecutors said he claimed expenses for 344 fictitious day trips.
6)   A Japanese man on a 10 meter yacht has completed the first half of a round-trip solo voyage across the Pacific Ocean.

66-year-old Shinkichi Shoji who runs a billboard business, left Japan almost 2 months ago, from the port of Sakai in Tottori Prefecture. He was bound for San Francisco in the United States.

His local yacht club said on its website that he completed the journey of about 12,000 kilometers on Tuesday.

7)   The number of scrambles by Japanese Air Self-Defense Force fighter jets against Chinese aircraft surged between April and June.

The Defense Ministry says Japanese fighters made 281 emergency takeoffs to intercept unidentified jets in the 3-month period.

Of those, 199 scrambles were against Chinese aircraft. That’s up 70 percent from a year ago.

Ministry officials say Chinese military planes are increasing activities near the Japanese side of areas between the 2 countries.

8)   Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Yuriko Koike has announced she will run for Tokyo governor without her party’s recommendation.

Koike is a former defense minister. She met on Tuesday with Economic Revitalization Minister Nobuteru Ishihara, who heads the ruling party’s Tokyo chapter.

She sought the party’s recommendation and asked the chapter to quickly decide its position.

Ishihara said the chapter will make its decision after the Upper House election on Sunday.

9)   Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda has once again said he will pump more money into the financial markets if it is necessary to support the economy.

Kuroda told the chiefs of the central bank’s 32 regional bureaus on Thursday that exports and production are sluggish due to slowdowns in emerging economies.
10)   Britain’s central bank has taken steps to support the economy, whose outlook has worsened since the vote to leave the European Union.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said on Tuesday that the UK has entered a period of uncertainty and significant economic adjustment.

He announced that the bank had lowered the amount of capital that lenders must hold in reserve.

dollars.

実は先週は寝坊して目が覚めたらレッスン時間が終わっている時刻であった。（ダメじゃん）。なので今週は反省してちゃんと起きた！（大人として当たり前の事ですよ）

1)   As the death toll from the Istanbul airport attack rose Thursday to 44, a senior Turkish official said the three suicide bombers who carried it out were from Russia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, and Turkish police raided Istanbul neighborhoods for suspects linked to the Islamic State group.

2)   An all-female reboot of Ghostbusters” hits theaters this summer amid a savage backlash by Internet trolls that has thrown the spotlight back onto Hollywood’s gender discrimination problem.

The film’s first trailer has become the most reviled in YouTube history, having amassed almost 900,000 dislikes, while director Paul Feig and his cast have been bombarded with death threats and misogyny on social media.

3)   A top Singapore bank said Thursday it has suspended loans to anyone wanting to buy property in London, citing uncertainty from Britain’s vote to quit the EU but dealing a blow to investors looking to make the most of the weak pound.

United Overseas Bank (UOB), one of the city-state’s three homegrown lenders, said it was monitoring the market closely to determine when the loans would resume.

4)   Porfirio Guerrero has grown increasingly frustrated as a decade-long recession has sapped business from his tailor shop in the Puerto Rican capital. He now feels the only way for the island to recover is to become a full-fledged part of the United States, a sentiment that is gaining force in the territory.

Puerto Ricans have been divided for decades on whether to remain a semi-autonomous commonwealth, push for statehood or break away entirely from the United States. The island’s economic crisis — including a $70 billion debt and looming default — have pushed many like Guerrero toward statehood.

6)   The number of scrambles by Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force fighter jets in reaction to the flight paths of Chinese aircraft was up sharply for the 3 months through June of this year.

Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano, the chief of staff, Joint Staff of the Self-Defense Forces, made the announcement at a news conference on Thursday.

Kawano said the number of scrambles against Chinese aircraft for the April-June period increased by more than 80 sorties from the 114 the ASDF made during the same period of last year.
7)   Japanese government officials say tax revenues for the last fiscal year were lower than earlier estimates.

