Japan takes hand washing to new level

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

Japan takes hand washing to new level

In Japan, every day is hand-scrubbing, mask-wearing day. But the nation got into the spirit of Global Hand Washing Day anyway with a special dance, DVDs, posters and pamphlets.

By Catherine Makino

October 16, 2009

Reporting from Tokyo

There was a special dance created by a well-known choreographer, as well as DVDs, special posters and pamphlets. Masks and a "cough etiquette" campaign are already ubiquitous. As is lots and lots of soap.

Thursday was proclaimed the second annual Global Hand Washing Day, and the U.N. agency that promotes child welfare sought to deliver the message that this simple measure is the most effective way to prevent many deadly diseases, including H1N1 influenza, commonly known as swine flu. Every year, 8.8 million children younger than 5 die of preventable illnesses worldwide.

Making that point in Japan, in the words of one expert, is like shipping coal to Newcastle.

The United Nations says more than 80 countries held events to promote the importance of hand washing. None probably needed the reminder less than Japan, where every day is hand-scrubbing, mask-wearing day. But many Japanese got into the spirit anyway.

Well-known choreographer Kaiji Moriyama composed a hand-washing dance especially for the day and performed it in an oversized sky-blue shirt adorned with white droplets, presumably of soapy water. Hiro Masa of Japan's U.N. Children's Fund committee said Moriyama went to a kindergarten and performed the dance with children.

"We posted the hand-washing dance movie on our Web, YouTube, handed out DVDs, posters and pamphlets to schools, kindergartens and people across the country," Masa said.

"Many children in the world do not have access to safe water or the habit or means to wash their hands properly," he said. "We want to tell the Japanese public, and in particular children, about the situation."

With the current flu concerns, cleanliness has become an even more serious issue here.

The H1N1 virus is spreading in Japan, and many schools have closed. There were at least 240,000 cases in the country from Sept. 22 to Sept. 27, according to the Infectious Disease Surveillance Center.

Hiroshi Shoji, an English-language instructor in Saitama prefecture near Tokyo, said children usually wash their hands and gargle in the winter, but now it is many times a day -- and after every activity.

"Students in this area must wash their hands, gargle and spray hands with alcohol upon entering school," he said. "Any time of the day, students are free to gargle, wash their hands and spray their hands with alcohol. They are allowed to wear masks if they want to."

Yushi Yamada, a Tokyo fourth-grader, is learning the Japanese way early in life. He said he washes his hands four times a day, excluding the times after using the toilet.

"I know it's very important," he said.

But one mother at an elementary school said the school had alcohol hand gel. Some children licked it off their hands and became drunk.

Shoji's wife, Sandra, an instructor at Tokyo International University, complained that restrooms at many universities have only cold water because of a lack of money, and students don't seem particularly focused on washing.

"But teachers have become cautious and are like 'Monk,' " she said, referring to the TV show about an obsessive-compulsive investigator. "We use handkerchiefs to open doors. We use wipes after touching computers or students' papers. More teachers are having students send homework by e-mail or a university e-group. That way, teachers don't have to touch lots of germy papers."

The caution has applied to Japanese workers as well. Notices about H1N1 prevention -- washing your hands and wearing a mask if you are sick -- are displayed in many office buildings.

The government even launched a "cough etiquette" campaign telling people to cover their mouths with a tissue and turn away from others. Used tissues must be thrown away as soon as possible.

The problem is, Japan is so tidy that public trash cans can be hard to find.

Makino is a special correspondent.

Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times

Love and light at Hara Museum

Friday, Oct. 16, 2009

Love and light at Hara Museum

By ANDREW MAERKLE
Special to The Japan Times

In 1979, when he founded the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art in his grandfather's former residence in Tokyo's Shinagawa district, Toshio Hara was driven by the vision of creating one of Japan's first institutions dedicated to living artists. At the time there were precious few other venues for contemporary art and government support was minimal.

Speaking with the Japan Times recently, Hara reflected: "When I was planning the museum, contemporary art was so uncommon, and in a certain sense unpopular, that there were no guarantees people would actually appreciate it. There was no organizational support or encouragement. Many of my friends thought I was crazy."

Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, the Hara Museum — housed in a distinctive Bauhaus-style building designed by architect Jin Watanabe that was built in 1938 — is now both a figurative and literal landmark in the country's art landscape.

Over the years, the Hara has emerged as a taste-making institution, organizing tightly-focused solo exhibitions for an eclectic mix of artists ranging from Sophie Calle and Nobuyoshi Araki to Pipilotti Rist and Tabaimo.

Working with limited space, the Hara's curators have also overseen permanent installations such as Tatsuo Miyajima's arrangement of LED displays with blinking numbers in a hidden, semicircular enclosure near the building's central stairwell and Yoshitomo Nara's recreation of his studio environment, including drawings and paintings scattered among empty bottles and CD cases, in a garret at the far end of the second floor.

And while the designs of recent museums such as the publicly funded Museum of Contemporary Art or the corporately funded Mori Art Museum, founded in 1995 and 2003, respectively, have tended to favor cavernous exhibition halls, the Hara presents art at an intimate, human scale.

Bordered on its near side by a shaded garden, the ground level arcs around a central lawn on its opposite side, while the upper level is an orderly progression of rectangular rooms. This combination of dynamism and form often creates a synergy with the works on display, as exemplified by Scottish artist Jim Lambie's installation this January of black-and-white curvilinear tape patterns over the building's parquet floors.

