New Japan PM offers Obama help on Afghanistan
By Shingo Ito (AFP) – Sep 23, 2009
NEW YORK — Japan's new left-leaning Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Wednesday told President Barack Obama he would look for ways to support Afghanistan, holding out an olive branch in their first meeting.
Obama also sought to start his relationship with Hatoyama on the right footing, calling the half-century US alliance with Japan a "cornerstone" of US diplomacy and saying he will visit in November.
Hatoyama in the past has criticized "US-led globalism" and called for "more equal" ties between the United States and Japan, with some left-leaning members of his coalition pushing for a cut in the 47,000-strong US troop presence.
Hatoyama has said he plans to end an Indian Ocean naval refueling mission that supports the US-led military campaign in Afghanistan, one of Obama's key priorities.
While in opposition, his party briefly forced a halt to the naval mission through parliamentary maneuvers, arguing that Japan -- officially pacifist since World War II -- should not abet "American wars."
But Hatoyama told reporters after the summit that the relationship between Washington and Tokyo would be a "key pillar" of his foreign policy.
Japan "will seriously consider what we can do for the sake of Afghanistan as well as Japan and the United States" as a possible alternative to the refueling mission, Hatoyama said.
"Japan wants to make a positive contribution in the field of our specialty ... such as agricultural support or job training, which the Afghan people would be pleased to see," Hatoyama said.
Obama stopped short of responding to Hatoyama's proposal, only saying he was "grateful" for his thoughts, according to a Japanese government official.
Obama sought common ground with Hatoyama by drawing implicit comparisons between their change-fueled election races, congratulating him for running an "extraordinary campaign" and leading a "dramatic change" in Japan.
The US leader said he had "very good preliminary discussions about the critical importance of the US-Japanese alliance" in his talks with Hatoyama.
Obama agreed to visit Japan in November, Japanese officials said, possibly as part of an expected Asian tour including stops in China and at Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Singapore.
The relationship has been the "cornerstone" of security and the economic prosperity of both countries "for almost 50 years," Obama said after the meeting at New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel, near the United Nations where world leaders were meeting.
The two leaders also agreed to work together in climate change talks. "We need to resolve the issue politically," said Hatoyama, who has dramatically stepped up Japan's commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Hatoyama -- whose Democratic Party of Japan ended more than half a century of almost unbroken conservative rule in a sweeping election win last month -- is taking his first steps on the world stage.
During the meeting, the two leaders agreed to stand firm against North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programs, the Japanese government official said.
"We have to take stern action, including implementation of UN Security Council resolutions," Hatoyama told reporters.
Hatoyama's DPJ has vowed to maintain the country's hardline stance against North Korea, which is reviled by many Japanese due to its abductions of Japanese civilians in the 1970s and 1980s to train its spies.
However, Hatoyama has reached out to Asia and some lawmakers in his party have sought more emphasis on starting dialogue with the North.
"I plan to strengthen relations of trust and promote cooperation with Asian countries," Hatoyama told Obama, according to the Japanese official, adding that Obama welcomed the remarks.
During his meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao on Monday, Hatoyama proposed a plan to create a future EU-style East Asian community, which may be bound under a single currency.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Al Gore praises China, Japan climate leadership
Al Gore praises China, Japan climate leadership
(AFP) – Sep 22, 2009
UNITED NATIONS — Former US vice president and environmental activist Al Gore on Tuesday hailed China and Japan for providing global leadership in tackling climate change.
Speaking at a special UN summit on climate change, the Nobel laureate praised statements made by both Chinese President Hu Jintao and Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.
"I think that China has provided impressive leadership," Gore told reporters.
Predicting that China would take further action if global negotiations on a new treaty succeed, Gore said: "I think the glass is very much half full with China.
"It's not widely known in the rest of the world but China in each of the last two years has planted two and half times more trees than the entire rest of the world put together," he said.
Chinese President Hu Jintao said that the world's largest developing economy was ready to slow down emissions by a "notable margin." But he said emissions would be measured in terms of China's growth and did not provide a figure.
The United States has led rich nations in demanding that China and other developing nations commit to action in a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, whose requirements on rich states to cut emissions expire in 2012.
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, making his first international appearance since his center-left government took charge, confirmed to the summit that the world's second largest economy would ramp up its commitments.
He pledged that Japan would cut emissions by 25 percent by 2020 compared with the 1990 level, a goal far more ambitious than the previous government's eight percent.
Gore described Hatoyama's speech as "terrific" and said he was "encouraged by his pledge to step up assistance for developing nations.
"Japan, along with the European Union, has provided tremendous political leadership over the past decade in keeping the world on track toward progress involving the climate crisis," he said.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
(AFP) – Sep 22, 2009
UNITED NATIONS — Former US vice president and environmental activist Al Gore on Tuesday hailed China and Japan for providing global leadership in tackling climate change.
Speaking at a special UN summit on climate change, the Nobel laureate praised statements made by both Chinese President Hu Jintao and Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.
"I think that China has provided impressive leadership," Gore told reporters.
Predicting that China would take further action if global negotiations on a new treaty succeed, Gore said: "I think the glass is very much half full with China.
"It's not widely known in the rest of the world but China in each of the last two years has planted two and half times more trees than the entire rest of the world put together," he said.
Chinese President Hu Jintao said that the world's largest developing economy was ready to slow down emissions by a "notable margin." But he said emissions would be measured in terms of China's growth and did not provide a figure.
The United States has led rich nations in demanding that China and other developing nations commit to action in a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, whose requirements on rich states to cut emissions expire in 2012.
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, making his first international appearance since his center-left government took charge, confirmed to the summit that the world's second largest economy would ramp up its commitments.
He pledged that Japan would cut emissions by 25 percent by 2020 compared with the 1990 level, a goal far more ambitious than the previous government's eight percent.
Gore described Hatoyama's speech as "terrific" and said he was "encouraged by his pledge to step up assistance for developing nations.
"Japan, along with the European Union, has provided tremendous political leadership over the past decade in keeping the world on track toward progress involving the climate crisis," he said.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
Japan's new first lady in backseat diplomacy
Japan's new first lady in backseat diplomacy
AFP September 23, 2009, 7:42 am
NEW YORK (AFP) - Japan's usually cheerful and sometimes quirky new first lady, Miyuki Hatoyama, conducted some backseat diplomacy Tuesday, promoting her husband's political slogan -- fraternity -- at school.
