A little Island

ハリケーンイルマがフロリダに向かっているので今日はお休みだと思ったのに、普通にレッスン開始。避難する渋滞で事故とか起きているそうだ。先生は家に残って酷いようなら隣の家の地下に入れてもらうそうだ。無事を願う！

1)   South Florida is bracing for a major storm surge and powerful winds even as Hurricane Irma weakened to a Category 4 storm as it races toward the U.S. mainland.

2)   Japan’s agriculture ministry said Friday it is aiming to more than quadruple the country’s annual rice and rice product exports to 100,000 tons in 2019, ministry officials said Friday.

Domestic demand for rice has been decreasing by around 8 tons a year, necessitating the expansion of exports, according to the ministry.

3)   The Halloween season “officially” kicks off in Japan on Friday with the festivities beginning at major theme parks Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo DisneySea where parades and other events will be held until Oct 31.

Although many stores have been selling Halloween merchandise since late August, the “official” start of the Halloween season in Japan is usually considered to be when the theme parks start.

4)   Japanese wrestler-turned-lawmaker Antonio Inoki arrived in North Korea on Thursday to possibly meet with the country’s top official in charge of foreign affairs, amid deepening tensions over its nuclear and missile programs.

5)   The Japanese government on Friday approved a change to guidelines to allow local education boards to set summer holidays at different times of the year to encourage more family time in the chronically overworked country.

6)   The Tokyo Metropolitan Government plans to introduce a comprehensive indoor smoking ban in public spaces in an effort to eradicate secondhand smoking.

The proposed regulation targets all cigarettes, cigars and electric cigarettes. It would ban smoking anywhere inside medical institutions, as well as elementary and junior high schools, central and local government offices, welfare facilities for the elderly, and gymnasiums.

Indoor smoking would also be prohibited at hotels, company offices and restaurants, except in designated smoking rooms.

7)   Japan’s transport ministry says it is studying the possibility of charging tolls at 4 popular tourist spots to ease traffic congestion.

The ministry plans to survey traffic in the ancient capital of Kyoto; Kamakura, near Tokyo; Kobe, in western Japan, and the central resort of Karuizawa as early as next month.

Roads in the areas are busy on weekends and during tourist seasons, affecting local residents’ daily lives.

8)   A survey by a French institute shows that up to 70 percent of coral reefs in Japan’s southwestern prefecture of Okinawa are dead due to warm temperatures.

9)   The government of Mexico says it has given the North Korean ambassador 72 hours to leave the country.

The government on Thursday declared the ambassador, Kim Hyong Gil, persona non grata as a protest against the North’s nuclear and missile tests.

10)   China’s central bank has banned the practice of raising funds with Bitcoin and other virtual money. The measure took effect earlier this week.

The People’s Bank of China announced on Monday that the bank banned “initial coin offerings,” or ICOs as a form of unauthorized and illegal public fundraising.

The bank suspended websites providing ICO services after the announcement, linking the practice to financial fraud, pyramid schemes and other criminal activities.

11)   The new leadership of Japan’s main opposition Democratic Party will likely suffer damage from an alleged scandal involving one of its key lawmakers.

A weekly magazine reports that the party’s former policy research committee chair, Shiori Yamao, has been engaged in an extramarital affair with a lawyer.

ハービーと洪水の話。それから北の話。Warという言葉がアメリカ人から出るとなんとなく不安になる。

1)   A US ban on its citizens travelling to North Korea has come into effect, at a time of heightened tensions over North Korean missile launches.

2)   Houston’s recovery from Hurricane Harvey flooding will be a “multi-year project”, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has said.

3)   Growing concern about children eating alone has spurred a drive in Japan to offer free or low-cost meals for them at makeshift cafeterias.

Since the launch of the first such facility in Tokyo in 2012, the number of children’s diners has sharply increased to about 500.

4)   North Korea fired a missile that flew over Japan and landed in waters off the northern region of Hokkaido at around 6 a.m. on Tuesday, South Korean and Japanese officials said, marking a sharp escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula.