This is the first time since the 2008 global financial crisis that Japan’s tax revenue has fallen below the government’s forecast.

The officials say national tax revenues in fiscal 2015 that ended in March came in at 56.3 trillion yen, or about 550 billion dollars. That’s up around 22 billion dollars from the previous fiscal year. But it’s nearly 1.3 billion dollars lower than the estimate the government made last December.
8)   A government survey shows that over a quarter of Japan’s population is now aged 65 or older.

The Internal Affairs Ministry says the estimate is based on preliminary figures from last year’s national census.

The survey says about 33.4 million people are 65 or older, or 26.7 percent of Japan’s population.
9)   Japanese lawmakers are discussing ways to minimize the impact of Britain’s decision to leave the EU.

Members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party met on Tuesday to consider extending financial support to small and medium-sized businesses.

A senior LDP official asked for a second supplementary budget of about 98 billion dollars for the current fiscal year.

Some members called for doubling that, to about 195 billion dollars including fiscal investment and loans. They said the negative aftereffects of Brexit may become prolonged.July 1st, 2016

マスゾエさんの話とオーランドの銃撃事件とディズニーリゾートのワニとイチローがメイントピック。プラス大阪のお箸での殺傷事件ってとこでした。

1)   An election to pick the successor to Tokyo Gov Yoichi Masuzoe, who is resigning over a political funds scandal, will be held July 31, the local election commission said Friday.

The official campaigning period is set to begin on July 14, just days after the July 10 House of Councillors election.

Among the high-profile names floated as possible candidates are two women: Yuriko Koike, a well-known lawmaker of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party; and Renho, a lawmaker and acting president of the main opposition Democratic Party. Both have previously served in Cabinet posts.

Kenji Utsunomiya, a lawyer and former head of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, is also said to be considering running in the election.

2)   A Japanese man who stabbed his father to death with a chopstick was arrested on Thursday, police said.

Michikazu Ikeuchi, 51, admitted that he stabbed his 80-year-old father in the throat with a 30-centimeter-long wooden, cooking chopstick on Wednesday night after a quarrel at their home in Osaka, according to police.

3)   Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso on Friday fired off a warning shot against a recent rise in the yen, saying he was deeply concerned about “one-sided, rapid and speculative” currency moves and would respond urgently if necessary – a hint at possible yen-selling market intervention.

The latest jawboning – official comment intended to influence markets – comes as the yen surged across the board after the Bank of Japan (BOJ) left monetary policy unchanged on Thursday, despite market fears of global turmoil if Britain votes to exit the European Union in the June 23 referendum.

4)   Nearly four decades later, another Japanese star has surpassed a lofty mark set by one of baseball’s most famous players — with the help of stats accumulated overseas. On Wednesday night , Ichiro Suzuki reached 4,257 hits in the Japanese and North American major leagues, passing Pete Rose’s total from Major League Baseball. Although the accomplishment was met with admiration around the sport, it’s not easy to put Suzuki’s feat in context.

Rose remains the MLB hit leader with 4,256. Suzuki had 1,278 hits for Orix in Japan’s Pacific League (1992-00), and on Wednesday he increased his total to 2,979 with the Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees and Miami Marlins. Rose was quoted recently by USA Today as saying: “I’m not trying to take anything away from Ichiro, he’s had a Hall of Fame career, but the next thing you know, they’ll be counting his high-school hits.”

5)   A pro-EU British lawmaker was killed in a shock daylight street attack, halting campaigning for the referendum on Britain’s membership in the bloc just a week before the crucial vote.

Jo Cox, a 41-year-old mother-of-two from the opposition Labour Party, was shot in the face while lying on the ground by a lone attacker in the village of Birstall in northern England, according to witnesses quoted by local media.

6)   The death sentence given to a man convicted of murdering two women and seriously injuring another man in 2010 when he was 18 is set to be finalized after the Supreme Court on Thursday upheld lower court rulings.