The 66-year-old former actress accompanied her husband, Yukio Hatoyama, who was appointed prime minister last Wednesday and is making his global debut to grapple with tough agendas ranging from climate change to nuclear disarmament.
During a visit to a Japanese school in New York, Miyuki sought to overcome her eccentric image fuelled after she made headlines for saying that her soul had travelled by UFO to Venus and that she had met Tom Cruise in a past life.
"I'm afraid that the memory of September 11 still largely dwells in people's hearts in New York," Miyuki said in her speech to students. "In the end, people want peace. Peace is it. We cannot have peace with fights and anger."
Miyuki continued that "fraternity" -- a political philosophy adopted by her husband -- was an answer.
"Hatoyama is always saying, 'Let's create a society of fraternity.' He aims for that," Miyuki said. "Fraternity means sharing the happiness and sadness of others. That's the spirit of fraternity."
Miyuki, dubbed "Mrs Occult" by Time Magazine, talked about her trip to Venus in a book published last year. Her colorful remarks have been splashed across newspapers as far afield as India, Israel, Britain and the United States.
Hatoyama, 62, head of the center-left Democratic Party of Japan, was voted in by parliament two and a half weeks after his party's stunning election victory changed the country's political landscape.
AFP September 23, 2009, 7:42 am
NEW YORK (AFP) - Japan's usually cheerful and sometimes quirky new first lady, Miyuki Hatoyama, conducted some backseat diplomacy Tuesday, promoting her husband's political slogan -- fraternity -- at school.
The 66-year-old former actress accompanied her husband, Yukio Hatoyama, who was appointed prime minister last Wednesday and is making his global debut to grapple with tough agendas ranging from climate change to nuclear disarmament.
During a visit to a Japanese school in New York, Miyuki sought to overcome her eccentric image fuelled after she made headlines for saying that her soul had travelled by UFO to Venus and that she had met Tom Cruise in a past life.
"I'm afraid that the memory of September 11 still largely dwells in people's hearts in New York," Miyuki said in her speech to students. "In the end, people want peace. Peace is it. We cannot have peace with fights and anger."
Miyuki continued that "fraternity" -- a political philosophy adopted by her husband -- was an answer.
"Hatoyama is always saying, 'Let's create a society of fraternity.' He aims for that," Miyuki said. "Fraternity means sharing the happiness and sadness of others. That's the spirit of fraternity."
Miyuki, dubbed "Mrs Occult" by Time Magazine, talked about her trip to Venus in a book published last year. Her colorful remarks have been splashed across newspapers as far afield as India, Israel, Britain and the United States.
Hatoyama, 62, head of the center-left Democratic Party of Japan, was voted in by parliament two and a half weeks after his party's stunning election victory changed the country's political landscape.
Japan's new government stands by whaling
Japan's new government stands by whaling
(AFP) – Sep 22, 2009
UNITED NATIONS — Japan's new government urged Australia on Tuesday to help prevent violent attacks by activists on Japanese whalers as it stood by the country's traditional support for whaling, an official said.
Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada met his Australian counterpart Stephen Smith on the sidelines of this year's UN General Assembly.
Okada was appointed last Wednesday when Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama was sworn in at the head of his new center-left government after winning the country's elections.
The victorious Democratic Party of Japan formed a coalition government with two small parties under Hatoyama, ending half a century of almost uninterrupted rule by the country's conservative Liberal Democratic Party.
"During the meeting, our minister called for Australia's cooperation against groups like Sea Shepherd (Conservation Society), which resort to violent action," a Japanese foreign ministry official said.
Smith stopped short of replying to the request, only saying Australia wants to resolve the dispute through dialogue to avoid straining relations.
"Our minister did not clearly state that the new Japanese government supports whaling, but I understand that his remarks were quite in line with the stance held by our previous cabinet on the subject," the official said.
Anti-whaling nations led by Australia and New Zealand, as well as environmental groups, have attacked Japan for its annual whaling expeditions, including in Antarctic waters, criticizing them as cruel and unnecessary.
Japan hunts whales by using a loophole in the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling that allows whales to be killed for "lethal research," and Tokyo often accuses western critics of insensitivity toward its culture.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
(AFP) – Sep 22, 2009
UNITED NATIONS — Japan's new government urged Australia on Tuesday to help prevent violent attacks by activists on Japanese whalers as it stood by the country's traditional support for whaling, an official said.
Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada met his Australian counterpart Stephen Smith on the sidelines of this year's UN General Assembly.
Okada was appointed last Wednesday when Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama was sworn in at the head of his new center-left government after winning the country's elections.
The victorious Democratic Party of Japan formed a coalition government with two small parties under Hatoyama, ending half a century of almost uninterrupted rule by the country's conservative Liberal Democratic Party.
"During the meeting, our minister called for Australia's cooperation against groups like Sea Shepherd (Conservation Society), which resort to violent action," a Japanese foreign ministry official said.
Smith stopped short of replying to the request, only saying Australia wants to resolve the dispute through dialogue to avoid straining relations.
"Our minister did not clearly state that the new Japanese government supports whaling, but I understand that his remarks were quite in line with the stance held by our previous cabinet on the subject," the official said.
Anti-whaling nations led by Australia and New Zealand, as well as environmental groups, have attacked Japan for its annual whaling expeditions, including in Antarctic waters, criticizing them as cruel and unnecessary.
Japan hunts whales by using a loophole in the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling that allows whales to be killed for "lethal research," and Tokyo often accuses western critics of insensitivity toward its culture.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
NKorea's moves 'untrustworthy': Japan envoy
N Korea's moves 'untrustworthy': Japan envoy
(AFP) – Sep 7, 2009
TOKYO — Japan's top negotiator on North Korea said on Monday that Pyongyang's recent diplomatic overtures were "untrustworthy" in light of its ongoing nuclear weapons development.
North Korea has shown "small displays of diplomacy and moves to build peace," Akitaka Saiki told reporters after meeting his US counterpart Stephen Bosworth.
But its refusal to commit to the denuclearisation process "makes its diplomatic efforts untrustworthy", he added.