5)   President Donald Trump is pledging $1 million in personal money to Harvey storm relief efforts.

6)   Hundreds of people have paid tribute to the late atomic bomb survivor and peace activist Sumiteru Taniguchi.

The lifelong activist who called for the elimination of nuclear weapons died of cancer on Wednesday at the age of 88.

7)   A Japanese government body has officially recommended a method known as “dry removal” to retrieve nuclear fuel debris from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

8)   A civic group is suing Japan’s government for using an inappropriate arbitrary figure to lower the price of state-owned land sold to a school corporation in Osaka.

The state-owned land in Toyonaka City, Osaka Prefecture, was sold to Moritomo Gakuen last year for about 7.3 million dollars less than its value.

9)   Britain must use billions of pounds into new power plants, grid networks and electric vehicle charging points if it is to avoid local power shortages when a planned ban on new diesel and petrol cars begins.

10)   A conference on the future of Pacific bluefin tuna stocks has wrapped up in South Korea. The delegates from tuna fishing countries around the Pacific Rim have agreed to a Japanese proposal on managing tuna stocks, but with tougher conditions.

 

スペインのテロと戦争の話。重いな。。。脱走したカメ見つかるくらいのレベルの方が朝にはいい^^

1)   Spanish police are investigating a possible link between an incident at a Spanish seaside resort and the deadly terror attack in Barcelona.

Local media say a car hit pedestrians and injured 6 in the town of Cambrils. Police killed the 5 suspects that were in the car.

Local authorities told the media that they suspect the incident was carried out by the same group that is responsible for Thursday’s attack in Barcelona.

2)   survey conducted by Japan’s welfare ministry shows that 52 children died from abuse by their parents or others in the year ending in March of last year.

The number is up 8 from the previous fiscal year. About 80 percent, or 42, of the victims were children aged 3 or younger. Thirty were infants under one year old.
3)   A giant tortoise that went missing from a zoo in western Japan more than 2 weeks ago has been found about 100 meters from where it disappeared.

The female tortoise escaped from the Shibukawa Zoo in Tamano, Okayama Prefecture, on August 1st.
4)   Oita City in southwestern Japan has become the latest area of the country to test the benefits of driverless vehicle technology.

Local officials are trialing an autonomous microbus that could eventually be used to shuttle people around the city.
5)   Japan’s Defense Ministry has decided to consider introducing a new US-made missile defense system known as “Aegis Ashore” in light of progress in North Korea’s missile development.
The Aegis advanced radar system is designed to intercept a missile outside the atmosphere and a land-based PAC 3 system is capable of intercepting a missile entering the atmosphere.
6)    Japanese researchers say an extinct variety of otter formerly widespread across the country may still survive in southwestern Japan. The Japanese river otter was officially declared extinct in 2012.

Izawa said that a camera set up for an ecological survey of wild animals on Tsushima Island, Nagasaki Prefecture, filmed an otter in February.
7)    Japan’s Foreign Minister Taro Kono says the government will offer assistance worth about 500 million dollars to enhance the maritime security capabilities of Indo-Pacific coastal nations.
8)   US trade officials are expected to hold a special session of a joint panel meeting on a free trade agreement with South Korea next Tuesday. The US has urged the South to start renegotiations.

After talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, US President Donald Trump said the 2 countries’ current free trade deal is not necessarily good. Trump indicated willingness to renegotiate with the South to press it to further open its auto market.

9)   A Canadian woman who lost her engagement ring over a decade ago has found it in an unlikely spot. It was wrapped around a carrot growing on her family farm.

84-year-old Mary Grams lost the diamond ring 13 years ago on the farm located in Alberta. Her husband gave her the ring 66 years ago.
10)   US President Donald Trump’s latest remark on the removal of Confederate leader monuments has fueled criticism of his stance toward white supremacists.

A deadly clash last Saturday in Charlottesville, Virginia, between white supremacists and their opponents prompted removal of monuments around the country.

