A little Island

日本の少子化問題がメインかな。後大谷選手の話。もりかけ問題も少し。まだシリア攻撃前だった。

1)   Agriculture Minister Ken Saito says a document related to a controversial project to open a veterinary school in Ehime Prefecture has been found in his ministry.

The document outlines exchanges that took place when Ehime officials and representatives of the school’s operator visited the prime minister’s office 3 years ago to discuss opening the school.

The document includes Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s then secretary Tadao Yanase’s description of the project as “a matter related to the prime minister.”

2)   A Japanese government survey shows the country’s population continues to shrink and age.

The internal affairs ministry said on Friday that the total population, including foreign residents, was 126.7 million on October 1st last year.

That’s a fall of 227,000 from the previous year, for a 7th straight year of decline.

3)   A 19-year-old police officer accused of murdering his colleague in western Japan has reportedly said that he fired his gun without hesitation.

Police in Shiga Prefecture arrested the officer on Thursday for fatally shooting the 41-year-old sergeant in Hikone City the previous day.

4)   French President Emmanuel Macron says he has proof that the Syrian government attacked a town near Damascus with chemical weapons last weekend.

Macron said France has “proof that last week chemical weapons were used, at least chlorine, and that they were used by Bashar al-Assad’s regime.” Macron did not describe the evidence or say how France got it.

US President Donald Trump tweeted earlier that Russia needed to get ready. His post indicated that missiles would be coming.

5)   Japan’s Major League Baseball newcomer Shohei Ohtani is already having a big impact for the Los Angeles Angels.

In the 6th inning, Ohtani was intentionally walked and, in his next at-bat, he hit the ball to right-center, for a three-run triple, capping a 5 run, 7th inning.

6)   US President Donald Trump has welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping’s speech signaling that he wants to further open up China’s economy to other countries.

Trump tweeted on Tuesday that he is “very thankful for President Xi of China’s kind words on tariffs and automobile barriers.”

Trump was referring to Xi’s indication on Tuesday that China will step up efforts to open its markets. Xi said the measures will include major cuts in tariffs on automobiles.

7)   Japan is facing a serious labor shortage with a shrinking working population. The government has come up with a plan to address the problem by allowing certain non-Japanese to come and work in the country.

The newly proposed status would allow foreigners with certain skills to work in the country for up to 5 years. Those who have completed internships would be eligible on the condition they do not bring their families to Japan.

8)   Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has revealed that he is one of the 87 million people whose personal data was leaked. He has again stated the need for regulation of the social media industry.

Zuckerberg faced a second day of congressional testimony at a House committee in Washington on Wednesday. He gave about 5 hours of testimony.

9)   The Japanese government on Friday greeted with cautious optimism the news that U.S. President Donald Trump is willing to explore re-entering the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, while stressing that Washington should accept the original terms.

10)   Hundreds of Japanese police searched on Thursday for a convicted thief who escaped from prison and was believed to be on a small island with abundant hide-outs – about 1,000 houses made vacant by an aging and shrinking population.

Tatsuma Hirao, 27, has been at large since Sunday, when he fled from a low-security prison in Ehime Prefecture while serving a 5 ½ year sentence for theft.

11)   A California technology billionaire said on Thursday that his longtime effort to partition the Golden State into multiple new states could soon be put before voters.

The plan would divide the state into Northern California, Southern California and California. Los Angeles, home to the state’s storied movie industry, would remain in the new California, but farmland and forested areas, along with San Francisco and the Silicon Valley technology hub, would be separated into the two other states.

12)

今日は相撲での女性の人命救助のことを最初に聞かれた。土俵になぜ女性が入っちゃいけないのかとか今後それは変わっていくと思うかとか。

1)   Japan’s household spending suffered the biggest annual decline in nearly a year in February as inflation-adjusted wages continued to fall, data showed on Friday, suggesting the economy’s longest run of growth since the 1980s asset bubble has peaked

2)   Police arrested two acquaintances of conservative commentator Susumu Nishibe late Thursday for allegedly helping the 78-year-old in his suicide preparations in January.

3)   A South Korean court jailed former President Park Geun-hye for 24 years on Friday over a scandal that exposed webs of corruption between political leaders and the country’s conglomerates.