North Korea announced on Friday that it had reached the final stages of enriching uranium, a second way of making nuclear bombs, and was also building more plutonium-based atomic weapons.
"This kind of unilateral nuclear development is a cause for worry. We are making efforts to stop North Korea's provocative attitude towards the international community," Saiki, a career diplomat, said.
The North has recently struck a more conciliatory note after months of tension, freeing two US journalists, sending envoys to talks in Seoul and showing willingness for direct contact with Washington on the nuclear standoff.
But Saiki said he had been assured by Bosworth that there were "absolutely no prospects of (bilateral) US-North Korean talks in the near term."
The North has been pushing for direct talks with the United States since its April move to quit the six-nation process grouping the two Koreas, the US, Japan, Russia and China in protest at the UN censure of a rocket launch.
Bosworth, who was in Japan after visiting Beijing and Seoul, has said that talks would only take place between the United States and North Korea within the six-party framework.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
(AFP) – Sep 7, 2009
TOKYO — Japan's top negotiator on North Korea said on Monday that Pyongyang's recent diplomatic overtures were "untrustworthy" in light of its ongoing nuclear weapons development.
North Korea has shown "small displays of diplomacy and moves to build peace," Akitaka Saiki told reporters after meeting his US counterpart Stephen Bosworth.
But its refusal to commit to the denuclearisation process "makes its diplomatic efforts untrustworthy", he added.
North Korea announced on Friday that it had reached the final stages of enriching uranium, a second way of making nuclear bombs, and was also building more plutonium-based atomic weapons.
"This kind of unilateral nuclear development is a cause for worry. We are making efforts to stop North Korea's provocative attitude towards the international community," Saiki, a career diplomat, said.
The North has recently struck a more conciliatory note after months of tension, freeing two US journalists, sending envoys to talks in Seoul and showing willingness for direct contact with Washington on the nuclear standoff.
But Saiki said he had been assured by Bosworth that there were "absolutely no prospects of (bilateral) US-North Korean talks in the near term."
The North has been pushing for direct talks with the United States since its April move to quit the six-nation process grouping the two Koreas, the US, Japan, Russia and China in protest at the UN censure of a rocket launch.
Bosworth, who was in Japan after visiting Beijing and Seoul, has said that talks would only take place between the United States and North Korea within the six-party framework.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
Japan's next PM vows tough greenhouse gas cuts
Japan's next PM vows tough greenhouse gas cuts
(AFP) – Sep 6, 2009
TOKYO — Japan's next prime minister Yukio Hatoyama delighted environmental activists but worried business leaders on Monday by vowing to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020.
"We welcome new prime minister Hatoyama's courage," said World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Japan office chief Takamasa Higuchi in a statement, praising Hatoyama who is set to take office on September 16.
The new target is far more ambitious than the eight-percent reduction advocated by the outgoing conservative government of Prime Minister Taro Aso, which lost parliamentary elections on August 30.
"It is hard to believe," Nippon Oil Corp. chairman Fumiaki Watari said of Hatoyama's plan.
"I want to ascertain his intention," he told reporters while visiting Beijing with a delegation of Japanese business leaders, the Jiji Press news agency reported.
"It is nothing but preposterous," Kobe Steel advisor Koushi Mizukoshi said, according to the news agency. "It will undoubtedly run counter to national interests. It will become impossible to conduct manufacturing activities at home."
Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, told Kyodo News that the new target "will be an encouragement for other countries to show a greater level of ambition."
The WWF's Higuchi said Japan until now "lacked an ambitious attitude because it was largely influenced by an industrial sector that is backward-looking in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions."
Greenpeace also called the new target "a major step forward."
"This is the first sign of climate leadership we have seen out of any developed country for quite some time -- the type of leadership we need to see from President (Barack) Obama," said Martin Kaiser of Greenpeace International.
Kaiser also said the target still fell short of a 40 percent cut by 2020 required from industrialised countries as a group and warned that it needed to be a domestic target, rather than achieved through international offsets.
Outgoing premier Aso's business-friendly government was criticised for bowing to pressure from Japanese manufacturers who have pushed for a new reduction target of no more than six percent.
The head of the WWF Global Climate Initiative, Kim Carstensen, said Japan's new higher goal "will be a big force in moving one step forward the stalled talks between developed and developing countries."
Hatoyama, who heads the centre-left Democratic Party of Japan, said Tokyo would ask other major greenhouse gas emitters to also set tough targets on emissions blamed for raising global temperatures.
Japan, the world's second largest economy, will formally present its goal at international talks in Copenhagen in December aimed at agreeing a follow-up treaty to the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012.
On the Net:
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change: http://unfccc.int/2860.php
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
(AFP) – Sep 6, 2009
TOKYO — Japan's next prime minister Yukio Hatoyama delighted environmental activists but worried business leaders on Monday by vowing to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020.
"We welcome new prime minister Hatoyama's courage," said World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Japan office chief Takamasa Higuchi in a statement, praising Hatoyama who is set to take office on September 16.
The new target is far more ambitious than the eight-percent reduction advocated by the outgoing conservative government of Prime Minister Taro Aso, which lost parliamentary elections on August 30.
"It is hard to believe," Nippon Oil Corp. chairman Fumiaki Watari said of Hatoyama's plan.
"I want to ascertain his intention," he told reporters while visiting Beijing with a delegation of Japanese business leaders, the Jiji Press news agency reported.
"It is nothing but preposterous," Kobe Steel advisor Koushi Mizukoshi said, according to the news agency. "It will undoubtedly run counter to national interests. It will become impossible to conduct manufacturing activities at home."
Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, told Kyodo News that the new target "will be an encouragement for other countries to show a greater level of ambition."
The WWF's Higuchi said Japan until now "lacked an ambitious attitude because it was largely influenced by an industrial sector that is backward-looking in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions."
Greenpeace also called the new target "a major step forward."
"This is the first sign of climate leadership we have seen out of any developed country for quite some time -- the type of leadership we need to see from President (Barack) Obama," said Martin Kaiser of Greenpeace International.
Kaiser also said the target still fell short of a 40 percent cut by 2020 required from industrialised countries as a group and warned that it needed to be a domestic target, rather than achieved through international offsets.