 

朝6時はやっぱり車が通らないから静かだなぁ。夏の間はこの時間でもいいな。

1)   North Korea has warned the United States that it will complete its plan by mid-August to fire ballistic missiles toward waters off Guam.

2)   Many parts of Japan are in the grip of a heat wave, including Tokyo where the temperature on Wednesday reached 37 degrees Celsius.

3)   Labor authorities have officially acknowledged that a Japanese doctor killed himself due to overwork. His suicide has drawn attention to the harsh working conditions of people in the medical field.

4)   The latest data shows Japan continues to depend on imported food.

Japan’s Agriculture Ministry says the food self-sufficiency rate in fiscal 2016 fell for the first time in 6 years. The rate is based on calorie intake.

5)   A Japanese government panel has begun reviewing the country’s medium-to long-term energy policy. The group of experts is focusing on what to do about nuclear power generation and on ways to promote renewables.

6)   Trial runs have started at a Tokyo airport for a range of services that employ new technologies to help elderly, disabled and foreign travelers.

One of the services allows users to get directions to bus stops, including images and multilingual maps, when they take a photo of a guide sign on their smartphones.

Another lets users ride an automated wheelchair to any destination in the airport, such as a check-in counter, as designated via smartphone.

7)   The ruling parties of Japan and China are to make proposals to help improve bilateral relations.

Executives of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito and the Chinese Communist Party will issue a set of proposals when they conclude 3 days of talks in Tokyo on Wednesday.

8)   The organizers of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in South Korea are trying to raise public interest in the games that will open in 6 months.

But public interest is low. This is partly due to the recent political turmoil that led to the impeachment of former president Park Geun-hye.

 

北の某君の話などなど。

1)    New Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa said Friday that the ministry is considering submitting a bill to lower Japan’s legal age of adulthood from 20 to 18 in the extraordinary Diet session likely be convened this fall.

2)   Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, seeking to repair his tattered approval ratings by reshuffling his cabinet, said Thursday he would focus on bread-and-butter issues such as jobs, a pledge he’s made in the past only to prioritize conservative issues such as amending the constitution.

3)   Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has indicated that he will let his party and the Diet decide the timeframe for his plan to submit a draft of constitutional amendment to the Diet. But some governing party members say Abe should not push forward the matter quickly at a time the rate of support for his cabinet is falling.

4)   Japanese business leaders have welcomed the new lineup. They say the incoming ministers have the experience to make policy, but insist much remains to be done.

Japan Business Federation Chairman Sadayuki Sakakibara told reporters that the new Cabinet needs to refocus on the economy.

He said business leaders want the new Cabinet to go back to the Abe administration’s top priorities: mounting an economic recovery and escaping deflation.

5)   North Korea has renewed its demand that the United States change its policy of hostility toward Pyongyang.

North Korea’s state-run media on Wednesday carried a statement issued by a spokesperson for the Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee. It serves as liaison between North Korea and South Korea.
6)   Japan has agreed to step up cooperation with India in developing the country’s strategically important northeastern region.

Government officials and representatives from both countries reached the agreement at a meeting in New Delhi on Thursday. It focuses on road building and other infrastructure projects.
7)   Mexico’s foreign secretary has indicated that his country could quit the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, if upcoming renegotiations on the accord end up unfavorable to Mexico.

8)   US scientists say they have successfully corrected disease-causing genes in human embryos with genome editing technology.

Researchers from the Oregon Health and Science University, collaborating with other institutes, published their work in the British science journal Nature on Wednesday. It is the first report of genome editing on human embryos outside China.

9)   US President Donald Trump’s plan to limit the number of legal immigrants is drawing rebuke not only from the Democratic Party but also from some members of his own Republican Party.

Trump on Wednesday unveiled an immigration reform bill drafted by 2 Republican senators.

He says that many green card holders with permanent resident status are low-skilled workers and are depriving American workers of jobs.

10)   Some employees at an IT company in the US state of Wisconsin are having a microchip that contains personal information implanted in their hands.

The chip allows employees to open doors and log onto computers by simply waving their hand.
Workers can also buy products from in-house stores.