The case of Yutaro Chiba, now 24, marks the first time capital punishment has been given to a minor under Japan’s lay judge trial system that began in 2009.

In handing down the ruling, the top court’s first petty bench said the defendant committed the crime based on a “very selfish motive” as he was determined to kill anyone who sabotaged his plan to run away with his former girlfriend.

7)   The Japanese government on Wednesday launched a special patrol unit in Okinawa to enhance security in response to the rape and murder in April of a young woman allegedly by a former U.S. Marine.

Around 20 vehicles began patrolling downtown areas and school roads in Okinawa which hosts the bulk of U.S. military facilities in Japan, with officials from the Okinawa bureaus of the Defense Ministry and the Cabinet Office participating in the patrols for the time being.

8)   Nissan says it is developing fuel-cell technology that can power cars using plant-based ethanol, a first for the auto industry, and hopes to launch the system in time for Tokyo’s 2020 Olympics.

Japan’s number-two automaker said its experimental technology would let vehicles drive more than 600 kilometers on a single fill, similar to gasoline-powered cars.

Fuel cells work by combining hydrogen and oxygen in an electrochemical reaction, which produces electricity.

9)   Social media has emerged as a leading source of news among online users who increasingly access it on their smartphones, a think tank said on Wednesday, warning that the embrace of free news was becoming a challenge for publishers of quality news.

More than half of online users get their news from Facebook and other social media platforms, refusing to pay for news and using ad-blocking, which hurts publishers’ revenue, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) said.

10)   Embracing grieving Orlando families and appealing anew for national action, President Barack Obama claimed a threat to all Americans’ security Thursday as a strong reason to tighten U.S. gun laws. Counterterror campaigns overseas, he declared, can never prevent all “lone wolf” attacks like the one that killed 49 people in Orlando.

11)  It’s an unwritten rule for Florida residents: Keep your kids away from ponds and lakes because alligators are everywhere.

But after a gator killed a 2-year-old Nebraska boy at a Walt Disney World resort, attention soon turned to tourists. In a state with an estimated 1 million alligators, how should theme parks and other attractions warn visitors, and did Disney do enough?

12)   Further investigations will be conducted to learn why the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant did not use the term “meltdown” soon after the March 2011 accident.

It took more than 2 months for Tokyo Electric Power Company to admit that the cores of 3 of the reactors had melted down.

A panel set up by TEPCO reported on Thursday that the utility’s former president, Masataka Shimizu, had instructed employees not to use the term “meltdown.”
The panel said this came after what the president said were instructions from the prime minister’s office.

But the panel did not carry the investigation to the prime minister’s office. It is not known who in the office issued the instructions.

13)   Officials in Tottori Prefecture, western Japan, say a large metal object found washed ashore there could be from a North Korean missile.

The officials told the central government on Friday that a prefectural employee patrolling a coast in Yurihama Town found the object on the previous day.

They say the piece is shaped like a cylinder sliced vertically. They say it’s 1.8 meters long and 1.2 meters wide, with something like cables inside.

The officials say the object resembles what South Korean media reported in February as suspected debris from a North Korean missile.

14)   The Japanese government has decided to extend the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s anti-piracy mission off the coast of Somalia by another year.

The current mission will expire on July 23rd.

Japan has deployed escort ships and patrol aircraft to guard commercial ships in the area since 2009.

The cabinet approved the extension on Friday because piracy remains a threat, although there have been no incidents during the past year.

Japanese government officials say poverty in Somalia is the root cause of the problem and pirates will return to the area if the international community lowers its guard.

15)   Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a close aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed that they will prepare for a still-unscheduled visit by Putin to Japan.

Abe and Russian Lower House Speaker Sergei Naryshkin met in Tokyo on Thursday, reaffirming the importance of bilateral cooperative ties in a wide range of areas.
16)   The number of confirmed or suspected dementia sufferers who went missing in Japan has surpassed 10,000 for the third straight year.

