JAPAN: See Japan – without breaking the bank

Sunday, 17 January 2010

This intriguing country is renowned for being expensive. Susie Rushton tries out a new 'Price Cruncher' tour that could put it within your reach

 

Matsumoto Castle: 'Five tiers of beautiful blackish wooden pagoda, reflected in koi carp-filled waters'

Horrid slimy things, mushrooms. I've never liked them. So I'm not tempted by a box of three pale brown fungi on sale at a stall in Kyoto's food market.

That's just as well, because they cost 37,000 yen, or about £250. Fans of Japan often say its reputation for emptying a tourist's wallet faster than you can say "konnichiwa" is exaggerated. What's certainly true is that if you spend a lot in this land of high design, delicate aesthetics and unfailingly polite service, you're spoilt silly.

About Y25,000 (£169) buys a night at a top ryokan, a traditional inn where pampered guests can gaze out at bonsai gardens from the comfort of a private bathtub. There's no limit to luxury here. There are more three-star Michelin restaurants in Tokyo than any other city. Bullet trains are stupidly fast, punctual, clean – sexy, even. Your fellow travellers disport themselves without jostling or eating smelly food, meaning you can actually enjoy the journey. But a regular return fare from Tokyo to Kyoto on the fastest Shinkansen service, the 180mph Nozomi Super Express, will also tear Y27,040 (£182) from your purse.

So, my challenge was to take a two-week trip around the big-ticket sights of Honshu, seeing Tokyo and Kyoto, plus some of the prettier places in the "Japanese Alps" – keeping to about Y10,000 (about £67) each a day. It wasn't a shoestring; my days of sleeping in dorms are over. I've been to Japan twice before, on business, but this time I wanted to see more; my boyfriend had never been but had learnt some Japanese and was keen to try it out. Our plan was to sleep in cheaper, chain business hotels and budget ryokan. We'd use buses and local trains but we still wanted to eat decently, buy small souvenirs and experience some only-in-Japan moments.

The solution was a new self-guided tour offered by Inside Japan, which would pre-book accommodation and travel. The "Price Cruncher" tour also meant we knew how much the trip would cost: the only variables would be food and spending money.

We start in Tokyo, regularly at the top of any "most expensive city" charts. But there are plenty of free amusements: a 6am visit to the Tsukiji fish market; walking in the Imperial Palace Gardens; watching sumo wrestlers practise; and the view from the 45th floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Building, Shinjuku.

Living frugally can't keep me from touring the city's ritzy department stores and gleaming malls. But, like lots of Tokyoites right now, we just look. It's easy not to buy clothes when your giant limbs would split Japanese XL sizes at the seams. The gourmet shops in department-store basements are harder to resist.

I soon give in to the call of consumerism, but keep purchases small – not the latest micro-camera, but what I'll call "cuteware". The country's unofficial religion is still the worship of all things kawai (cute), and for a few pounds you can load up on Miffy calendars, stickers, fun-fur ashtrays, glittery hair clips, and strapus (the mini toys that dangle from every mobile phone). Recession has meant good times for the 100-yen shops, which trade in cheap knick-knacks, household essentials and sometimes food.

Tokyo's subway system requires concentration to navigate (with the help of an English-language map), but it's affordable. We buy pre-paid Pasmo cards and load them with credits, although unlike London's Oyster system there's no saving on the standard ticket. Expect to spend about Y1,200 (£8) a day for about six journeys.

After four jet-lagged, beer-soaked nights in Tokyo, we're wrung out, so we head to the mountain resort of Hakone on the Odakyu Highway Bus (Y1,850, or £12.50), which is, they say, a great way to see Mount Fuji. (It's hidden in mist when I travel, so I'll take their word for it.)

The next morning, to get to Kyoto, we take the bullet train – the most expensive leg of the trip at Y6,000 (£40) for a reserved seat – and savour the journey. It'll be coaches and local transport from now on.