Outgoing premier Aso's business-friendly government was criticised for bowing to pressure from Japanese manufacturers who have pushed for a new reduction target of no more than six percent.
The head of the WWF Global Climate Initiative, Kim Carstensen, said Japan's new higher goal "will be a big force in moving one step forward the stalled talks between developed and developing countries."
Hatoyama, who heads the centre-left Democratic Party of Japan, said Tokyo would ask other major greenhouse gas emitters to also set tough targets on emissions blamed for raising global temperatures.
Japan, the world's second largest economy, will formally present its goal at international talks in Copenhagen in December aimed at agreeing a follow-up treaty to the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012.
On the Net:
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change: http://unfccc.int/2860.php
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
Okada to become Japan's new foreign minister: reports
Okada to become Japan's new foreign minister: reports
(AFP) – Sep 4, 2009
TOKYO — Katsuya Okada, a senior figure in the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), is to be appointed the nation's new foreign minister, newspapers reported on Saturday.
Japan's next prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, has "decided in principle" on the appointment, which will be announced on September 16 when he takes office, the Mainichi Shimbun said, quoting sources close to Hatoyama.
Okada, the secretary-general of the party, has personal connections with influential figures in the United States and is also known as an advocate for Asian-oriented diplomacy.
News reports also said DPJ senior adviser Hirohisa Fujii is a likely candidate for the finance minister post, while former health minister Naoto Kan may be tapped for the head of the newly-formed National Strategy Bureau.
Hatoyama's DPJ claimed a landslide win in last weekend's general election, ending more than half a century of almost unbroken rule by outgoing Prime Minister Taro Aso's Liberal Democratic Party.
The 56-year-old Okada has said Japan must get out from underneath the United States after years in the shadow of its major ally and must reach out more to its Asian neighbours.
"It will be the age of Asia, and in that context it is important for Japan to have its own stance, to play its role in the region," Okada said in an interview with AFP last month.
He is the second son of Takuya Okada, who remains honorary chairman of one of Japan's two leading supermarket operators, Aeon. He joined the trade ministry in 1976 after graduating in law from the prestigious University of Tokyo.
Okada, who also studied at Harvard University, was first elected to parliament representing Aso's LDP in 1990 but bolted for the new opposition party in 1993, when Japan saw its first non-LDP ruling coalition in 38 years.
Okada, dubbed the prince of the DPJ, was elected head of the party in 2004 but forced to step down following a massive defeat in the 2005 general election.
One of his more peculiar hobbies is collecting items that depict frogs. But there is a serious political point -- "frog" in Japanese is a homonym for "change" -- the slogan used by the DPJ during last month's election campaign.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
(AFP) – Sep 4, 2009
TOKYO — Katsuya Okada, a senior figure in the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), is to be appointed the nation's new foreign minister, newspapers reported on Saturday.
Japan's next prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, has "decided in principle" on the appointment, which will be announced on September 16 when he takes office, the Mainichi Shimbun said, quoting sources close to Hatoyama.
Okada, the secretary-general of the party, has personal connections with influential figures in the United States and is also known as an advocate for Asian-oriented diplomacy.
News reports also said DPJ senior adviser Hirohisa Fujii is a likely candidate for the finance minister post, while former health minister Naoto Kan may be tapped for the head of the newly-formed National Strategy Bureau.
Hatoyama's DPJ claimed a landslide win in last weekend's general election, ending more than half a century of almost unbroken rule by outgoing Prime Minister Taro Aso's Liberal Democratic Party.
The 56-year-old Okada has said Japan must get out from underneath the United States after years in the shadow of its major ally and must reach out more to its Asian neighbours.
"It will be the age of Asia, and in that context it is important for Japan to have its own stance, to play its role in the region," Okada said in an interview with AFP last month.
He is the second son of Takuya Okada, who remains honorary chairman of one of Japan's two leading supermarket operators, Aeon. He joined the trade ministry in 1976 after graduating in law from the prestigious University of Tokyo.
Okada, who also studied at Harvard University, was first elected to parliament representing Aso's LDP in 1990 but bolted for the new opposition party in 1993, when Japan saw its first non-LDP ruling coalition in 38 years.
Okada, dubbed the prince of the DPJ, was elected head of the party in 2004 but forced to step down following a massive defeat in the 2005 general election.
One of his more peculiar hobbies is collecting items that depict frogs. But there is a serious political point -- "frog" in Japanese is a homonym for "change" -- the slogan used by the DPJ during last month's election campaign.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
Japan's next PM a softie at home, says wife
Japan's next PM a softie at home, says wife
(AFP) – Aug 31, 2009
TOKYO — Japan's next prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, likes to wash dishes, enjoys animal movies and is secretly addicted to shrimp crackers, according to his wife Miyuki, a newspaper said on Monday.
Hatoyama, who heads the Democratic Party of Japan, which won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections on Sunday, is "a natural person," Miyuki told the Mainichi newspaper.
"Hatoyama is often described as an 'alien,' but he is truly an ordinary person, a natural person," she was quoted as saying.
"He shows love without restraint, and in that sense he may appear to be an alien because he is unlike a Japanese," she added. Hatoyama has been nicknamed 'the alien' by his party in a gentle stab at his physical appearance.
The scion of a powerful political dynasty and one of Japan's richest lawmakers, the 62-year-old Stanford-trained engineer generally appears straight-faced in public, with a few exceptional smiles after Sunday's vote.
Miyuki painted a warm picture of her husband in private.
"I like to cook, but he goes to the kitchen after breakfast and dinner saying, 'I feel bad letting you do the dishes after having you cook'," Miyuki, a former actress-turned-lifestyle-guru told the paper.
Miyuki said the couple never discussed politics at home and that, instead, she gave him foot rubs after a hard day's campaigning.
"On holidays, we go to the supermarket together and he appears to have fun pushing the cart around. He likes shrimp crackers, but knowing that I will scold him, he secretly slips a couple of bags into the cart," she said.
Among his other hobbies, Hatoyama enjoys watching movies in which the protagonists are animals or have sweet plots such as Hayao Miyazaki's animation classic "Princess Mononoke," she said.