Hara says that from its inception, the museum philosophy has remained constant.

"More than simply maintaining a collection or organizing exhibitions, the museum is about getting to know artists and having a kind of spiritual exchange," he explained. "Inevitably that will result in artworks, permanent pieces, exhibitions — but all of that is just a means to express the exchange."

He admits that, given the relative lack of organized patronage of the arts in Japan, there has always been an underlying uncertainty about the sustainability of his museum. However, seeking to pursue more ambitious projects, in 1988 Hara founded an annex, Hara Museum ARC, in the mountains of Shibukawa, Gunma Prefecture, about two hours' journey by train from Tokyo.

Although ARC has largely been used for rotating exhibitions of work from the museum collection, the past year has seen a succession of modest developments there. For the annex's 20th anniversary, Hara commissioned architect Arata Isozaki, who designed ARC's original facilities, to add an extension dedicated to his great-grandfather's Edo Period art collection, which previously had been kept in storage.

In September of this year, Hara installed a new outdoor sculpture by French artist Jean-Michel Othoniel in front of the ARC entrance. Entitled "Kokoro," the work is made of large, red glass bulbs threaded together into the looping outline of a heart shape.

And on Oct. 10, Hara presided over the inauguration of a site-specific work by Olafur Eliasson, the Danish-Icelandic artist best known for monumental projects combining art, architecture, design and science to explore humanity's relationship to the natural elements. Entitled "Sunspace for Shibukawa," Eliasson's contribution is a stainless steel, four-meter high cupola that sits with futuristic aplomb on a sloping field overlooking the valley below.

Crowning the cupola roof is a parabolic row of 13 prisms in circular encasements. The prisms are positioned corresponding to the movement of the Earth around the sun over the course of a year, from Summer Solstice to Equinox and Winter Solstice. On clear days, the sun casts linear rainbow patterns onto the cupola's concave interior; every two weeks, those patterns converge to form a circular rainbow that lasts for approximately 10 minutes. Completing the work, Eliasson has plotted a curving pathway through the field that mimics the Earth's orbit around the sun.

Part avant-garde sculpture and part quixotic observatory, "Sunspace" evokes an elaborate drawing machine as the play of light sketches calligraphic arabesques onto the wall. When the sky is overcast, the buckled interior becomes an impassive white bulb, but visual stimulation cedes to an unexpected soundscape amplified by the architecture: rustling paper, parched lips, steady breathing.

In public remarks at the inauguration, Eliasson described "Sunspace" as a way to visualize time and relativity, noting that, "It does require a little bit of patience but the fact that you can see the actual color move if you spend 10 or 15 minutes in there is something very valuable because what you see is not the moving light, but [in fact] the rotation of the Earth as it travels around the sun."

He discussed the work as a meditation on Newtonian mathematics and the impact modern science has had on contemporary societies, but added that in it there is also, "Something irrational, and that I say would be the way you approach the piece, what you think, how you experience it — I think there is something unpredictable in that."

At the inauguration, Hara seemed especially pleased. He first began discussing a commissioned work with Eliasson in 2004, and along the way from proposition to completion, the artist had a solo exhibition at the Hara Museum that opened in November 2005.

Both Hara and Eliasson considered "Sunspace" testimony to Hara's determination to pursue his vision of contemporary art against all odds. Concluding his remarks with a self-deprecating acknowledgment of the challenges involved in realizing "Sunspace," Eliasson said, "I think that Mr. Hara shows that the irrationality of art or intuition also deserves a platform in our society. Something that is not so easy to verbalize or to explain can have a highly relevant position in the world that we live in, and if you think about it there's not so many people who actually show that kind of commitment to this idea."

Hara told the Japan Times: "Even now I don't know how long the museum can continue. My conviction comes from an immediate feeling, not reasoning. Basically I'm doing this because it makes me happy. If it ever makes me unhappy, I would probably stop immediately."

"Kokoro" by Jean-Michel Othoniel and "Sunspace for Shibukawa" by Olafur Eliasson are permanent installations at the Hara Museum ARC, which is showing "Selections from the Hara Museum Collection: What's interesting about Japanese contemporary art?" till Nov. 23; admission ¥1,000; open 9:30 a.m - 4:30 p.m. For more information visit www. haramuseum.of.jp/generalTop.html

Afghanistan, SOFA agreement unlikely to cause difficulties on Obama's Japan visit

Afghanistan, SOFA agreement unlikely to cause difficulties on Obama's Japan visit

www.chinaview.cn 2009-10-15 17:10:00

by Richard Smart

TOKYO, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- When Nobel Peace Prize-winning U.S. President Barack Obama visits Japan on Nov. 12 and 13, two items that are likely to be high on the agenda are Japan's future role in Afghanistan and what to do about the U.S. military Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) in Okinawa.

While these issues are likely to garner great media attention, however, it is likely that either Obama or Japan's Prime Minister Yukiuo Hatoyama will allow them to harm the relationship between the two countries.

"I think these sorts of issues get hashed out lower down and the (two nations) are not ready to do that yet. I think it is in the U.S. interest to take another look at the (SOFA) agreement, but I don't think anybody wants to go back to a full-scale renegotiation, it was messy enough and took long enough the first time around," said Jeff Kingston, a professor at Temple University in Tokyo.

"This visit is more of a welcome to Japan for Obama," he said.

In August, when the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) took power in a landslide victory against the LDP, it did so campaigning on amanifesto that proposed a "re-examining (of) the realignment of the U.S. military forces in Japan" and eradicating terrorism through "the implementation of economic assistance, strengthening of government institutions, and humanitarian and reconstruction activities."