Hidden away at edges of the city, the antique pavilions, Zen gardens and pagoda architecture are captivating – but entry tickets average at Y500. We search out less popular sites, which are not only more peaceful but cheap, or even free. The best is a sprawling compound of Zen temples called Daitokuji. Here, the minuscule ryogen is a perfect jewel of five dry gardens, each about the size of a tiny city roof terrace, and each symbolising with moss or rock or gravel a lovely, if obtuse, piece of Buddhist philosophy. Entry costs a mere Y300 (£2), and it is deserted.

Kyoto's gardens require lots of walking, and, for me, that takes caffeine. Blowing Y400 (£2.70) at Starbucks is out, so I get familiar with the vending machines on every corner.

I had thought a formal Japanese tea ceremony was out of reach until I hear about a place in the small town of Uji, just south of Kyoto. Here, in a tea house next to the tourist office (where you buy the ticket), is supposedly the cheapest tea ceremony in Japan. The hot, fluffy, bright green liquid you drink at the end of cha-no-yu, or "way of the tea", isn't the point, of course. We're offered a place to kneel, while two ladies in brocade kimonos and elaborate hair split duties: one heats the water on a brazier and whisks the tea; the other kneels behind her, keeping one eye on her technique, while also making stilted conversation. It's like visiting a great aunt, but the tea ceremony is a showcase of traditional Japanese etiquette. At 20 minutes and just Y500 (less than £3.50), this was short order compared with the average Kyoto experience (45 minutes or longer, for Y2,000, or £13.40).

Back in modern Japan, eating fast, furious and cheaply isn't a problem. At lunch, restaurants offer a cheaper set menu. We slurp in noodle restaurants, where a big bowl of thick udon noodles in hearty soup stock are layered with slices of pork, just Y850, less than £6, in an Ebisu branch of the hip noodle chain Ippudo.

Conveyor-belt sushi restaurants with colour-coded plates helps avoid shocking bills, though you'll watch the priciest dishes glide by. Bento boxes are cheap and easy to select; okonomiyaki, an omelette filled with sliced cabbage, or noodles, with egg, slices of beef or fish, is yours for Y750 (about a fiver). Our favourite frugal dinner is yakitori, chicken skewers cooked to order as you sit facing the grill.

A step up from McDonald's, places such as Jonathan's, Royal Host and Yoshinoya are the equivalent to Pizza Hut, with a Japanese level of service and quality. My favourite is the "Italian" chain Saizeria: portions are modest but the flavours are decent and the picture menus are easy to use. A bowl of penne all'arrabiata and a glass of drinkable French red wine is Y600 (£4).

Two hours and 20 minutes from Kyoto on the limited express train (Y6,800 or £46) is the coastal town of Kanazawa, with famous ornamental gardens and a sleek new contemporary art museum. We spend the afternoon in the "Ninja Temple", a castle of tricks with hidden staircases and sliding doors designed to confuse invading enemies. The price is rather sly, too, at Y800 each, and by now the budget's getting tight so we start hanging out in games arcades; bigger places have their own "maid cafés". Sadly, nowhere do I find a budget karaoke venue to parrot my favourite Eighties' hits – the ubiquitous chain Big Echo charges Y2,000 (about £13.50) per hour. Too expensive.

The end of our frugal tour rounds the mountains west of Tokyo, through Takayama, home to Hida beef, which locals obviously hope can challenge Wagyu and Kobe varieties. Next day, in Matsumoto, two hours away by carefully driven coach (with filmic views of rusty autumn leaves), we spend the afternoon in the most beautiful castle I've ever seen. Five tiers of beautiful blackish wooden pagoda, reflected in koi carp-filled waters. On a war footing after a sturdy curry noodle lunch (Y525 a bowl), we march up the wooden steps inside the 16th-century keep with legions of school kids. Entry fee? A mere Y600 each (£4 – the Tower of London costs £16.50).

By the end of the fortnight, we meet our daily budget but the ruinous exchange rate didn't help. Our "self-guided" tour package gave us all the train and bus tickets beforehand and helped us sidestep expensive mistakes. A couple of practical tips: debit and credit cards are not as widely accepted here as in the UK, and post offices are the only place where foreign-issued cards work – so you need to carry cash. It's safe to do so, but the Y10,000 (£67) limit per transaction at a post office ATM means bank charges can tot up.