"I am a fan of action movies, and he tells me, 'Why do you like such violent movies?' But he still watches them with me," she added.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
(AFP) – Aug 31, 2009
TOKYO — Japan's next prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, likes to wash dishes, enjoys animal movies and is secretly addicted to shrimp crackers, according to his wife Miyuki, a newspaper said on Monday.
Hatoyama, who heads the Democratic Party of Japan, which won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections on Sunday, is "a natural person," Miyuki told the Mainichi newspaper.
"Hatoyama is often described as an 'alien,' but he is truly an ordinary person, a natural person," she was quoted as saying.
"He shows love without restraint, and in that sense he may appear to be an alien because he is unlike a Japanese," she added. Hatoyama has been nicknamed 'the alien' by his party in a gentle stab at his physical appearance.
The scion of a powerful political dynasty and one of Japan's richest lawmakers, the 62-year-old Stanford-trained engineer generally appears straight-faced in public, with a few exceptional smiles after Sunday's vote.
Miyuki painted a warm picture of her husband in private.
"I like to cook, but he goes to the kitchen after breakfast and dinner saying, 'I feel bad letting you do the dishes after having you cook'," Miyuki, a former actress-turned-lifestyle-guru told the paper.
Miyuki said the couple never discussed politics at home and that, instead, she gave him foot rubs after a hard day's campaigning.
"On holidays, we go to the supermarket together and he appears to have fun pushing the cart around. He likes shrimp crackers, but knowing that I will scold him, he secretly slips a couple of bags into the cart," she said.
Among his other hobbies, Hatoyama enjoys watching movies in which the protagonists are animals or have sweet plots such as Hayao Miyazaki's animation classic "Princess Mononoke," she said.
"I am a fan of action movies, and he tells me, 'Why do you like such violent movies?' But he still watches them with me," she added.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
Tensions brewing between Japan Inc. and new govt
Tensions brewing between Japan Inc. and new govt
Sep-3-09 1:00pm
From: afp.com
Fresh from a landslide election win, Japan's next government faces signs of an emerging rift with big business, which fears some of its policies could hinder a recovery in the recession-hit economy.
Premier-in-waiting Yukio Hatoyama has vowed to put the interests of people before those of corporate Japan. In a recent essay he criticised "unrestrained market fundamentalism and financial capitalism that are void of morals."
His Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) has irked major manufacturers with a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020.
The ambitious target compares with an eight-percent cut promised by the pro-business Liberal Democratic Party, which was swept from power in a landmark election Sunday after governing Japan almost continuously since 1955.
The head of the top business lobby, Nippon Keidanren, has called on the DPJ to review its emission reduction target, telling Japanese media on Thursday that it may be unrealistic and "a burden to the people."
The lobby's head Fujio Mitarai -- chairman of high-tech giant Canon Inc. -- urged the DPJ to consider the "effects on jobs" of the sweeping plan.
Japanese companies have long argued that tighter emission rules would hurt their ability to compete with global rivals, and the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association has also spoken out against the plan.
"We are concerned about its feasibility given its impact on economic activities, effect on employment and significant burden on the Japanese people," said Honda Motor chairman Satoshi Aoki, who heads the association.
The Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan has described the target as "very tough" and asked the party to be more realistic.
Another bone of contention is the DPJ's proposal to curb the use of temporary workers, who have borne the brunt of jobs cuts by companies struggling to cope with the worst recession in decades.
The party's allies in the labour unions have accused Japanese companies of being too quick to fire contract workers, who played a key role keeping Japan's plants and factories running before the economic crisis erupted.
After decades of cosy ties between the LDP and big business, Hatoyama's DPJ has pledged to shift the focus to households with measures including cash allowances for families, an increased minimum wage, and petrol tax cuts.
Rather than raising taxes, the opposition proposes funding its measures by cutting wasteful government spending.
The DPJ has decided to freeze the unspent portion of the extra budget drawn up by the LDP for this fiscal year and divert the money to its own welfare programmes, the Yomiuri newspaper reported in its evening edition.
Analysts believe the DPJ's proposed measures, worth a combined 16.8 trillion yen (177 billion yen) a year from 2012, could boost consumer spending -- for long a weak link in the economy.
But some are worried that the party is abandoning free-market reforms they see as vital in order to tackle the massive public debt and boost productivity to cope with an ageing and shrinking population.
"The DPJ has failed to point to any clear policies related to job creation, industrial promotion, population problems, deregulation, policy finance methods and fiscal consolidation," said Barclays Capital economist Kyohei Morita.
"This makes it difficult to see how the Japanese economy will develop over the long term."
Experts say, however, that corporate Japan could benefit from assistance from the incoming government in areas such as electric cars and energy-efficient appliances.
The DPJ plan is likely to require individual firms to cut emission, but could also create new opportunities for companies with environmental technologies, said Yoko Monoe, an analyst at the Daiwa Institute of Research.
Sep-3-09 1:00pm
From: afp.com
Fresh from a landslide election win, Japan's next government faces signs of an emerging rift with big business, which fears some of its policies could hinder a recovery in the recession-hit economy.
Premier-in-waiting Yukio Hatoyama has vowed to put the interests of people before those of corporate Japan. In a recent essay he criticised "unrestrained market fundamentalism and financial capitalism that are void of morals."
His Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) has irked major manufacturers with a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020.
The ambitious target compares with an eight-percent cut promised by the pro-business Liberal Democratic Party, which was swept from power in a landmark election Sunday after governing Japan almost continuously since 1955.
The head of the top business lobby, Nippon Keidanren, has called on the DPJ to review its emission reduction target, telling Japanese media on Thursday that it may be unrealistic and "a burden to the people."
The lobby's head Fujio Mitarai -- chairman of high-tech giant Canon Inc. -- urged the DPJ to consider the "effects on jobs" of the sweeping plan.
Japanese companies have long argued that tighter emission rules would hurt their ability to compete with global rivals, and the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association has also spoken out against the plan.
"We are concerned about its feasibility given its impact on economic activities, effect on employment and significant burden on the Japanese people," said Honda Motor chairman Satoshi Aoki, who heads the association.
The Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan has described the target as "very tough" and asked the party to be more realistic.
Another bone of contention is the DPJ's proposal to curb the use of temporary workers, who have borne the brunt of jobs cuts by companies struggling to cope with the worst recession in decades.