Since then, a number of government politicians have expressed their hope that the SOFA agreement will be reconsidered and on Wednesday, Parliamentary Defense Secretary Akihisa Nagashima told the White House that Japan would not renew its refueling mission in the Indian Ocean, which supports military operations in Afghanistan, when its current term expires in January.

Despite this, the United States will be well aware of Japan's willingness to contribute to the war on terrorism in other ways.

"The Japanese comfort level is in human security, which means boots on the ground contributing to development through engineers, doctors, educators. Those sorts of people," Kingston said.

At a news conference earlier this month, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada echoed this sentiment, saying: "We are looking to the future to try and improve the situation in Afghanistan. I am sure there are a lot of different motivations for joining the Taliban, but one of them seems to be that people have no other sources of income. There for we are looking at offering income guarantees and vocational training so people will not have to turn to the Taliban but will be able to support their families in other ways."

With British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announcing on Wednesday that more troops from his nation will be sent to the region on the condition of additional NATO and Afghan help to stabilize the region and Obama close to making a decision on a U.S. troop increase to the region, it seems that moves are already afoot to compensate for, among other things, the depletion of Japan's military presence in the region.

GET OFF THE 'SOFA'?

In foreign policy, the other area that has dominated the early days of the Hatoyama government has been what to do about the U.S. troops that are based in Okinawa. This issue has proved to be emotive and has been taken up particularly by the DPJ's coalition partner the People's New Party.

Despite the emotion surrounding the debate, there does seem to be plenty of space for maneuverability. On Tuesday, Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima said he was open to the bases remaining in the prefecture but being kept as far away from residential areas as possible.

That said, there is no doubt most in the prefecture would prefer to see U.S. troops out of the area for good. "Japan is within its rights to want to insist that the whole SOFA agreement is renegotiated and there are real world consequences of political landslides," said Kingston.

"The American side needs to recognize that. At the very least the U.S. will have to give the DPJ some face-saving concessions," the professor said.

The Obama administration would also do well to remember that it has made policy U-turns in its first year in power.

In September, much to the consternation of some countries in eastern Europe, Obama announced the decision to scrap the Bush-era planned missile defense system, which countries such as Poland believed would allow them to become more prominent strategic partners with the U.S.

Kingston points out that there is enough wiggle room on these issues to prevent it from becoming a thorn in the side of Obama's visit.

"Does the U.S. military really need to have two major air bases in Okinawa? It's basically service rivalry. The marines say 'this is ours' and the air forces say 'this is ours.' There is the way the agreement could change, though it would be preferable for the Japanese if the forces were just sent to Guam," Kingston said.

With these points in mind, there seems to be little doubt that the latest Nobel Peace Prize winner will be treated to photo opportunities, a friendly welcome and a reaffirmation of the strong bonds between his nation and Japan when he visits the country next month.

Editor: Lin Zhi

Japan to withdraw ships from Afghanistan support role

From Times Online October 15, 2009

Japan to withdraw ships from Afghanistan support role

Richard Lloyd Parry, Tokyo

Japan will withdraw its naval ships from their support role in the war in Afghanistan, in the first concrete sign of the new government’s willingness to say no to the United States.

The country’s defence ministry confirmed this morning what had been expected since the election victory of the prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama – that Japan will withdraw its naval forces from the Indian Ocean in January after eight-years in support of anti-terrorism operations.

The announcement comes six days before the visit to Japan of the US defence secretary, Robert Gates, and a month before that of President Barack Obama, and underlines the new tone adopted by Mr Hatoyama’s centre-left government in its dealings with the US.

Japan’s Maritime Defence Forces deploy a supply ship and a destroyer to provide fuel and water to US and British naval vessels in the Indian Ocean. Compared to other international contributions, the “floating petrol station”, as it was cynically called, is small. But for Japan, which has taken part in only a handful of overseas military operations since the Second World War, it is an important and controversial commitment.

Throughout his campaign for August’s election, which was won overwhelmingly by his Democratic Part of Japan (DPJ), Mr Hatoyama repeated his wish for a “more equal” relationship with the US. In essays and speeches, he acknowledged the importance of the Japan-US alliance, but insisted that East Asia “must be recognised as Japan’s basic sphere of being” and that Japan and its smaller Asian neighbours must “restrain US political and economic excesses”.

He appointed as defence minister Toshimi Kitazawa, an opponent of the country’s military support for the US. The question is now what Japan will offer its ally in place of ships and troops, and how Mr Hatoyama will reconcile his new approach to the US with his stated wish for a close and friendly relationship with Mr Obama.

The answer is likely to be a combination of grass roots aid projects and the dispatch of civilian personnel such as aid officials and trainers. “Sending troops is not necessarily the only way to provide support,” Japan’s foreign minister, Katsuya Okada, said this month. “There are many people that are joining the Taliban because they have no other ways to support their livelihoods. To allow them leave the Taliban, I think it is effective to guarantee their livelihoods.”

According to Akihisa Nagashima, a junior defence minister who officially informed his American counterparts, the US department of defence accepted the decision. Much trickier will be another item in Mr Hatayama’s manifesto – the question of where to relocate Futenma airbase on the island of Okinawa.

The current site is close to densely populated civilian areas. Previous Japanese and US governments negotiated and finalised a plan to relocate it to another part of Okinawa. But Mr Hatoyama has indicated that he wants to review the scheme, and to consider moving out of Okinawa and onto the Japanese mainland, an idea which is causing quiet consternation among US defence officials.

