あれこれあってあっという間に一月経ってしまった。また頑張ろう。
1) Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga has dismissed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s remarks on the possible return of 2 of the 4 Russian-held islands at the center of a long-running territorial dispute.
2) A group from the main governing Liberal Democratic Party has suggested that Japan should start developing its next fighter jet within 2 years. It calls on the government to consider taking the initiative in the expected multilateral development of such an aircraft.
3) Foreign media have reported Japan’s cybersecurity minister’s admission that he doesn’t use computers.
Yoshitaka Sakurada made the admission during questioning by an opposition lawmaker at a Lower House committee meeting on Wednesday. Sakurada is also the minister in charge of preparing for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.
4) A memorial for Momoko Sakura, a famous Japanese manga artist, has been held in Tokyo.
Sakura’s most popular animated cartoon, Chibi Maruko-chan, has been aired on Japanese TV since 1990. The show also has been broadcast in 60 countries and territories around the world. She died of breast cancer at the age of 53 in August.
5) A Japanese national research institute will import strains of Ebola and four other deadly viruses to improve detection processes amid a rise in the number of foreign visitors to the country.
The National Institute of Infectious Diseases plans to bring the pathogens to a facility in the western suburbs to Tokyo ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but will not push forward without local support, a health ministry official said.
6) Women in Tokyo are most in favor of having single-sex carriages on public transport, according to a poll in five of the world’s biggest commuter cities released on Thursday, despite such policies facing growing criticism.
A Thomson Reuters Foundation survey of 1,000 female travelers in Tokyo, London, New York City, Cairo and Mexico City found less than half supported women-only sections on trains and buses to boost safety.
7) esting by AAA shows that electronic driver assist systems on the road today may not keep vehicles in their lanes or spot stationary objects in time to avoid a crash.
The tests brought a warning from the auto club that drivers shouldn’t think that the systems make their vehicles self-driving, and that they should always be ready to take control.
AAA also said that use of the word “pilot” by automakers in naming their systems can make some owners believe the vehicles can drive themselves.
8) A US judge has ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to reinstate the White House press pass of a CNN reporter.
A federal district court in Washington handed down the ruling on Friday.
9) Seven more bodies have been recovered in wildfires in the US state of California, raising the total number of fatalities to 66.
Firefighters continue to battle the blazes a week after they broke out in the northern town of Paradise and in southern Ventura County, near Los Angeles.
10) Japan Coast Guard officials have confirmed that this year there have been 105 incidents in which wooden boats, presumably from the Korean Peninsula, have washed ashore, or have been found drifting in Japanese waters.
The officials say the number of such cases exceeded last year’s figure of 104 as of Thursday, making 105 the highest since the recordkeeping began in 2013.
11) Authorities say a pro football fan charged with drunken driving after a crash told police he drank too much because his favorite team isn’t any good.
Wayne police say 57-year-old Christopher Greyshock, of West Milford, was charged after he rear-ended another vehicle about 5:15 p.m. Sunday. The crash came about an hour after his team, the New York Jets, lost 41-10 to the Buffalo Bills.
12) A British fisherman had to be rescued from a cliff face after fleeing an aggressive colony of more than 50 gray seals and their young pups, the coast guard said Monday.
The fisherman was walking on a beach Friday near Green Stane cliff in southeastern Scotland when he came across the seals, who became agitated and aggressive. He climbed up a cliff face to escape but became trapped before reaching the top and had to call for emergency aid Friday night.
13) A Goodwill worker collecting clothes and other items at a Texas sorting center was surprised to find an albino python.
The python was in a pile of clothes when the worker discovered it Thursday at the center in Fort Worth.