The National Police Agency says 12,208 elderly people were reported missing in 2015 — up more than 1,400 from the previous year. 98 percent of them were found before the year-end, but 150 remain unaccounted for.
17)   Mitsubishi Motors says fuel economy data on14 models marketed over the past 10 years was manipulated.

Mitsubishi held a news conference at the Transport Ministry on Friday to announce the results of an in-house probe into the series of fuel-data scandals.

The auto firm said the fuel data on the 14 models came from calculations rather than from actual measurements. In all, the company marketed 20 models during that time.

Mitsubishi officials say they manipulated data on 5 of the 14 models to make their fuel economy look better even though they failed tests.

They add that tests on 17 models did not follow standards, and the company falsified data on such factors as weather, date, and time at test runs of all 20 models.
18)   NHK has learned that the sender of the email that caused the leak of personal data of travel agency customers pretended to be an airline company employee.

JTB officials have admitted that data for nearly 8 million customers may have been leaked due to a computer virus.

A JTB group company received an email in March that appeared to have been sent by All Nippon Airways. The sender’s email address included the letters “ana” and the title of the message suggested that air ticket data was attached to the email.

19)   Tokyo stocks fell across the board on Thursday, with the benchmark index dropping more than 400 points after the Bank of Japan decided to maintain its current monetary policy.

Shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange were sold almost across the board, as the yen surged against the dollar following the central bank’s decision.

The Nikkei index closed 485 points down from Wednesday’s finish, at 15,434, marking its lowest point in about 4 months. The broader TOPIX index ended at 1241, down 35 points.

Market analysts say the fall of the dollar was triggered by the US Federal Reserve’s decision on Wednesday not to raise interest rates, and was accelerated by the Bank of Japan’s decision.

 

20)   France has ratified the Paris Agreement on curbing global warming.

President Francois Hollande signed a document to ratify the agreement on Wednesday. Both houses of parliament had previously approved the result of UN climate talks in December.

Hollande said the ratification process realizes the hope to stop global warming, which emerged at the COP 21 conference.

The agreement is a new international framework to fight global warming beyond 2020, replacing the Kyoto Protocol.

The Paris deal takes effect when it is ratified by at least 55 countries accounting for 55 percent of total global greenhouse gas emissions.

Only 17 nations, mainly island countries like the Maldives and Tuvalu, have ratified it. They represent 0.04 percent of the emissions.

21)   One of 5 Hong Kong booksellers who disappeared last year has lambasted mainland Chinese authorities for his detention. The 5 are linked to a bookstore that sells titles critical of the Communist Party.

Lam Wing-kee held a news conference in Hong Kong on Thursday, 2 days after returning from mainland China.

Lam explained he was held by Chinese authorities after he arrived in Guangdong Province for a visit last October. He said he was confined for 5 months in a room about 30 square meters.
22)   Shanghai Disneyland, the first one in mainland China, has celebrated its official opening.

The gates opened before noon on Thursday, slightly earlier than scheduled. Long lines of visitors had formed in front of the gates since early in the morning. Pre-order tickets for the opening day were sold out.

Visitors were seen taking pictures of themselves with Disney characters, and enjoying rides and other attractions.

Construction of the 390-hectare Shanghai Disney Resort with hotels and shopping areas cost about 5.5 billion US dollars.

23)   A robot escaped from a science lab and caused a traffic jam in one Russian city, it’s reported.

Scientists at the Promobot laboratories in Perm had been teaching the machine how to move around independently, but it broke free after an engineer forgot to shut a gate, says the local edition of the Argumenty i Fakty newspaper. The robot found its way to a nearby street, covering a distance of about 50m (164ft), before its battery ran out, the daily says.

An eyewitness video posted online shows a vaguely humanoid machine standing in the middle of a busy road, guarded by a traffic policeman. It is then wheeled off by a human, presumably an engineer from the company that developed the robot.