Copyright 2009 Times Newspapers Ltd.

BOJ: Japan's economy has started to pick up

market pulse
Oct. 15, 2009, 1:16 a.m. EDT

BOJ: Japan's economy has started to pick up

Myra P. Saefong TOKYO (

MarketWatch) -- The Bank of Japan said Thursday that "Japan's economy has started to pick up," and economic conditions in the nation are "likely to improve gradually," according to the central bank's October report of Recent Economic and Financial Developments. The BOJ also said that while the overnight call rate has remained at an extremely low level and funding costs for firms have been more or less unchanged at low levels, the "stimulative effects from low interest rates have been limited given the low level of economic activity and corporate profits." The BOJ voted Wednesday to leave its rates steady at 0.1%.

Chinese Premier hails cooperation with Iran

Chinese Premier hails cooperation with Iran

Thu Oct 15, 2009 4:01am EDT

By Chris Buckley

BEIJING (Reuters) - China, reluctant to isolate Iran in its standoff with the West over its nuclear program, will maintain cooperation with Tehran and foster "close coordination in international affairs," Premier Wen Jiabao said on Thursday.

Wen made the comments to the visiting First Vice President of Iran, Mohammad Reza Rahimi, in Beijing for a forum of Central Asian states, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

While the United States and European powers call for greater pressure behind demands that Tehran be transparent about its nuclear plans, Wen's comments suggested Beijing remained unwilling to risk its oil and investment ties with Iran by backing such demands.

Wen, quoted by Xinhua, said China was willing "to maintain high-level contacts with Iran, encourage mutual understanding and confidence, promote practical cooperation between the two sides and close coordination in international affairs."

Wen also said: "China is willing to continue playing a constructive role in promoting peaceful resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu, speaking at a later news conference, gave no further details of any discussion between Wen and Rahimi about the nuclear dispute.

But Rahimi said Iran hoped to keep expanding economic and energy ties with China, Ma told reporters.

PUTIN'S WARNING

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, also in Beijing for the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, warned on Wednesday against intimidating Iran and said talk of sanctions over its nuclear program was "premature.

Putin was speaking after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton failed to secure any specific assurances from Russia on Iran during talks in Moscow.

Wen's comments left little doubt that China wanted to keep at arm's length possible Western demands for stiffer sanctions.

"The Sino-Iran relationship has witnessed rapid development ...and cooperation in trade and energy has widened and deepened," Wen told Rahimi, according to Xinhua.

Last month, Iran said it was building a hitherto undisclosed second uranium enrichment facility, drawing warnings from the West that Tehran had to come clean about its activities, which critics say could give it the means to assemble atomic weapons.

Iran says its nuclear activities are for peaceful ends and that it complies with international nuclear rules.

China has voiced concern about the enrichment plant, but urged nations to solve the latest flare-up through negotiations.

Growing energy ties bind China, the world's No. 2 crude oil consumer, and Iran, which has the world's second-largest crude oil reserves but needs investment to develop them. Iranian oil made up nearly 12 percent of China's crude imports last year.

Beijing's distaste for sanctions and appetite for Iran's oil mean it could use its power as a permanent member of the Security Council to soften any proposed resolution on the dispute.

(Editing by Ken Wills and Ron Popeski)


© Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved.

Foreign Investment in China Up 19% in September

October 15, 2009

Foreign Investment in China Up 19% in September

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 12:24 a.m. ET

SHANGHAI (AP) -- Foreign direct investment in China rose by nearly a fifth in September, suggesting the country's economic recovery is attracting investment after a lull earlier in the year.

FDI was worth $7.9 billion for the month, up 19 percent from a year earlier, the Commerce Ministry said Thursday.

But actual foreign direct investment for the first nine months of the year totaled $63.8 billion, a 14 percent decline from the same period of 2008.

China is a top investment destination but double-digit growth rates plunged in late 2007 as foreign companies were hit by the global downturn and cut spending. Many are continuing to invest in China to take advantage of its stronger economic growth compared with other countries.

There was a nearly 11 percent increase in the number of newly approved foreign invested companies in September.

The September rise in foreign direct investment compared with a 7 percent year-on-year increase in August, and declines of 35.7 percent in July and 6.8 percent in June.

"The two months' rebound shows the confidence of foreign investors in the Chinese economy. With the strong rebound in the domestic economy, I believe more foreign investors will participate in China's economic development," ministry spokesman Yao Jian told reporters in Beijing.

The foreign direct investment figure does not include stocks and other financial assets, which also appear to be attracting strong investment inflows: China's foreign reserves, already the world's largest, hit a record high $2.273 trillion by the end of September, the central bank reported Wednesday.

China's economic growth rose to 7.9 percent over a year earlier in the quarter ending June 30, up from 6.1 percent the previous quarter, and analysts say the recovery is gathering strength. Retail spending and industrial investment are rising.

On the Net:

Chinese Commerce Ministry: http://www.mofcom.gov.cn

Associated Press researcher Bonnie Cao contributed to this report from Beijing.

EBRD forecasts Russian economy to grow 3.1% in 2010

EBRD forecasts Russian economy to grow 3.1% in 2010

14:3715/10/2009
LONDON, October 15 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's GDP may grow 3.1% year-on-year in 2010 as the economy picks up after the problems of 2009, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said in an updated forecast on Thursday.

