A little Island

北朝鮮の女性サッカーチームの入国を許可すべきだと思うかという話で、「うーん、スポーツは政治とは別だから許可すべきかな」と言ったら、じゃあ、ISの女性サッカーチームだったらどう？と聞かれて^^それはダメと即答してしまった。

1)   North Korea says it has halted an investigation into missing Japanese nationals, including those who were abducted by the North

2)   Japan’s government says it will consider on a case-by-case basis whether to grant entry to North Korean women’s soccer team for the Olympic qualifiers in Osaka.

3)   The Japanese city of Sendai is to open a museum that preserves memories of the city as it stood before the earthquake and tsunami hit the area nearly 5 years ago.

4)   People across Japan held events and rallies on Thursday to support or oppose a national holiday honoring the country’s founding.

February 11th is Japan’s National Foundation Day. Before the end of World War Two, it was celebrated as the day the legendary first emperor ascended the throne. Critics say the holiday was used before the war to promote nationalism and militarism.

5)   Finance Minister Taro Aso says the government will respond appropriately to the rapid appreciation of the yen against the dollar.

Aso told reporters on Friday that there have been volatile moves on foreign exchange markets.

6)   Police in the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago are investigating the suspected murder of a Japanese woman musician.

Police and officials at the Japanese embassy say 30-year-old Asami Nagakiya was found dead under a tree in a park in the capital, Port of Spain, on Wednesday morning local time. They suspect Nagakiya was strangled.

7)   A Britain-based group that observes the Syrian civil war says the Islamic State militant group has been deploying local children as fighters on the front lines after a month of training.

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says about 100 children are among the roughly 450 people who completed training for new fighters last week.

今日は桜島と中東のホモの話^^）と清原の話をしていたのでトピックは二つ(1)と(5)しか読んでいない。

予約をするのをすっかり忘れてたのだけど、連絡が来て「いーよいーよ今日はフリーで」とサービスディでした。ごめん。先生。

1)   Japan and Iran have sealed a deal to promote investment by Japanese firms in the Middle Eastern nation.

2)   Japan’s Foreign Minister has agreed with South Korea’s ambassador to Japan that their countries will urge North Korea to exercise restraint over its announced launch as early as next Monday. Pyongyang calls it a satellite launch.

3)   Japan’s government is preparing to let visitors tour the State Guest House in central Tokyo throughout the year as part of its policy of promoting tourism.

Also known as the Akasaka Palace, the facility in Minato Ward has hosted numerous summits and provided lodgings to state guests. The Neo-Baroque-style building is also protected as a national treasure.

4)   Japan has about 18 million temporary and part-time workers. But many aren’t happy with their status, preferring to be full- timers.

An estimated 3.3 million staffers would like regular working status. That’s nearly 1 in 5 of all people in temporary jobs.

The government is stepping in with targets to reduce the number of these “unwilling” temps.

5)   Tokyo police say former professional baseball star Kazuhiro Kiyohara has tested positive for a stimulant drug.

The 48-year-old slugger was arrested on Tuesday for possession of an illegal drug.

The police say his urine sample tested positive.

Investigators say Kiyohara has admitted to the personal use of the drug. He is quoted as saying he injected the substance with a syringe or inhaled it with a glass pipe.

6)   Japan’s health ministry has designated the Zika virus as an infectious disease by law, and plans to require all medical institutions to report patients to the government.

7)   Executives of Japan’s major electronics firm Toshiba say they are forecasting a record loss for the year ending in March.

They say their group is likely to incur a net loss of about 6 billion dollars, considerably worse than their initial prediction of 4.6 billion dollars.

 

やっぱり今日の開口一番はマイナス金利だった。でも英語以前にマイナス金利がどう働くのかぜんぜん理解できないので、うむむ。マイケル先生はそれがアメリカ経済にどんな影響があるか気になるそう。本日一番盛り上がったのは「オボカタさんが本を出したんだよ。」と教えてあげたことだった。マイケル先生は知らなかったそうでものすごく嬉しそうに驚いていた！もちろん私は読んでないのでネットで拾った内容を話したら興味深々だった。マイケル先生は次は写真集かな？とわくわくしてた。^^

1)   The Bank of Japan has decided to adopt a negative interest rate policy, in an effort to hit its inflation target and boost the economy.