The Japanese have got used to living in recession, and there are bargains here – you just have to find them. I didn't feel like the Queen of Sheba, but everything I ate, drank and looked at offered amazing value – except for those mushrooms. They were definitely overpriced.

Compact Facts

How to get there

Susie Rushton was a guest of Inside Japan Tours (0117-314 4620; inside japantours.com). Its 13-night Price Cruncher trip costs £1,217 per person, based on two sharing, with five nights in Tokyo, one in Hakone, three in Kyoto, one in Kanazawa, two in Takayama, and one in Matsumoto, plus all breakfasts, one dinner and all transfers. A seven-night version costs from £600. Japan Airlines (0845 774 7700; uk.jal.com) offers daily flights from London to Tokyo from £589.

Further Information

Japan National Tourism Organisation (jnto.go.jp).

Original Article from The Independent

Technorati Tags: Japan,budget travel,Tokyo,Hakone,Kyoto,Kanazawa,Takayama

OP-ED: What’s Our Sputnik?

Published: January 16, 2010

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

Taipei, Taiwan

Dick Cheney says President Obama is “trying to pretend that we are not at war” with terrorists. There is only one thing I have to say about that: I sure hope so.

Frankly, if I had my wish, we would be on our way out of Afghanistan not in, we would be letting Pakistan figure out which Taliban they want to conspire with and which ones they want to fight, we would be letting Israelis and Palestinians figure out on their own how to make peace, we would be taking $100 billion out of the Pentagon budget to make us independent of imported oil — nothing would make us more secure — and we would be reducing the reward for killing or capturing Osama bin Laden to exactly what he’s worth: 10 cents and an autographed picture of Dick Cheney.

Am I going isolationist? No, but visiting the greater China region always leaves me envious of the leaders of Hong Kong, Taiwan and China, who surely get to spend more of their time focusing on how to build their nations than my president, whose agenda can be derailed at any moment by a jihadist death cult using exploding underpants.

Could we just walk away? No, but we must change our emphasis. The “war on terrorists” has to begin by our challenging the people and leaders over there. If they’re not ready to take the lead, to speak out and fight the madness in their midst, for the future of their own societies, there is no way we can succeed. We’ll exhaust ourselves trying. We’d be better off just building a higher wall.

As the terrorism expert Bruce Hoffman noted in an essay in The Washington Post: “In the wake of the global financial crisis, Al Qaeda has stepped up a strategy of economic warfare. ‘We will bury you,’ Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev promised Americans 50 years ago. Today, Al Qaeda threatens: ‘We will bankrupt you.’ ” And they will.

Our presence, our oil dependence, our endless foreign aid in the Middle East have become huge enablers of bad governance there and massive escapes from responsibility and accountability by people who want to blame all their troubles on us. Let’s get out of the way and let the moderate majorities there, if they really exist, face their own enemies on their own. It is the only way they will move. We can be the wind at their backs, but we can’t be their sails. There is some hope for Iraq and Iran today because their moderates are fighting for themselves.

Has anyone noticed the most important peace breakthrough on the planet in the last two years? It’s right here: the new calm in the Strait of Taiwan.

For decades, this was considered the most dangerous place on earth, with Taiwan and China pointing missiles at each other on hair triggers. Well, over the past two years, China and Taiwan have reached a quiet rapprochement — on their own. No special envoys or shuttling secretaries of state. Yes, our Navy was a critical stabilizer. But they worked it out. They realized their own interdependence. The result: a new web of economic ties, direct flights and student exchanges.

A key reason is that Taiwan has no oil, no natural resources. It’s a barren rock with 23 million people who, through hard work, have amassed the fourth-largest foreign currency reserves in the world. They got rich digging inside themselves, unlocking their entrepreneurs, not digging for oil. They took responsibility. They got rich by asking: “How do I improve myself?” Not by declaring: “It’s all somebody else’s fault. Give me a handout.”