The Russian government has been less optimistic expecting a mere 1.6% GDP growth next year.

However, both the EBRD and the Russian authorities are unanimous in predicting an 8.5% decrease in Russia's GDP for 2009.

For EBRD members as a whole, the bank expects GDP to fall 6.3% this year and increase 2.5% in 2010.

The worst performers this year are expected to be Lithuania, Latvia and Armenia, with GDP falls of 18.4%, 16.0% and 14.3% respectively.

N Korea 'regrets' causing deadly flood in S Korea

N Korea 'regrets' causing deadly flood in S Korea
by The Associated Press

South Korea October 14, 2009, 09:11 am ET

North Korea offered a rare apology Wednesday for unleashing dam water causing floods downstream blamed for six South Korean deaths and promised to alert Seoul to such measures in the future, an official said.

The release of dam water into the Imjin River last month without advance notice triggered floods that swept away six South Koreans who were camping and fishing. Seoul demanded an apology, but Pyongyang said at the time only that it "urgently" had to release the water because the dam's level was too high and that it would warn Seoul of similar releases in the future.

At 80-minute talks Wednesday suggested by South Korea and convened in the North Korean border town of Kaesong, the North expressed its regret, Unification Ministry spokesman Lee Jong-joo said. The North also said it had to discharge the waters to avoid a bigger catastrophe.

"It was regrettable that unintended human casualties occurred," the North Korean chief delegate told South Korean officials, Lee said.

The North also offered condolences to the bereaved South Korean families, Lee said.

The sides held a 15-minute session in the afternoon to wrap up Wednesday's talks.

Chief South Korean delegate Kim Nam-shik told reporters later in the day that the North again assured it would notify Seoul of similar releases and that the two sides agreed to meet again at an early date to discuss setting up a flood warning system.

Presidential spokesman Park Sun-kyoo welcomed the North's comments, saying they sent a "fairly positive signal" that it wants to improve relations with the South.

The discussions Wednesday took place amid reports that the North Korea may be preparing to test-fire more missiles following a barrage of missile launches off its east coast on Monday — the regime's first since early July.

The latest launches appeared to be meant to improve the accuracy of North Korea's missiles, a senior South Korean presidential official told reporters. He asked not to be identified because of the issue's sensitivity.

South Korea has detected indications that North Korea is also preparing to fire short-range missiles off its west coast, Dong-a Ilbo newspaper reported, citing an unidentified military official. The newspaper said the North has announced a no-sail zone in areas off the country's east and west coasts for Oct. 10-20 — an apparent signal the country could carry out more missile tests.

The Yonhap news agency carried a similar report.

South Korea's Defense Ministry declined to comment on the intelligence issue.

North Korea has recently reached out to the U.S. and South Korea following months of tension over its nuclear and missile tests earlier this year. Leader Kim Jong Il told visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao last week that his government might return to stalled six-nation negotiations on its nuclear program depending on the outcome of direct talks it seeks with the U.S.

In Beijing, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said Wednesday that Washington will not meet directly with North Korea until Pyongyang commits to rejoining six-nation disarmament talks and abides by commitments to dismantle its nuclear programs.

"The Chinese indicated that they think they heard from North Korea that they are prepared to accept that framework. But again, we will have to test that, explore that and see if that is indeed the case," he said. Campbell was in Beijing for talks likely aimed at President Barack Obama's visit next month.

Former President George W. Bush expressed confidence Wednesday that the North Korean nuclear issue can be resolved through diplomacy, but he cautioned Kim is likely to continue to prove a formidable negotiator who "will no doubt test the system, no doubt try to find weaknesses."

Bush told the World Knowledge Forum, an annual conference sponsored by a South Korean business newspaper, that the best way to bring peace to the Korean peninsula is through the six-nation talks.

The disarmament talks involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan were last held in Beijing in December.

The 1950-53 Korean War ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty, which means the two Koreas are still technically at war.

Associated Press Writer Christopher Bodeen in Beijing contributed to this report

S Korea wants more family reunions

S Korea wants more family reunions

Seoul - South Korea said on Thursday it would press North Korea at upcoming talks to hold more reunions of families separated for decades by barbed wire and minefields.

Red Cross officials from the two Koreas will on Friday hold one-day talks in the town of Kaesong, just north of the border, to discuss the issue.

"When it comes to the family reunions, the government has said many times that it will make utmost efforts to arrange a next round of family reunions at an early date," said unification ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-Joo.

"We will engage in the talks from such a standpoint."

As part of recent peace overtures to the South, the communist North last month resumed the reunion programme after a lapse of two years.

Hundreds of people held tearful meetings at the North's Mount Kumgang resort for the first time since the 1950-1953 war.

The programme began in earnest after the first cross-border summit in 2000 eased tensions between the historical enemies.

More than 16,000 Koreans from both sides have held face-to-face meetings since then, while 3,200 others have communicated through video links.

But tens of thousands are still waiting for a chance to meet long-lost loved ones, and many die of old age before they get the opportunity.

Seoul wants family reunions to be held on a regular, not a one-off, basis.

Friday's talks will be watched to see whether the North is seeking food aid in return for reunions. Seoul's Red Cross chief Yoo Chong-Ha has said such a request was implicitly made during the previous programme from September 26-October 1.

South Korea's position is that the two issues should not be linked. - Sapa-AFP

Published on the Web by IOL on 2009-10-15 06:46:42

© 1999 - 2009 Independent Online.