4)   Some fans of professional baseball team the Chunichi Dragons have been caught on video chanting “Let the atomic bomb drop” on the Hiroshima Carp, Dragons officials said Thursday.

In the 20-second footage uploaded to YouTube, believed to have been taken during a game last weekend at Mazda Stadium in the city of Hiroshima, several men can be heard chanting, “Go for it. Die. Let the atomic bomb drop (on the) Carp.” Hiroshima was devastated by the first U.S. atomic bombing in 1945.

5)   The Japan Sumo Association chairman has apologized after women who were trying to save the life of the mayor, who suddenly collapsed during a sumo event here on April 4, were ordered to leave the dohyo.

Traditionally, women are barred from entering the sumo ring.

6)   Police said Thursday they noted 68 cases of illegal drone flights in 2017, almost double the previous year’s 36.

Japan’s aviation law bans drone flights in airspace around airports and above densely populated areas. Drones are restricted to flying in daylight hours and need to be monitored at all times.

7)   In an unprecedented move, the Olympic torch will visit three prefectures in the disaster-hit Tohoku region before starting its relay in Okinawa Prefecture, Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics sources said April 5.

The sacred flame, which will be brought from Greece, is to be lit during the three events in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures before being moved to the southernmost prefecture to start the relay in late March, the sources said.

8)   Shohei Ohtani, a two-way baseball star from Japan, hit his first major league homerun at his Los Angeles Angels’ home stadium in Anaheim.

It was the first inning. Ohtani came to the plate as designated hitter against the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday.

9)   US President Donald Trump has signed a presidential memorandum to deploy the National Guard along the border with Mexico.

Trump signed the memo on Wednesday as part of measures to tighten control of illegal immigrants.

10)   Facebook officials are responding to revelations that a major privacy breach went deeper than first thought. They have instructed engineers to remove a search function that could be used to expose personal details.

11)

もうアメリカ国民はアメリカが世界の警察でいることにうんざりしてるそうだ。トランプさんの品格にはやれやれと思っているけれど、発言や政策は多くのアメリカ人がずっと思っていたのと同じなのだそうだ。

1)   The education ministry is taking more action after learning that 32 female students at public high schools dropped out due to pregnancy or childbirth after being advised to do so in fiscal 2015 and 2016.

In some cases, schools urged them to drop out despite the fact that students were willing to continue their education or take a leave of absence. There is a concern that some may have ended up leaving school against their will.

2)   Five cryptocurrency exchanges have withdrawn their applications to be licensed in Japan, saying they can’t meet the government’s requirements.

The Financial Services Agency said Thursday that two exchanges, Tokyo GateWay and Mr. Exchange, recently told the government they no longer want to apply for licenses. Three other exchanges: Raimu, bitExpress and Bit Station, dropped out earlier.

3)   U.S. President Donald Trump insisted Thursday that U.S. forces would pull out of Syria “very soon” and lamented what he said was Washington’s waste of $7 trillion in Middle East wars.

4)   Sumo elder Takanohana, who was faulted for his absence from the most recent Spring Grand Sumo Tournament and lack of supervision of a wrestler from his stable, was handed a two-rank demotion by the Japan Sumo Association on Thursday.

5)   The organizer of Japan’s famed Awa Odori festival collapsed, as a court said Thursday it decided to begin bankruptcy proceedings.

6)   Russia expelled 60 U.S. diplomats on Thursday and announced it would eject scores from other countries that have joined London and Washington in censuring Moscow over the poisoning of a spy.

7)   Japan’s education ministry has completed the screening of moral education textbooks to be used in junior high schools. Textbooks published by 8 companies passed the screening and they all take up the issue of bullying.

Moral education is currently an extracurricular activity.
It will become a subject in the regular curriculum for junior high schools from April 2019.

8)   A 5-day work week is something many people take for granted. But that’s often not the case for construction workers in Japan. Now, government officials promoting labor reforms are looking to change that.

Japan’s infrastructure ministry will lengthen the timeframe for construction on public works projects.
Officials say workers currently have a hard time taking days off due to tight build schedules. They note that this also leads to labor shortages and increased accidents.