The central bank’s policymakers wrapped up a 2-day meeting on Friday.

They have decided to apply a rate of minus 0.1 percent to current accounts that financial institutions hold at the Bank.

2)   Japan’s Defense Minister Gen Nakatani has issued a command to shoot down any incoming missiles. The ministry has not made it public that he gave the order. But sources close to the ministry revealed the instruction.

3)   The resignation of a key Cabinet minister appears likely to affect how Prime Minister Shinzo Abe manages his government.

Economic Revitalization Minister Akira Amari stepped down on Thursday amid allegations of mishandling funds. He said he didn’t want the issue to affect Diet proceedings.

4)   A Japanese man who became stranded on a small yacht in the Pacific Ocean while attempting a solo voyage around the world has been rescued by Chile’s navy.

67-year-old Junichi Hamaguchi signaled to Japan’s Coast Guard on Tuesday, Japan time, that his yacht was flooded far off Chile.

In response to an emergency call from Japan, the Chilean Navy sent a helicopter and patrol ships.

5)   Japan’s transport ministry says its inspectors have found that nearly half of the chartered buses they checked were in violation of laws regulating their operations.

The spot checks came after 15 lives were lost earlier this month in the crash of a ski tour bus in central Japan.

6)   US fighter jets and stealth fighter jets have been deployed at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture, southern Japan, since Monday. Local residents strongly oppose their presence because of the noise.

Twelve F16 fighter jets arrived on Wednesday. Fourteen F22 stealth fighter jets flew to the base on Monday and Tuesday.

7)   European Union regulators have fined two major Japanese companies about 150 million dollars, or more than 137 million euros, for participating in a cartel and coordinating prices for auto parts.

The European Commission released a statement on Wednesday.

It says Mitsubishi Electric, Hitachi, and another firm, Denso, met and illegally determined prices of car engine parts between 2004 and 2010, breaching the EU’s antitrust rules.

マイケル先生はクジラとかイルカとかが好きなので、徳島のクジラが救助されてよかったと喜んでいた。YouTubeを探してもビデオが見つからなかったというので後でニュース動画のURLを教えてあげたけど日本語だからどうだったかな。

1)   American military officials say they are sending 26 fighter jets from the US mainland to the Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo. The warplanes include state-of-the-art F-22 stealth aircraft.

2)   People in a western Japanese city have saved a whale stranded in shallow water. The whale was found in Anan City, Tokushima Prefecture, at around 9 AM on Wednesday.
Police officers and residents sprinkled water on its back and tried to push the whale toward deeper water. But they were not successful. At around 1 PM, fishermen on a boat came to give a hand. They pulled the whale away with a rope.

3)   Members of 6 opposition parties stormed out of the Lower House chamber ahead of a speech by Economic Revitalization Minister Akira Amari on Friday. They are demanding that Amari offer a clear explanation about a weekly magazine report that his office received questionable money from a construction firm.

4)   A Tokyo court has opened a hearing of a damages suit against 5 former top executives of Japanese electronics maker Toshiba. The company has sued them over an accounting scandal at the firm. The company is claiming the costs of correcting financial statements following the scandal. It’s asking for damages of about 2.6 million dollars.

5)   China’s navy chief has told his US counterpart that China will not seek the militarization of the reclaimed islands in the South China Sea, but it will not stop defending them.

6)   China says it has agreed with Djibouti to build a military facility in the East African country. The facility will be China’s first military base abroad. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said on Thursday that the base will support Beijing’s anti-piracy missions off the Somali coast and be used to supply Chinese vessels.

7)   A Japanese company has developed a luxury grade of rice for export to Asia and other regions. Agricultural competitiveness is a major issue following last year’s broad agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal.

Toyo Rice buys freshly harvested rice from award-winning farmers in Nagano, Yamagata, Niigata, and Kumamoto prefectures.