North Korea accuses South of entering its waters

North Korea accuses South of entering its waters

Thu Oct 15, 2009 1:20am EDT

SEOUL, Oct 15 (Reuters) - North Korea accused the South on Thursday of intruding into its territorial waters, further raising tension on the peninsula already heightened by the North's launch this week of a barrage of short-range missiles.

The reclusive state made the allegations as it appeared ready to end its boycott of international nuclear discussions and agreed to hold talks with its capitalist neighbour this week on inter-Korean issues.

"The reckless military provocations by warships of the South Korean navy have created such a serious situation that a naval clash may break out between the two sides in these waters," the North's KCNA news agency quoted a military official as saying.

Analysts said the North may be trying to show that it is willing to raise the stakes to increase its bargaining leverage with Seoul and regional powers.

South Korean military officials were looking into the North's charges. (Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Ron Popeski)

Released, American father still faces uphill child custody battle in Japan

Released, American father still faces uphill child custody battle in Japan
American Christopher Savoie was arrested Sept. 28 in Japan after trying to get his children back from his ex-wife. The case has underscored widely different views in the US and Japan of parental rights and child-rearing.

By Takehiko Kambayashi | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
from the October 15, 2009 edition

Tokyo - Japanese police have released an American father who was imprisoned for allegedly kidnapping his own children despite his sole legal custody of them.

Prosecutors have not pressed charges against the American, Christopher Savoie, but they haven't yet dropped the case. Officials said they decided to release him on grounds that he was not a flight risk.

The case, which is among a growing number of international custody disputes in Japan, highlights widely varying views of divorce and child-rearing.

After Christopher and Noriko Savoie divorced in the United States, Mrs. Savoie defied a court order and took their two children to Japan. Mr. Savoie then came to Japan to get the children back. On Sept. 28, he forcefully took them and tried to get them into the American Consulate in Fukuoka. He was arrested for kidnapping them, the police say.

Tadashi Yoshino, Mr. Savoie's Japanese lawyer, said before his client's release that the American should not be indicted. "All he did was to exercise his legitimate right," Mr. Yoshino said, "though technically he may have committed a crime according to Japanese law."

US critical of Japan

US officials have long criticized Japan for its failure to sign a 1980 international agreement governing child abductions, known as the Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

"Until now, this issue received scant media attention [in Japan]. However, with the Savoie case, Japan has earned a worldwide reputation as a safe haven for abductions," writes Debito Arudou, a columnist for the Japan Times.

In Japan, women usually gain custody of the children after a divorce. The number of cases where mothers have parental authority increased from about 50 percent in 1970 to 80 percent in 2005, according to government reports.

"In Japan, divorce means that one side [usually the father] can lose all contact with the kids," says Mr. Arudou, a naturalized Japanese citizen who himself is divorced and has no contact with his children. He says he has seen one of his daughters only once over the past five years.

"After divorce, dual custody of children is not allowed here," says Reichi Miyahara, the leader of fathers' rights group, who supports single-parent families in Fukuoka. He adds that the nation's family registry system, known as koseki, does not allow placement of a child on two people's registry.

In the Savoie case, the issue is further tangled by the fact that the couple, who had lived in Japan, never divorced in Japan, though they did in the US. Japanese officials also say that the children hold Japanese passports.

Japan more open to revising law?

Some lawmakers in the ruling Democratic Party lawmakers are now in favor of abolishing the controversial system. In a July interview with the Japan Times Herald, Yukio Hatoyama, then-opposition leader and now prime minister, said that "We support ratifying and enforcing the Hague Convention, and involved in this is a sweeping change to allow divorced fathers visitation of their children. That issue affects not just foreign national fathers, but Japanese fathers as well. I believe in this change."

According to the major daily Yomiuri, the Fukuoka District Prosecutor's Office says Savoie has pledged to resolve the issue of custody and rearing through dialogue between agents.

No aid for motherless families

Still, many hurdles remain in terms of society's view of child-rearing. Mr. Miyahara, who divorced his wife two years ago and now lives with his three children, says motherless families like his do not receive public assistance such as child-care allowances, even as there are government programs that support fatherless families.

"It is taken for granted that fathers have a certain amount of income," he says. "The system dates back to the wartime period."

Miyahara came to Tokyo last year to meet Health Ministry officials and DPJ lawmakers to ask for help. Since the DPJ won a landslide victory in the elections and is now in power, the change is expected to come, he says.

"Many single fathers also tend to hide [the fact that] they are motherless families. But I tell them to talk openly about it," he says. "In fact, more people are becoming interested in our situations."

Russia and China to build super-shipyard

Russia and China to build super-shipyard 14.10.2009

Today Russia and China are set to sign an agreement on building a super-shipyard in the city of Vladivostok. The two countries plan to discuss the joint investment issue implying $200 million of investments.

In May 2009 the united shipbuilding corporation of Russia was reported prepared to sign a memorandum on construction of a modern shipyard with one of Singapore's leading shipbuilding corporations. Today's Far East of Russia lacks shipyards being up-to-date.

It is expected that the share of foreign companies in the project will make up about 25%, though it may increase to a half.

source:
www.rosbalt.ru

China, Russia sign deal on high-speed train

China, Russia sign deal on high-speed train

2009-10-14 10:29 BJT

The Sino-Russian agreements include an outline agreement on a high-speed train in the far east of Russia.

According to Russian media, the railway line from Vladivostok to Khabarovsk could use China's high-speed train technology. The cost of building the line will be billions to hundreds of billions of US dollars.