When I look at America from here, I worry. China is now our main economic partner and competitor. Sure, China has big problems. Nevertheless,

I hope Americans see China’s rise as the 21st-century equivalent of Russia launching the Sputnik satellite — a challenge to which we responded with a huge national effort that revived our education, infrastructure and science and propelled us for 50 years.

Unfortunately, the Cheneyites want to make fighting Al Qaeda our Sputnik. Others want us to worry about some loopy remark Senator Harry Reid made about the shade of Obama’s skin.

Well, what is our national project going to be? Racing China, chasing Al Qaeda or parsing Harry? Of course, to a degree, we need to both race China and confront Al Qaeda — but which will define us?

“Our response to Sputnik made us better educated, more productive, more technologically advanced and more ingenious,” said the Johns Hopkins foreign policy expert Michael Mandelbaum. “Our investments in science and education spread throughout American society, producing the Internet, more students studying math and people genuinely wanting to build the nation.”

And what does the war on terror give us? Better drones, body scanners and a lot of desultory T.S.A. security jobs at airports. “Sputnik spurred us to build a highway to the future,” added Mandelbaum. “The war on terror is prompting us to build bridges to nowhere.”

We just keep thinking we can do it all — be focused, frightened and frivolous. We can’t. We don’t have the money. We don’t have the time.

A version of this article appeared in print on January 17, 2010, on page WK8 of the New York edition.

Link to the Original Article in The New York Times

Technorati Tags: US,China,Taiwan,Russia

JAPAN: Navy Ends Mission in Support of Afghan War

January 16, 2010

World Briefing | Asia

By MARTIN FACKLER

The defense minister ordered Japan’s ships to return from the Indian Ocean on Friday, fulfilling a government pledge to end an eight-year refueling mission in support of the war in Afghanistan. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama refused to renew the law authorizing the mission, ignoring requests from the Obama administration to continue it as a show of support. Military experts have said the Japanese withdrawal would not affect military operations in Afghanistan.

View Article in The New York Times

JAPAN: Born in Japan, but ordered out

Sunday, January 17, 2010; A20

By Blaine Harden

TOKYO -- Fida Khan, a gangly 14-year-old, told the court that immigration authorities should not deport him and his family merely because his foreign-born parents lacked proper visas when they came to Japan more than 20 years ago.

Fida Khan, 14, faces deportation from Japan, although he was born there and speaks only Japanese. (Blaine Harden/the Washington Post)

During the past two decades, his Pakistani father and Filipino mother have held steady jobs, raised children, paid taxes and have never been in trouble with the law.

"I have the right to do my best to become a person who can contribute to this society," Fida told a Tokyo district court in Japanese, the only language he speaks.

But the court ruled last year that Fida has no right to stay in the country where he was born. Unless a higher court or the Minister of Justice intervenes, a deportation order will soon split the Khan family, sending the father, Waqar Hassan Khan, back to Pakistan, while dispatching Fida and his sister Fatima, 7, to the Philippines with their mother, Jennette.

Aggressive enforcement of Japanese immigration laws has increased in recent years as the country's economy has floundered and the need for cheap foreign labor has fallen.

Nationality in Japan is based on blood and parentage, not place of birth. This island nation was closed to the outside world until the 1850s, when U.S. warships forced it to open up to trade. Wariness of foreigners remains a potent political force, one that politicians dare not ignore, especially when the economy is weak.

As a result, the number of illegal immigrants has been slashed, often by deportation, from 300,000 in 1995 to just 130,000, a minuscule number in comparison to other rich countries. The United States, whose population is 2 1/2 times that of Japan's, has about 90 times as many illegal immigrants (11.6 million).

Among highly developed countries, Japan also ranks near the bottom in the percentage of legal foreign residents. Just 1.7 percent are foreign or foreign-born, compared with about 12 percent in the United States. Japan held a pivotal election last year and voters tossed out a party that had ruled for nearly 50 years. But the winner, the Democratic Party of Japan, has so far done nothing to alter immigration policy.