9)   Chinese state-run media reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met President Xi Jinping in Beijing. This was Kim’s first official overseas trip since he took power in 2012.

10)   One year from today, Britain’s membership in the European Union will come to an end. British people opted to leave the bloc in a referendum in June 2016.
But the future outlook for the UK and the European Union remains unclear.

The 2 sides have reached a basic agreement on the terms of Britain’s withdrawal, which includes Britain’s financial settlement with the bloc, and ensuring the rights of EU citizens living in the country after Brexit.

11)   Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai is back in her home country of Pakistan.
It’s her first visit since she was shot by the Pakistani Taliban more than 5 years ago.

The 20-year-old university student was greeted by a heavy security presence when she landed in Pakistan.
She’s using her trip to urge people in the country to join her campaign for girls’ education and women’s rights.

12)   US electric car maker Tesla is recalling 123,000 of its “Model S” vehicles to replace power steering bolts.

In an announcement on Thursday, Tesla cited “excessive corrosion” in the power steering bolts of cars built before April 2016.

13)   Japan’s finance minister has apologized for saying newspapers think a document-falsifying scandal involving his ministry is more important than the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal.

Taro Aso made the apology at a meeting of an Upper House committee on Friday, amid mounting criticism that he takes the scandal lightly.

14)   Japanese government officials are discussing what regulations are needed to ensure that self-driving vehicles are safe to put on the road.

Officials expect such vehicles to be on highways and in other places by 2020, the year of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. They say guidelines on what equipment the cars need must be decided by the middle of this year.

15)   Trump Claims Amazon Doesn’t Pay Taxes and is Abusing US Postal System

16)   A top Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official pushed back Friday on reports that frontline border agents do not support President Trump’s border wall, telling reporters that “walls work” and that “agents know it.”

17)

先週土曜日の英会話は先生が体調不良のためお休み。珍しい。余程のことだったのだろう。今週は無事復活。よかった。

1)   The ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Thursday decided to pursue a constitutional amendment plan proposed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to recognize Japan’s defense forces in the war-renouncing Article 9, despite objections from some of its lawmakers.

2)   President Donald Trump spelled out in new detail several steps he favors to fight a U.S. epidemic of opioid abuse, including the execution of drug dealers, a proposal that has gained little support from drug abuse and judicial experts.

3)   The government spent about 90 percent of its “secret funds” under a category that requires no receipts and lets the chief Cabinet secretary decide where the money goes, a civic group said March 20.

The government’s so-called secret funds may have been used to buy souvenirs, gauge public opinion ahead of elections and even further enrich royal family members overseas, according to people once in charge of the money.

4)   A key figure in the Moritomo land sale scandal that is rocking Japan’s Diet has reportedly confirmed that he kept the prime minister’s wife informed about the deal.

5)   Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will have lunch with former US President Barack Obama in Tokyo on Sunday.

Obama is due to arrive on Saturday for a 2-day visit to attend an international conference in Tokyo sponsored by a private organization. This will be his first visit to Japan since he left office in January of last year.

6)   Thirteen men and women, who were unable to leave a mountain trail in western Tokyo due to heavy snow, have been found after an overnight search.

All 13 are said to be conscious, but one person was seriously injured in a fall. Authorities say 6 of the climbers were able to walk by themselves. They were taken to a hospital. Police say the remaining 7 were rescued by helicopter and then taken to a hospital.

7)   North Korea’s state media says momentum toward change is emerging in the country’s relations with the United States.

The Korean Central News Agency on Tuesday carried a commentary on the North’s prospective talks with the US and South Korea.

It says measures led by North Korea have created an atmosphere of reconciliation between the 2 Koreas, as well as a momentum toward change in North Korea-US relations.

8)   Rising Japanese tennis star, Naomi Osaka, has defeated 23-time Grand Slam champion, Serena Williams, in the first round of the Miami Open.

Osaka is coming off her first career title at Indian Wells on Sunday. Williams returned to the court earlier this month after maternity leave.

9)   Thousands of rebels have reportedly pulled out of Syria’s Eastern Ghouta, which is under siege by troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

Government troops began bombarding the area, near the capital Damascus, last month. It has been a stronghold of 3 rebel groups.