24)   Germany’s military is facing criticism after photos emerged of young children handling firearms during an open day.

Images shared by the German Peace Society show youngsters holding a range of weapons, including an assault rifle and a sub-machine gun, Spiegel Online reports. While the guns weren’t loaded and the children appear to have been supervised, the military’s own rules say under-18s must not be allowed to handle weapons, after a similar scandal occurred in 2011, the website notes.

25)   A horde of giant spider crabs has amassed in waters near the Australian city of Melbourne.

Hundreds of thousands of the crabs migrate to Australia’s southern shores each year as ocean waters cool.

Australian aquatic scientist Sheree Marris filmed an enormous gathering of the crustaceans in Port Phillip Bay.

Ms Marris said she hoped to raise awareness of the diversity of sea life in Australia’s southern waters.

“Who would have thought something like this, that is so spectacular, could be happening in Australia on the southern shore,” she said.

結局3回のリジェクトでアプリは審査が通って公開された。バグとかでなくて、ユーザへの不正な投稿のブロックメカニズムを入れて欲しいということと、広告の場所がわからないということでのリジェクトだった。リジェクトされるとリゾリューションセンターにリジェクト理由が来たり、説明を求めたりするので、それに対してこちらからも回答する。それらは全て英語で行うのだけれどこの英語のレッスンが役立った。

今日はマスゾエさんとニホニウムの会話が面白かったよ。と最後にマイケル先生が言っていた。日本好きのマイケル先生にはニホニウムの響きがツボだったらしくて、何度もニホニウムを口にしては笑っていた。（馬鹿にされてたのか？）

1)   The body of a woman who had been missing since Wednesday in a forest in Kazuno, Akita Prefecture, was found on Friday morning. 

Police said the woman, who is believed to be 74-year-old Tsuwa Suzuki, was badly mauled most likely by a bear. However, a positive identification has yet to be made.

Fuji TV reported that Suzuki had come from Towada in neighboring Aomori Prefecture.

There have been several bear sightings recently. Three men have been killed by bears in the same area since May 21.

3)   A Lenovo smartphone unveiled Thursday will be clever enough to grasp your physical surroundings — such as the room’s size and the presence of other people — and potentially transform how we interact with e-commerce, education and gaming.

Today’s smartphones track location through GPS and cell towers, but that does little more than tell apps where you are. Tapping Google’s 3-year-old Project Tango , the new Phab2 Pro phone will use software and sensors to track motions and map building interiors, including the location of doors and windows

11)   We’re putting emphasis on individuals’ lives as the way to lead to the entire economy’s growth.

Democratic Party President Katsuya Okada, after four opposition parties signed a policy accord with an alliance of civil groups, aiming to frame the upcoming House of Councillors election as a battle between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration and civil society. (Jiji Press)

13)   Tennis star Kei Nishikori is set to represent Japan at his third straight Olympics after being picked to play at the Rio de Janeiro Games in August.

The Japan Tennis Association said on Friday it had received notification of the selection by the International Tennis Federation earlier in the day.

15)   Japan’s government task force for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo will start to collect data on temperature and humidity in and around venues next month.

Officials of the task force plan to use the data to work out measures to prevent athletes and visitors from experiencing severe summer heat and humidity.
16)   A Japanese researcher says he’s thrilled that “nihonium” has been endorsed as the name for a new atomic element discovered by his group.

Kyushu University Professor Kosuke Morita led a team at Japan’s RIKEN institute that found the element.

19)   Animal rights activists calling for an end to the slaughter and eating of dogs at a Chinese festival delivered a petition with 11 million signatures to authorities in Beijing on Friday.

The two dozen activists were accompanied by dogs and unveiled banners with pictures of the animals above the message “I’m not your dinner” as they presented the petition at the representative office of Yulin city, where the festival is held.

The annual festival, which is set to begin on June 21, sees residents of the southern city consume dog meat with thousands of dogs expected to be slaughtered.