That policy, in a country running low on working-age people, is helping to push Japan off a demographic cliff. It already has fewer children and more elderly as a percentage of its population than any country in recorded history. If trends continue, the population of 127 million will shrink by a third in 50 years and by two-thirds in a century. By 2060, Japan will have two retirees for every three workers -- a ratio that will weaken and perhaps wreck pension and health-care systems.

These dismal numbers upset Masaki Tsuchiya, who manages a Tokyo welding company that for seven years has employed Waqar Khan.

"If Khan is deported, it will not be possible to find anyone like him, as many Japanese workers have lost their hungriness," said Tsuchiya, who has urged Japanese immigration officials to rescind the deportation order for the Khan family.

"When the Japanese population is declining, I believe our society has to think more seriously about immigration."

At the Ministry of Justice, immigration officials say they are simply carrying out rules politicians make. The rules, though, are not particularly precise. They grant wide leeway to bureaucrats to use their own discretion in deciding who stays and who gets deported. Last year, immigration officials granted "special permits" to 8,500 undocumented foreigners, with about 65 percent of them going to those who had married a Japanese citizen.

Exercising their discretion under the law, immigration authorities last year offered Noriko Calderon, 13, the wrenching choice of living with her parents or living in her homeland. The girl, who was born and educated in the Tokyo suburbs, could stay in Japan, the government ruled. But she had to say goodbye to her Filipino mother and father, who were deported after living illegally in Japan for 16 years. Following tearful goodbyes at a Tokyo airport, Noriko remained in Japan with an aunt.

Japan's growing need for working-age immigrants has not gone unnoticed by senior leaders in government and business. Slightly relaxed rules have admitted skilled professionals and guest workers. The number of legal foreign residents reached an all-time high of 2.2 million at the end of 2008, with Chinese accounting for the largest group, followed by Koreans, Brazilians (mostly of Japanese descent) and Filipinos.

Still, experts say these numbers are far too low to head off significant economic contraction. A group of 80 politicians said last year that the country needs 10 million immigrants by 2050. Japan's largest business federation called for 15 million, saying: "We cannot wait any longer to aggressively welcome necessary personnel."

Yet the treatment of foreign workers already in Japan is unpredictable. The government opened service centers last year to help foreign workers who lost their jobs to recession. For the first time, it offered them free language training, along with classes on social integration. As that program got underway, however, the government began giving money -- about $12,000 for a family of four -- to foreign workers, if they agreed to go home immediately and never come back to work.

The Khan family's troubles began two years, when a policeman nabbed Waqar Khan on his way home from work. He was detained for nine months. Police in Japan often stop foreign-looking people on the street and ask for residency documents.

The letter of the law was clearly against Khan and his wife. He had overstayed a 15-day tourist visa by 20 years. She came into the country on a forged passport.

But they have refused to sign deportation documents, arguing that although their papers are bad, their behavior as foreigners has been exemplary. Under Japanese law, foreigners are eligible to become naturalized citizens if they have lived in the country for more than five years, have good behavior and are self-sufficient.

The Khans also argue that their children, who regard themselves as Japanese, are assets for Japan. "It is a bit weird that the country needs children, but it is saying to us, go away," Khan said.

The family's lawyer, Gen'ichi Yamaguchi, has tried -- and so far failed -- to convince immigration officials and judges that the Khans are just the sort of hardworking, Japanese-speaking immigrants that the country should embrace for the sake of its own future.

"During the bubble years, the number of illegal workers increased a lot and the police looked the other way," Yamaguchi said. "Japan has always looked at immigrants as cheap but disposable labor."

An appeals court is scheduled to rule on the Khan case in the first week of February.

Special correspondent Akiko Yamamoto contributed to this report.

Link to Original Article in The Washington Post

Technorati Tags: Japan,foreigners in Japan,immigration

CHINA: Solar Eclipse

Uploaded on: January 16, 2010

After a complete solar eclipse, Chinese observed an annular solar eclipse the beginning of this year. Many Youku paike enthusiastically contributed their footage. This was the most popular one which was taken in Tengchong, Yunnan Province.