Construction of China's first high-speed railway began in 2005 and took three years. Its high quality and low price has impressed foreign experts. As well as Russia, the United States, Brazil and India have also shown an interest in China's high-speed railway technology.

Market insiders say that cooperation in the high-speed train project benefits both sides.

Editor: Xiong Qu | Source: CCTV.com

Foreign Labourers to Be Hired for APEC-2012 Projects on a Simplified Basis

Foreign Labourers to Be Hired for APEC-2012 Projects on a Simplified Basis

09:10, 14.10.2009 | Приморский край

RF Government has simplified the procedure for issuance of permission to stay to those foreign nationals engaged in construction projects in the preparation for APEC-2012 Summit.

VLADIVOSTOK. October 14. VOSTOK-MEDIA – RF Government has simplified the procedure for issuance of permission to stay to those foreign nationals engaged in construction projects in the preparation for APEC-2012 Summit.

According to the PRIME-TASS news agency, the Government Contractors for the project “Development of Vladivostok as a Center for International Co-operation in the Asia-Pacific Region”, the federal target-oriented programme “Economic and Social Development of the Russian Far East and Trans-Baikal” will provide information on conclusion, extension and dissolution of civil law construction contracts to the RF Ministry of Regional Development. Based on the data provided the Ministry will form a list of those persons or entities concluded the civil law construction contracts.

The Russian Ministry of Regional Development will submit the list to the Federal Migration Service and inform persons or entities about inclusion in or exclusion from the list bimonthly, on the 5th and the 20th of every month.

При использовании информационных материалов ссылка на РИА «Восток-Медиа» обязательна.

Top news Vladivostok, Far East: WWF, Igor Shuvalov

14 Октября 2009 (среда)

Top news Vladivostok, Far East: WWF, Igor Shuvalov

October 5 – October 11

The Far East still counts on getting federal budget support to carry out all construction projects necessary to prepare Vladivostok for the APEC Summit 2012. Vladimir Putin will soon arrive to the region to inspect this situation. Ecology issues attract more and more attention. Last week an ecological forum took place in Vladivostok, next week there will be an international conference. Amur Leopards, one of the most endangered species of Russia, are losing their range due to wood poachers and forest fires. Learn more in the weekly report by FederalPress.

APEC Summit

Igor Shuvalov, vice prime minister of Russia, declared at a Council of the Federation meeting that the government was going to fulfill its financial obligations in regard to construction of objects and infrastructure in Vladivostok for the APEC Summit 2012. The federal budget is prepared to spend 202.2 billion rubles for various preparation projects. Also, last week Minister of Regional Development of Russia Viktor Basargin visited Vladivostok and inspected airport reconstruction works under the renovation project for the summit.

Russian sailors need help

Four ships in different parts of the world carrying crews from Vladivostok are stuck in ports due to financial troubles. Southern Pearl in Bulgaria, Piruit in Panama, Magdalena in UAE, and Madero in South Korea have all been literary left to sink or swim. The crews haven’t been paid for many months in a row. Reserves of water and food on board are quickly reducing.

Pyotr Osichansky, inspector of the International Transport Workers Federation, follows the situations up and tries to help the crew members.

Ecological Forum

The 4th EcoForum “Nature without Limits” took place in Vladivostok last week. Marine ecology issues were discussed by the scientists, power officials, business community and ecological organizations representatives from Asian-Pacific Region. The event was also attended by the UN International Environmental Technology Center representatives.

Ecology professionals discussed the problems of waste, marine environment protection and complex ocean research.

Amur Leopard

Amur Leopard, one of the world’s rarest feline species, which now is represented by only about 30 animals, might soon actually become extinct in wild nature. WWF Russia sees two main reasons why this is happening. First, leopard’s range is getting smaller and smaller due to poachers cutting wood even in the restricted nature reserves. Second, forest fires add considerably to damaging leopard’s native environment. This year forest fires destroyed nearly one third of the region’s woods, including 11% of wood in the leopard’s reserve.

Andrey Fereferov, project coordinator at WWF Russia Far East, believes that only way out is enforcing responsibility over the gamekeepers, wood cutters, land owners and land renters for taking care of the fires on their territory and appointing responsible commissioners for monitoring fires on the governmental land.

USA and Russia unite against poachers

Vladivostok Center for organized crime studies will house an international conference devoted to environmental crimes on October 20-21, 2009. USA is going to be Russia’s partner in this event. Four experts from America will arrive to deliver reports. The conference will dwell on such topics as illegal fishing, illegal wood cutting and environment pollution.

Opinion poll

Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) conducted a poll to study people’s attitude to the new scheme of governor elections. Currently governors in Russian regions are appointed by the President, instead of being directly elected by people as they used be.

Citizens of the Far East and Siberia consider that the quality of work of governors appointed by the President increased. Generally, every fifth Russian citizen shares this opinion. However 51 percent of Russian people don’t see any considerable changes in the efficiency of work of the regional governance bodies.

23% of respondents reported that the level of social responsibility of the appointed governors increased. But one the whole 49% don’t find any significant changes in social responsibility of the governors.

1600 people in 140 locations of Russia have participated in this poll.

Crisis in Khabarovsk

Statistics indicates that the industrial production in Khabarovsk Region continues to slide down. Companies’ turnover this year makes 143.6 billion rubles, which accounts for only 84.6 percent of the level of 2008. The volume of investments makes 17.6 billion rubles, or 66% of the last year’s.