The party's allies in the labour unions have accused Japanese companies of being too quick to fire contract workers, who played a key role keeping Japan's plants and factories running before the economic crisis erupted.
After decades of cosy ties between the LDP and big business, Hatoyama's DPJ has pledged to shift the focus to households with measures including cash allowances for families, an increased minimum wage, and petrol tax cuts.
Rather than raising taxes, the opposition proposes funding its measures by cutting wasteful government spending.
The DPJ has decided to freeze the unspent portion of the extra budget drawn up by the LDP for this fiscal year and divert the money to its own welfare programmes, the Yomiuri newspaper reported in its evening edition.
Analysts believe the DPJ's proposed measures, worth a combined 16.8 trillion yen (177 billion yen) a year from 2012, could boost consumer spending -- for long a weak link in the economy.
But some are worried that the party is abandoning free-market reforms they see as vital in order to tackle the massive public debt and boost productivity to cope with an ageing and shrinking population.
"The DPJ has failed to point to any clear policies related to job creation, industrial promotion, population problems, deregulation, policy finance methods and fiscal consolidation," said Barclays Capital economist Kyohei Morita.
"This makes it difficult to see how the Japanese economy will develop over the long term."
Experts say, however, that corporate Japan could benefit from assistance from the incoming government in areas such as electric cars and energy-efficient appliances.
The DPJ plan is likely to require individual firms to cut emission, but could also create new opportunities for companies with environmental technologies, said Yoko Monoe, an analyst at the Daiwa Institute of Research.
Rising poverty looms large in Japan's election
Rising poverty looms large in Japan's election
By Harumi Ozawa (AFP) – Aug 22, 2009
KITAKYUSHU, Japan — Tomoshi Okuda is a man of faith, not politics. But the Japanese pastor has seen enough new faces on his nightly rounds feeding the homeless to persuade him that something needs to change.
He's not the only one eager for a fresh start. With unemployment rising in the wake of the worst recession in decades, voters appear to be deserting Prime Minister Taro Aso's long-ruling party ahead of an August 30 election.
It's a far cry from the 2005 lower house vote when premier Junichiro Koizumi won by a landslide on a platform of harsh economic reforms. These days many people blame his measures for a growing rich-poor divide.
"I'm watching who will offer the most drastic change to the course of Koizumi's structural reform," Okuda told AFP during his rounds on a rainy evening in Kitakyushu, an industrial city in southwest Japan.
The 45-year-old Baptist pastor hands out bananas and rice meals to people sleeping on the streets, including one 68-year-old woman sheltering from the downpour on a flattened cardboard box in a shopping arcade.
"I want to start working again, but I can't with my broken leg," she said.
Thousands of workers have been laid off in the local area, home to plants run by major firms including Nissan, Toshiba and Canon -- which have all been hit hard by slumping exports and Japan's worst post-war recession.
"In April alone, we saw 69 new faces on the street, three times more than in the same month last year. One young man, only 29, was a temporary worker at a Nissan auto parts factory who was laid off in December," Okuda said.
"Another 27-year-old man lived homeless with his wife, 24, and a four-year-old girl. Her apparently pink shoes were black with dust."
Some people are even believed to have starved to death after being refused welfare benefits. In the latest case here, a 39-year-old man was reportedly found dead with nine yen (9.5 US cents) in his wallet and an unposted note saying "help."
Across the country almost 230,000 temporary workers have lost their jobs since the recession began last year, pushing the jobless rate up to a six-year high of 5.4 percent -- within striking distance of its post-war peak.
Although Japan's economy rebounded in the second quarter of 2009, there has been little sign of a bounce in the polls for Aso, whose Liberal Democratic Party has ruled almost uninterrupted for more than half a century.
"Voters are totally fed up with the one-party LDP rule. Nobody believes in it any more and people are really desperately wanting to see a change," said Noriko Hama, a professor of economics at Doshisha Business School in Kyoto.
The LDP and the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) have both pledged to roll back some of Koizumi's reforms, which were aimed at slimming down the public sector and reducing the huge national debt.
Aso has pledged to break away from "excessive market capitalism," while the DPJ wants to boost spending on child support, education, healthcare and employment measures, and restrict the use of temporary job contracts.
The DPJ's agenda mirrors US President Barack Obama's efforts to increase public spending to boost the economy and medical care, said Yoshinobu Yamamoto, professor of politics at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo.
"What the DPJ is trying to do seems similar to the old style of government intervention in the economy," he said.
Japan once took great pride in having an egalitarian society and life-time employment following its rise from the ashes of World War II.
But many people now fear for the future and are relying on handouts or working longer to make ends meet. The number of households on welfare benefits hit a record high of 1.2 million in April, according to the most recent data.
"The LDP and (its coalition partner) New Komeito have been in government for too long, and look what happened. Things are not good," said 66-year-old Tokyo resident Shigeo Utsumi, who wants to work but cannot find a good job.
"It's probably a good idea to let the DPJ take over, at least once. We're heading for disaster if nothing changes."
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved
By Harumi Ozawa (AFP) – Aug 22, 2009
KITAKYUSHU, Japan — Tomoshi Okuda is a man of faith, not politics. But the Japanese pastor has seen enough new faces on his nightly rounds feeding the homeless to persuade him that something needs to change.
He's not the only one eager for a fresh start. With unemployment rising in the wake of the worst recession in decades, voters appear to be deserting Prime Minister Taro Aso's long-ruling party ahead of an August 30 election.
It's a far cry from the 2005 lower house vote when premier Junichiro Koizumi won by a landslide on a platform of harsh economic reforms. These days many people blame his measures for a growing rich-poor divide.
"I'm watching who will offer the most drastic change to the course of Koizumi's structural reform," Okuda told AFP during his rounds on a rainy evening in Kitakyushu, an industrial city in southwest Japan.
The 45-year-old Baptist pastor hands out bananas and rice meals to people sleeping on the streets, including one 68-year-old woman sheltering from the downpour on a flattened cardboard box in a shopping arcade.
"I want to start working again, but I can't with my broken leg," she said.
Thousands of workers have been laid off in the local area, home to plants run by major firms including Nissan, Toshiba and Canon -- which have all been hit hard by slumping exports and Japan's worst post-war recession.