CHINA: In China's Tiananmen Square, patriotism snaps in the wind

January 16, 2010

By John M. Glionna and Lily Kuo

The daily flag-handling ceremony in the vast space is a stirring moment for Chinese tourists -- and a sometimes weird, unsettling one for foreigners.

Chinese officers raise the flag at dawn at Tiananmen Square. It is taken down each day at dusk. Out-of-towners flock to watch the ceremony; on national holidays the crowds swell

to thousands. (Andy Wong / Associated Press / June 3, 2008)

 

Reporting from Beijing - Lou Hongfei is playing tour guide. His girlfriend has just arrived in the capital from the provincial city of Chongqing and he wants to show her the urban wonders of Beijing.

So he has brought her to Tiananmen Square for a patriotic experience many Chinese tourists liken to the thrill of walking the Great Wall or viewing the terra cotta warriors: the quiet majesty of the flag-handling ceremony in one of the world's largest public spaces.

Twice a day, out-of-towners flock to the square's imposing expanse of concrete to watch the soldiers tend to China's iconic flag -- red with five yellow stars -- as it is unfurled at dawn and calmly taken down at dusk.

On national holidays, tens of thousands congregate to watch the ceremony. "For us," Lou says, "that flag symbolizes hundreds of years of Chinese history."

The event is akin to such tourist attractions as the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, Old Faithful's eruptions in Yellowstone or the New Year's Eve ball drop in Times Square.
"It's right up there with all the other top attractions of Beijing," says Michael Sichter, a U.S. law school student watching the ceremony. "It's just a cool touristy thing to do."

For the Chinese, the pageant is as patriotically intimate as a sun-splashed Fourth of July in the American heartland, a moment that brings a lump to their throats.

Zhou, a 40-year-old manufacturing employee who didn't give his first name, has brought his wife and young daughter to the square with about 1,000 others, stamping their feet in the 18-degree late-December chill.

Flanked by the Great Hall of the People and the mausoleum where Mao Tse-tung's body lies in state, Zhou revels in the unlikely sense of rural vastness afforded by the urban space. As someone shouts "It's starting! It's starting!" he lifts his daughter to his shoulders, teasing, "You're too heavy!"

The square suddenly becomes quiet as two columns of white-gloved soldiers, ceremonial white rifles raised, goose-step the perimeter of the towering flagpole.

Rush-hour traffic on the adjacent Avenue of Eternal Peace halts as many soldiers place their hands on their hearts. Then, with precise jerks, two soldiers lower the wavering banner. They don't fold it, but wrap it around a staff. The crowd murmurs. Fezia Tyebawly and friend Adnan Asgerali, tourists from Singapore, aren't sure what to make of the nationalistic show in a square many foreigners associate with the government's bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy activists.

They wince at being photographed by two men in dark jackets who they're convinced are state security guards. They see a Chinese woman mysteriously stuffed into a patrol car and driven away after she raises her voice to shout some muffled objection.

"That was so weird," Tyebawly whispers. "I thought, 'Should we even be here?' "

They only relax when a Chinese man asks Tyebawly to take his picture. He then drops on one knee and proposes to his date. The marriage proposal, many Chinese believe, is just part of the magic of the flag ceremony.

As quickly as they appeared, the soldiers march away. The flag is gone. Traffic resumes.

Almost immediately, the souvenir vendors move in to hawk Communist Party buttons and hats. They are soon joined by a platoon of police cars, megaphones blaring.

"Dear visitors," a message plays in Chinese and English, "Tiananmen Square is now closing. Please collect your things. Thank you for your understanding."

john.glionna@latimes.com
Kuo is a special correspondent.

Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times

Technorati Tags: China,Tiananmen Square,Chinese nationalism,tourism in China,flag ceremony

JAPAN: Japanese Authorities Arrest Ozawa Associates

JANUARY 16, 2010, 5:03 A.M. ET

By YUKA HAYASHI

TOKYO -- Authorities arrested a member of parliament and close associate of Ichiro Ozawa, a top ruling party official, on suspicion of violating political-funds rules, a development that could seriously hurt the popularity of Tokyo's new center-left government.