10)   One of Japan’s biggest solar power plants has gone into operation near Tokyo. What makes it different is that it is on the reservoir of a dam.

More than 50,000 solar panels cover about 18 hectares of a lake behind a dam in Chiba Prefecture.

The operator claims it’s the biggest solar power plant on water in Japan.
Annual output is projected at more than 16 million kilowatt hours. That’s equivalent to the power consumed by about 5,000 households in one year.

11)   Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has admitted that “mistakes” were made in the company’s handling of user data. He pledged to step up measures to protect personal information.

Verified Facebook pages of Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX and electric carmaker Tesla Inc disappeared on Friday,

12)   China’s commerce ministry says it’s preparing to take countermeasures to the US tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

It will target 128 US products including dry fruit, wine and stainless-steel pipes. Those imports were worth about 3 billion dollars last year.

13)   The European Union is proposing to tax IT giants based on their revenues instead of their profits.

The European Commission unveiled its proposals on Wednesday, seeking fair solutions to the digital activity tax.

Under the plan, EU member countries will be able to tax companies that do business within the bloc, even if they are not physically present there.

14)   Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has declared a ruling on a white-hot issue, announcing that hot dogs are indeed sandwiches.

The octogenarian made her decision on the “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” on March 21.

15)   The Communist Party of China announced this week a consolidation of state-run media, part of a broader push by President Xi Jinping to tighten supervision over broad swaths of Chinese public life, or what he calls “unity in thought” among officials and citizens.

Movies, television, books and radio programs will now be under the direct control of the Communist Party. The announcement comes weeks after China voted to end a two-term limit on the presidency.

 

トランプ大統領が北の人と会談するんだねぇ。良い方に向かうかなぁ。と言ったら、Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched. だそう。

1)   White House officials confirm US President Donald Trump accepts the idea of meeting with North Korea’s leader by May.

Trump is tweeting “great progress” is being made.

South Korean delegates made the initial announcement at the White House after they hand-delivered a letter from Kim Jong Un to Trump.

2)   A group of researchers in the United States has found that fake news on Twitter spreads faster and farther than the truth.

The researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology looked at more than 4.5 million tweets on true and false news stories distributed between 2006 and 2017. They published the results in the journal Science

3)   Women around the world took to the streets on International Women’s Day on Thursday, demanding equal rights.

In the Spanish capital of Madrid, women marchers held pots and spoons, demanding equal pay with men and an end to domestic violence. They said housekeeping and childrearing are not only women’s work.

4)   Britain’s top counter terrorism officer says a nerve agent was used on two people who were found unconscious on the weekend.

Mark Rowley of London Metropolitan Police said, “This is being treated as a major incident involving attempted murder by administration of a nerve agent. As you know, these two people remain critically ill in hospital. ”

5)   A finance ministry official who was involved in the sale of state-owned land to a school operator has died.

Investigative sources say the official from the ministry’s local branch in western Japan was found hanging in his residence in Kobe City on Wednesday. He later died. Police say he left what appears to be a suicide note at his home.

6)  NHK has learned that the head of the National Tax Agency intends to step down after coming under fire for his answers to questions in the Diet over the sale of state-owned land to a school operator.

7)   The mayor of Nagasaki has sent a letter to Barack Obama asking the former US president to visit the atomic-bombed city during his planned trip to Japan.

Obama is arranging a visit in late March at the invitation of a private organization.

8)   Criticism is spreading over a footage showing an orangutan puffing on a cigarette in a zoo in Indonesia.

The video was taken on Sunday and posted online by a visitor to the zoo in Bandung.

The footage shows the orangutan puffing on a half-smoked cigarette which was thrown into the animal’s enclosure by another visitor.

9)   Major Asian nations reacted sharply on Friday to U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, warning of damage to relations amid industry calls for retaliation.

Japan said the move would have a “big impact” on the countries’ close bilateral ties, while China said it was “resolutely opposed” to the decision and South Korea said it may file a complaint to the World Trade Organization.

10)   Trade ministers of 11 countries will sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership on Thursday.

The group does not include the world’s biggest economy, as Trump pulled the US out of the free-trade deal soon after he was elected president.

The ministers will adopt a statement before putting their signatures on the agreement in Santiago, Chile.