"In April alone, we saw 69 new faces on the street, three times more than in the same month last year. One young man, only 29, was a temporary worker at a Nissan auto parts factory who was laid off in December," Okuda said.
"Another 27-year-old man lived homeless with his wife, 24, and a four-year-old girl. Her apparently pink shoes were black with dust."
Some people are even believed to have starved to death after being refused welfare benefits. In the latest case here, a 39-year-old man was reportedly found dead with nine yen (9.5 US cents) in his wallet and an unposted note saying "help."
Across the country almost 230,000 temporary workers have lost their jobs since the recession began last year, pushing the jobless rate up to a six-year high of 5.4 percent -- within striking distance of its post-war peak.
Although Japan's economy rebounded in the second quarter of 2009, there has been little sign of a bounce in the polls for Aso, whose Liberal Democratic Party has ruled almost uninterrupted for more than half a century.
"Voters are totally fed up with the one-party LDP rule. Nobody believes in it any more and people are really desperately wanting to see a change," said Noriko Hama, a professor of economics at Doshisha Business School in Kyoto.
The LDP and the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) have both pledged to roll back some of Koizumi's reforms, which were aimed at slimming down the public sector and reducing the huge national debt.
Aso has pledged to break away from "excessive market capitalism," while the DPJ wants to boost spending on child support, education, healthcare and employment measures, and restrict the use of temporary job contracts.
The DPJ's agenda mirrors US President Barack Obama's efforts to increase public spending to boost the economy and medical care, said Yoshinobu Yamamoto, professor of politics at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo.
"What the DPJ is trying to do seems similar to the old style of government intervention in the economy," he said.
Japan once took great pride in having an egalitarian society and life-time employment following its rise from the ashes of World War II.
But many people now fear for the future and are relying on handouts or working longer to make ends meet. The number of households on welfare benefits hit a record high of 1.2 million in April, according to the most recent data.
"The LDP and (its coalition partner) New Komeito have been in government for too long, and look what happened. Things are not good," said 66-year-old Tokyo resident Shigeo Utsumi, who wants to work but cannot find a good job.
"It's probably a good idea to let the DPJ take over, at least once. We're heading for disaster if nothing changes."
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved
Japan to use deep-sea probes to search for minerals
Japan to use deep-sea probes to search for minerals
(AFP) – Aug 6, 2009
TOKYO — Japan plans to deploy unmanned probes to scour the sea-floor around the resource-poor island nation for mineral deposits, a government-backed scientific organisation said Thursday.
Two underwater robots tethered to a ship would explore the seabed for rare metals, said an official of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), which is set to start the project in fiscal year 2010.
Researchers hope to discover minerals such as manganese, cobalt, lead and zinc used in Japanese products from cars to the batteries in IT gadgets.
JAMSTEC, a government-linked agency that specialises in environmental research and marine technology, plans to invest four billion yen (42.55 million dollars) in the probes, the official said.
The move comes as Japan, the world's second-biggest economy, tries to break away from its dependence on foreign imports of raw materials and energy.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is trying to secure stable supplies of rare metals amid growing demand from emerging economies that has sparked worries over a supply crunch.
"It is extremely important to ensure stable supplies of rare metals from the standpoint of maintaining and strengthening the competitiveness of Japan's manufacturing industry," the ministry said in a strategy published last week.
It is important for Japan to "strengthen the technology it holds for securing natural resources," it added.
Experts say deep-sea mining, especially near mineral-belching hydrothermal vents on the sea-floor, will become feasible despite huge technical challenges and expenses, as certain minerals become more scarce worldwide.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
(AFP) – Aug 6, 2009
TOKYO — Japan plans to deploy unmanned probes to scour the sea-floor around the resource-poor island nation for mineral deposits, a government-backed scientific organisation said Thursday.
Two underwater robots tethered to a ship would explore the seabed for rare metals, said an official of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), which is set to start the project in fiscal year 2010.
Researchers hope to discover minerals such as manganese, cobalt, lead and zinc used in Japanese products from cars to the batteries in IT gadgets.
JAMSTEC, a government-linked agency that specialises in environmental research and marine technology, plans to invest four billion yen (42.55 million dollars) in the probes, the official said.
The move comes as Japan, the world's second-biggest economy, tries to break away from its dependence on foreign imports of raw materials and energy.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is trying to secure stable supplies of rare metals amid growing demand from emerging economies that has sparked worries over a supply crunch.
"It is extremely important to ensure stable supplies of rare metals from the standpoint of maintaining and strengthening the competitiveness of Japan's manufacturing industry," the ministry said in a strategy published last week.
It is important for Japan to "strengthen the technology it holds for securing natural resources," it added.
Experts say deep-sea mining, especially near mineral-belching hydrothermal vents on the sea-floor, will become feasible despite huge technical challenges and expenses, as certain minerals become more scarce worldwide.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
How to Find a Spouse, Japanese-Style
How to Find a Spouse, Japanese-Style
The Trend of Konkatsu, or Marriage Hunting, Is a Departure for Japanese People
By MARGARET CONLEY
TOKYO, Aug. 7, 2009 —
Smartly dressed young Japanese professionals casually converse in a dimly lit bar at what appears to be any other hotspot in Tokyo.
But between sips of sake, the stakes are high. These singles are here for konkatsu, or marriage hunting.
This latest mainstream trend of actually seeking a spouse is a departure for tradition-driven Japan and from the era of office ladies and arranged marriage.
Today, with more Japanese women holding careers after the equal employment opportunity act was passed in 1986, government statistics show marriage rates are on the decline and the marrying age is rising.
"Until the 1980s, we had this system of arranged marriage, or meeting people through work," says Masahiro Yamada, who coined the phrase konkatsu with co-author Tohko Shirakawa. "So there was a system working for a lot of people. So you didn't really have to make an effort. You didn't have to be that active to meet someone."
The word "konkatsu" is a spinoff of the term "job hunting." As their best-selling book "Konkatsu Jidai, or The Era of Marriage Hunting," flew off shelves last year, the concept has become a socially acceptable trend.
Businesses Cash In
Businesses in this economic recession are cashing in.