Defense industry, processing and machine building are the most troubled sectors of the production. These industries experience reduction of orders from the customers, decrease in sales, debts to banks and business partners.

Back pay is another serious problem in the region. As of beginning of October back pay estimated 290 million rubles, which is 2.7 times more than in January 2009.


Тэги: Amur Leopard, Igor Shuvalov, Pyotr Osichansky, Vladivostok, Khabarovsk
© Экспертный канал «ФедералПресс» / Expert news agency FederalPress

China sentences 3 more to death over July riots

China sentences 3 more to death over July riots

BEIJING (AP) — China sentenced three more people to death Thursday for murders committed during riots in the far western Xinjiang region in July, bringing to nine the number of people facing execution for the unrest.

Nearly 200 people were killed when Muslim Uighurs and members of China's dominant Han ethnicity turned on one another in the streets of the regional capital, Urumqi. First, Uighurs assaulted random people in the overwhelmingly Han city. Days later, Han vigilantes retaliated in Uighur neighborhoods. It was the country's worst communal violence in decades.

The official Xinhua News Agency said three new defendants were sentenced to death by the Urumqi Intermediate People's Court and three others were sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve — a penalty usually commuted to life in prison.

The condemned men were all Uighur except for one Han Chinese man who was convicted of beating a Uighur man to death with a steel bar during the revenge attacks, Xinhua said.

The Uighurs sentenced to death were convicted of murder for the beating deaths of two people on July 5. One of those given a two-year reprieve was found guilty of a beating death and the other an arson attack on an auto dealership that destroyed 40 cars and resulted in heavy financial losses.

In all, 14 people were sentenced Thursday, including three who received life sentences for attacking people, setting fires and destroying private property. Of those, five were jailed for between five to 18 years for arson or assault, Xinhua said. A spokeswoman for the Xinjiang regional government, Hou Hanmin, said all those given jail terms were Uighur except for one.

The report did not say what pleas the defendants entered or if they would appeal.

Dilxat Raxit, a Uighur rights activist and spokesman for the Germany-based World Uyghur Congress, condemned the rulings. He said local sources in Xinjiang told him the defendants were not allowed to pick their own lawyers and spent just 10 minutes with the lawyers before the trial began.

"China does not have an independent justice system," he said in an e-mailed statement. "Judgments like these for the July 5 cases are mostly political and symbolic in nature. They are done for show and reported as lofty propaganda in order to serve a political purpose."

On Monday, six Uighur defendants were sentenced to death by the same court. Those sentences were the first to be handed down in the trials of scores of suspects arrested during and after the riots.

The violence flared on July 5 after a protest by Uighur youths demanding an investigation into a deadly brawl between Han and Uighur workers at a toy factory hundreds of miles away in southern China.

The government has blamed the rioting on overseas-based groups agitating for more Uighur rights in Xinjiang. Beijing has presented no direct evidence, and overseas Uighur activists have denied supporting violence.

Swift punishment of those arrested over the rioting was among the demands of Han protesters who swarmed Urumqi's streets early last month calling for the firing of Xinjiang's powerful Communist Party boss Wang Lequan. Five people died in those protests under circumstances that remain unclear.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

U.S. man charged of snatching own kids freed in Japan

U.S. man charged of snatching own kids freed in Japan

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese police said Thursday that they have released an American man 18 days after his arrest on accusations he snatched his children from his ex-wife.
The case is among a growing number of international custody disputes in Japan, which allows only one parent to be a custodian — almost always the mother. That leaves many divorced fathers without access to their children until they are grown.

While prosecutors have not pressed charges against Christopher Savoie, they haven't yet dropped the case either and an investagation is continuing, said police official Kiyonori Tanaka in the southern Japanese city of Yanagawa. They decided to release him on grounds that he was not a flight risk, he said.

Savoie, 38, of Franklin, Tennessee, was arrested Sept. 28 after his Japanese ex-wife accused him of grabbing his two children, ages 8 and 6, from her as she walked them to school in southern Japan.

Savoie's current wife, Amy, was awakened by a telephone call at her Franklin, Tenn., home early Thursday and answered to hear her husband's voice.

"'Hello, my love, I'm out,"' were his first words, Amy Savoie told The Associated Press.

She said the couple had only a few minutes to talk and it isn't yet clear when her husband could be coming home.

"We've been able to speak, but there's so much to talk about," she said. "This is all about him coming home."

The Fukuoka District Prosecutors Office refused to comment on the Savoie case. But a suspect with a pending indictment is released on the condition he or she accepts further questioning. No bail is involved in a pre-indictment release.

Savoie's Japanese lawyer Tadashi Yoshino was not immediately available for comment.

U.S. Consulate spokeswoman Tracy Taylor declined to comment on details of his release, but added that her understanding was that he would not be indicted.

"We are pleased to hear that he was released, and we are hopeful that we can work with the Japanese government to come to a long term solution on this problem," Taylor said. "This problem meaning the issue of international child abduction."

Japan's custody policy has begun to raise concern abroad, following a recent spate of incidents involving Japanese mothers bringing their children back to their native land and refusing to let their foreign ex-husbands visit them.

The United States, Canada, Britain and France have urged Japan to sign the 1980 Hague Convention on International Child Abduction. The convention, signed by 81 countries, seeks to ensure that custody decisions are made by the courts of a country of abducted children's original residence and that the rights of access of both parents are protected.

Tokyo has argued that signing the convention may not protect Japanese women and their children from abusive foreign husbands, but Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada recently said officials were reviewing the matter.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.