Japan feeds

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yukio Edano recently revealed in a magazine interview that the prime minister for whom he holds the highest regard is Kantaro Suzuki.

A 17-year-old Japanese girl was among the eight winners of the prestigious Prix de Lausanne ballet competition in Switzerland on Saturday, the organizers said.
Madoka Sugai of Kanagawa Prefecture had the top score and was also given the contemporary dance prize.

Japan has 98 airports, and most of them are operating in the red as a result of exaggerated demand forecasts and rampant, costly and arguably pork-barrel construction projects.
The transport ministry hopes to mitigate the problem by selling off the management rights to 27 state-owned airports as soon as 2014. The ministry also plans to issue an airport reform blueprint by summer.

There has been much talk recently about whether America is ready for a Mormon president. This tolerance question should cut both ways.
Nearly a quarter of Americans told Gallup last summer that they wouldn't vote for a Mormon president, which is unfortunate since former Gov. Mitt Romney and former candidate Jon Huntsman are both smart, capable men.

Official campaigning for the mayoral election kicked off Sunday in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, where the relocation of a key U.S. Marine Corps base remained the top issue.
So far, two independents — Atsushi Sakima, 47, a former member of the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly, and former Ginowan Mayor Yoichi Iha, 60, — have filed candidacies for the Feb. 12 election to choose the successor to former Mayor Takeshi Asato, who has resigned for health reasons.

Italian investigative authorities have started investigating credit rating agencies on suspicion of manipulating markets by issuing ratings without a solid basis. The investigation appears to be retaliatory action for the agencies' downgrading of bonds of European countries.
It is reported that a search warrant in one of the cases stated that a downgrading of Italy's sovereign rating was based on "untruthful, tendentious, incoherent and unfair" assessments and data.

Citing an international trend to clamp down on risk-taking that could lead to financial disasters similar to the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers, banks will soon be required to disclose the salaries of employees who earn as much as board members do, a Financial Services Agency official said Monday.
Starting in July, banks will have to disclose how many such employees they have and their collective salaries each year, FSA Supervisory Bureau official Tsuyoshi Saito said. It "will be up to each bank" to disclose any further information, he said.

Japan is set to propose a working-level forum for auto trade issues with the United States to speed up its efforts to join negotiations on a trans-Pacific trade framework, sources said Saturday.
Tokyo will make the overture at preliminary talks related to the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, a free-trade initiative led by Washington, on Tuesday, the sources said.

The government will do its utmost to ensure that the U.S. Marines will not be using the air base in Okinawa's crowded city of Ginowan for many more years, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said Monday.
"I am aware that there are concerns over the Futenma base becoming fixed in its present form," Noda told a Diet session. "To make sure this will not happen, the government will do all it can in talks" with the United States.

A labor ministry panel has at last addressed one of the biggest problems in the Japanese workplace — power harassment. The ministry's definitions and proposals were contained in a report aimed at preventing and resolving the problem. Considering that the number of consultations about power harassment totaled a shocking 39,405 in fiscal 2010, the labor ministry's belated response is welcome.
For the first time, the labor ministry report defined power harassment, specifying it as an abuse of authority by higher ranking employees who behave in a manner that causes subordinates physical pain or emotional distress.

A senior U.S. official told Japanese officials in late January that Futenma Air Station will have to stay in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, for the time being because of the standoff over its relocation plan, sources close to bilateral relations said Sunday.
This suggests that the facility, U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, is staying in the crowded city despite a formal bilateral agreement to return the land to Japanese control once a replacement facility is built for it elsewhere in the prefecture.

The International Labor Organization last month put out a stark warning about increasingly wretched employment prospects almost everywhere in the world. It wrote: "The world must rise to the urgent challenge of creating 600 million productive jobs over the next decade".
The report was all but ignored except by the very serious press and the BBC. Perhaps it is not surprising. How did the ILO calculate such a figure? Did they count the unemployed? How can anyone count up to 600 million, especially over 10 years into the future? Is it a case of thinking of the highest number that may scare you?

What shall we make of the surprise pronouncement in President Barack Obama's State of the Union address that a belated investigation has been launched into the role of fraud in the financial crisis?
This much is clear: Despite rampant illegalities, bank fraud and countless cases of perjury, the response to date — at the federal level and from most, but not all, states — has been underwhelming, cowardly even.

Recently a friend confided over dinner that her job was "killing" her. I was surprised. She is a director of a midsize nonprofit that is doing citizen diplomacy work in the Middle East, and she has often remarked on how gratifying it is to be involved in a program that brings historical enemies face to face to share their stories.
But 2011 was a tough year for fundraisers, and my friend has been doing double duty as her understaffed organization struggles to make up the shortfall. Like many nowadays, she takes her work home with her, which has taken a toll on her personal life, health and sleep. She is thinking of leaving the nonprofit but is afraid to do so before she finds another job.

Olympus Corp. said Sunday it will hold an extraordinary shareholders' meeting on April 20 to select a new management team and replace its top executives, who will resign over an accounting scandal unraveled by former President Michael C. Woodford.
A company committee will choose the new lineup by mid-March with advice from external experts. The new crew will succeed six outgoing executives, including President Shuichi Takayama.

Inokashira Park Zoo in western Tokyo held an event Sunday to mark the 65th birthday of Hanako, Japan's oldest Asian elephant.
Visitors joined zoo staff in celebrating in front of the elephant's play area, providing a birthday treat for the pachyderm, holding quizzes on its feed, and a session in which zookeepers fielded questions from around the country.

Separation from family, being diagnosed with a serious disease, a sudden natural calamity -- life is full of bitter experiences.

The people we meet in life sometimes inspire us and, through their example, change us forever.

Hino Motors Ltd. is testing trucks that can withstand extreme cold in a bid to expand sales in the Russian market, company officials said Saturday.
Since late January, Hino Motors has been conducting testing in Magadan in Russia's Far East — where the mercury can plunge to minus 50 degrees — and is planning to launch the cold-weather trucks around 2015.

Five Chinese trainees have returned to Japan to resume their training at a Miyagi Prefecture seafood processing company whose executive officer died while helping them survive the March 11 tsunami.
They will take part in on-the-job training at Sato Suisan Co.'s plant in the town of Onagawa for up to 2½ years.