Since changing his publicity plan at his bar, Green, from a singles bar to a members-only konkatsu bar, manager Yuta Honda says business is up 400 percent.
"In this downturn economy," Honda says from his bar in the city's Roppongi district, "if you just go after money, you will not succeed. You have to give customers some kind of value or benefit."
In the nearby neighborhood of Shibuya, a "konkatsu cooking class" offers the benefit of expertise in the kitchen -- or, perhaps, the chance to meet a potential spouse.
Participants pay about $60 to mingle in a small group at a private residence. There they partake in an intimate cooking lesson, chopping up vegetables and sampling sauces side by side.
After preparing their meal, they eat together as a group and see if any of the sizzle from the kitchen transfers to the residence dining room.
Kunio Saragai, a 32-year-old systems engineer, tells ABC News he's at the class because "he's not a good cook and wants to learn," but he also joined for konkatsu. He says he hopes to ask out one of the women he met that night. Yamada, also a sociology professor at Chuo University in Tokyo, has observed differences between singles culture in the East and West. He says singles in Japan are too comfortably passive.
"They wait for somebody to find you, or to talk to you, or to approach you," he says. "It's not how Americans act. Too many people are waiting."
Speaking in broad terms, he attributes some of the laid-back mentality to a group he calls "parasite singles." It is another popular buzz word and refers to adults who enjoy a carefree lifestyle by living with their parents, or as his name suggests, feeding off of them. "In Japan, there are many people in their 30s and 40s who live with their parents. They have company so they don't really feel lonely," Yamada explains. "They don't feel the urgency, that's why they are waiting. They wait for somebody perfect to come to their life. That also has to change."
Konkatsu Becomes a Craze
The konkatsu craze has spread throughout Japan, with venues searching for clever ways to play modern-day matchmaker -- from bars and cooking classes, to baseball stadiums and even shrines.
Imado shrine in Tokyo offers a prayer service and tea party for singles.
"This is a shrine known for marriage and many men and women seeking a good match come here," priest Tomoe Ichino tells Reuters.
Relying on divine intervention and actively looking, however, doesn't always provide answers.
"Now given this economy," says Teruko Katsuragi, a konkatsu bar patron, "not every man is guaranteed with lifetime employment, so there may be a gap between what men can offer and what women want."
While getting married may still be prevalent in Japanese society, Yamada concedes that he came up with the idea of konkatsu to simply help people get together.
"It's only natural that people want to meet somebody and want to love and also want to be loved," he says, "and when that happens, they don't necessarily have to get married."
Noriko Namiki contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures
The Trend of Konkatsu, or Marriage Hunting, Is a Departure for Japanese People
By MARGARET CONLEY
TOKYO, Aug. 7, 2009 —
Smartly dressed young Japanese professionals casually converse in a dimly lit bar at what appears to be any other hotspot in Tokyo.
But between sips of sake, the stakes are high. These singles are here for konkatsu, or marriage hunting.
This latest mainstream trend of actually seeking a spouse is a departure for tradition-driven Japan and from the era of office ladies and arranged marriage.
Today, with more Japanese women holding careers after the equal employment opportunity act was passed in 1986, government statistics show marriage rates are on the decline and the marrying age is rising.
"Until the 1980s, we had this system of arranged marriage, or meeting people through work," says Masahiro Yamada, who coined the phrase konkatsu with co-author Tohko Shirakawa. "So there was a system working for a lot of people. So you didn't really have to make an effort. You didn't have to be that active to meet someone."
The word "konkatsu" is a spinoff of the term "job hunting." As their best-selling book "Konkatsu Jidai, or The Era of Marriage Hunting," flew off shelves last year, the concept has become a socially acceptable trend.
Businesses Cash In
Businesses in this economic recession are cashing in.
Since changing his publicity plan at his bar, Green, from a singles bar to a members-only konkatsu bar, manager Yuta Honda says business is up 400 percent.
"In this downturn economy," Honda says from his bar in the city's Roppongi district, "if you just go after money, you will not succeed. You have to give customers some kind of value or benefit."
In the nearby neighborhood of Shibuya, a "konkatsu cooking class" offers the benefit of expertise in the kitchen -- or, perhaps, the chance to meet a potential spouse.
Participants pay about $60 to mingle in a small group at a private residence. There they partake in an intimate cooking lesson, chopping up vegetables and sampling sauces side by side.
After preparing their meal, they eat together as a group and see if any of the sizzle from the kitchen transfers to the residence dining room.
Kunio Saragai, a 32-year-old systems engineer, tells ABC News he's at the class because "he's not a good cook and wants to learn," but he also joined for konkatsu. He says he hopes to ask out one of the women he met that night. Yamada, also a sociology professor at Chuo University in Tokyo, has observed differences between singles culture in the East and West. He says singles in Japan are too comfortably passive.
"They wait for somebody to find you, or to talk to you, or to approach you," he says. "It's not how Americans act. Too many people are waiting."
Speaking in broad terms, he attributes some of the laid-back mentality to a group he calls "parasite singles." It is another popular buzz word and refers to adults who enjoy a carefree lifestyle by living with their parents, or as his name suggests, feeding off of them. "In Japan, there are many people in their 30s and 40s who live with their parents. They have company so they don't really feel lonely," Yamada explains. "They don't feel the urgency, that's why they are waiting. They wait for somebody perfect to come to their life. That also has to change."
Konkatsu Becomes a Craze
The konkatsu craze has spread throughout Japan, with venues searching for clever ways to play modern-day matchmaker -- from bars and cooking classes, to baseball stadiums and even shrines.
Imado shrine in Tokyo offers a prayer service and tea party for singles.
"This is a shrine known for marriage and many men and women seeking a good match come here," priest Tomoe Ichino tells Reuters.
Relying on divine intervention and actively looking, however, doesn't always provide answers.
"Now given this economy," says Teruko Katsuragi, a konkatsu bar patron, "not every man is guaranteed with lifetime employment, so there may be a gap between what men can offer and what women want."
While getting married may still be prevalent in Japanese society, Yamada concedes that he came up with the idea of konkatsu to simply help people get together.
"It's only natural that people want to meet somebody and want to love and also want to be loved," he says, "and when that happens, they don't necessarily have to get married."
Noriko Namiki contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures
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