やっぱり今日は北海道で見つかった少年の話からスタート。見つかってよかった。

1)   A boy who had been missing since Saturday was found Friday morning in a town in Hokkaido, northern Japan.

Yamato Tanooka was found at a Self-Defense Force exercise range in Shikabe Town, about 4 kilometers from the spot where he went missing 6 days ago.

When an SDF member found the boy inside a rest facility on the range, the 7-year-old said his name was Yamato. Police say his parents later confirmed his identity.

2)   Japan’s government has decided on a new growth strategy aimed at boosting the country’s gross domestic product to 600 trillion yen, or about 5.5 trillion dollars.

The strategy aims to stimulate a 4th industrial revolution by creating a new growth market making full use of artificial intelligence.

It aims for the use of self-driving vehicles on highways by 2020, and goods delivery by drones within 3 years.

The government plans to promote technology development to make better use of robots and drones for search and rescue operations in disasters.

3)   Mitsubishi Materials Corp, one of dozens of Japanese companies that used Chinese forced laborers during World War II, reached a settlement covering thousands of victims Wednesday that includes compensation and an apology.

The deal was signed in Beijing with three former workers representing the company’s more than 3,000 Chinese victims of forced labor, Mitsubishi Materials said in a statement.

4)   Groups of residents from remote mountainous areas in Japan and Taiwan plan to work together on projects to lure tourists by promoting local ghost stories, those involved on the Japanese side said.

A group in Miyoshi, Tokushima Prefecture, western Japan, and the other in Nantou County in central Taiwan signed a cross-promotion agreement in February, allowing each to sell the other’s souvenirs and attend events with their sister organization.

5)   Cafes are nice relaxing places. Cats are cute cuddly animals. Sooner or later – with hindsight it seems almost inevitable – an entrepreneur would come along, put the two together and launch a “cat cafe” boom. It happened about eight years ago, and now there are some 200 cat cafes nationwide, most of them doing a brisk business premised on the joys – innocent joys, you’d think – of interacting with cats over coffee.

Actually not so innocent, Spa! (May 31) finds. There is a dark side to the business which is not, in fact, limited to cats or cafes. The disposal each year of roughly 100,000 cats and dogs suggests too many pets being bred and sold to too many people with too little knowledge of what’s involved in raising a pet. Nor are cats the only cafe mascots – there are rabbit cafes, reptile cafes, monkey cafes, owl cafes and so on.

6)   Leaving the European Union would be an act of “economic self-harm,” British Prime Minister David Cameron said Thursday during a televised grilling that saw him challenged on the emotive topic of immigration and accused of scaremongering about the impact of quitting the 28-nation bloc.

7)  A Japanese comedian will run the marathon for Cambodia at the Olympics in Brazil this summer, an official said Thursday, a second attempt by the funnyman to go to the Games for the Southeast Asian sporting minnows.

いろいろ興味深い話をしたので細かく説明したいのに英語力が足りなくてうまく言えなくて悔しいなぁ。広島、沖縄、消費税、スリランカの話をしていたら50分過ぎてしまったので、残りは来週ということになった。^^

1)   US President Barack Obama on Friday afternoon laid a wreath at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima. He’s the first sitting US president to visit the atomic-bombed city.

2)   Presumptive US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has won more than half the delegates — enough to secure the party nomination.

3)   Japan’s health ministry has decided to conditionally approve pig cell transplants for people with diabetes.

4)    Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga says the government is aware of the seriousness of a resolution that condemns an alleged crime by a US military base worker.
5)   Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has hinted that he may postpone an increase in the consumption tax, from 8 to 10 percent, which is scheduled for next April.
6)   Taiwan’s new government says it takes no specific legal position on the status of Japan’s southernmost island, Okinotorishima. The position marks a reversal of the previous administration’s policy.
7)   World Bank President Jim Yong Kim says he intends to work together with other global organizations to step up measures against international tax evasion.