Tomohiro Ishikawa, The Democratic Party of Japan, taken from taken from www.dpj.or.jp

As a probe into Mr. Ozawa's fund raising activity widens rapidly, Tomohiro Ishikawa, a 36-year-old lower house member from the ruling Democratic Party of Japan was arrested and taken to a Tokyo jail by a special investigations unit of the Tokyo District Prosecutors' Office late Friday, according to Japanese media reports.

Mr. Ishikawa, a protégé of Mr. Ozawa since becoming his personal secretary while still in college, served as a caretaker of his fund-raising organization in 2004, when alleged irregularities in its financial records first appeared.

Also arrested was a 32-year-old former aide to Mr. Ozawa who

Technorati Tags: Japan,Japanese politics,Ichiro Ozawa,financial scandal,Democratic Party of Japan,DPJ,Tomohiro Ishikawa,Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama

took over Mr. Ishikawa's job at the fund-raising entity.

Officials for the prosecutors' office and Mr. Ishikawa's office weren't available for comment due to the late hour.

Japanese television networks showed footage of vans reportedly carrying Mr. Ishikawa to a Tokyo jail.

The news of the rare arrest of a current member of parliament is another blow to the waning popular support for Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's four-month-old government, which has already suffered from the prime minister's own political-funds scandal. The government's approval rating fell to 48% in late December, compared to 71% when he took office in September, according to a poll by the Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun in late December.

According to Japanese media reports, prosecutors say Mr. Ozawa's organization failed to properly record the sources of funds used to purchase a piece of land in Tokyo for 400 million yen ($4.4 million) in 2004 for the purpose of building a staff dormitory.

Mr. Ozawa denied the allegations.

Mr. Hatoyama and DPJ politicians have stood behind Mr. Ozawa, a revered party elder whose election strategies led the party to a landslide victory in national elections last August.

Link to Original Article in The Wall Street Journal

JAPAN: JAL, Delta reach deal over tie-up: report

(AFP) – 15 hours ago

TOKYO — Japan Airlines has reached an agreement on a tie-up with Delta Air Lines as the troubled Japanese carrier readies for a court-led rehabilitation, according to a newspaper.

The two companies are likely officially to sign the deal, which will allow them to run code-share flights, as soon as JAL's new management endorses it, the Yomiuri Shimbun said on Saturday, quoting company sources.

The agreement means Asia's biggest airline will switch from the Oneworld alliance to the SkyTeam group, to which Delta belongs.

JAL and Delta will ask US authorities for antitrust immunity by mid-February, the paper said. If the request is accepted, the two firms will be able to run combined flights over their Pacific routes in what amounts to business integration.

The report came after American Airlines and its partners lifted their proposed investment in JAL to 1.4 billion dollars, from a previous offer of 1.1 billion dollars in a bidding war with rival Delta for a stake in JAL.

Technorati Tags: Japan,Japan Airlines,JAL,Delta,American Airlines,SkyTeam,Oneworld,bankruptcy

On Friday, Japan's government said it would announce a restructuring package for JAL on January 19, when the troubled carrier is widely expected to file for bankruptcy protection.

JAL is believed to be on the verge of seeking court protection from creditors and delisting its shares from the Tokyo Stock Exchange to make it easier to restructure its debt and slash costs.

JAL, which lost about 1.5 billion dollars in the six months to September, is seeking public aid in the face of mounting debts. JAL is reportedly set to slash more than 15,000 jobs and sell non-core assets such as hotels.

CHINA: Chinese children turn to golf in a bid to get ahead

Page last updated at 11:53 GMT, Saturday, 16 January 2010

As China's population continues to soar, wealthy parents who want their children to stand out from the crowd are having to make a special effort. Some, finds Michelle Tsai, are turning to sports that not long ago would have been seen as elitist.

Take-up of golf in China soared in line with the country's economic growth

This looked nothing like the Beijing I knew.

I was just west of Third Ring Road, one of the capital's gridlocked highways, but I could no longer hear the honking cars, rumbling buses, or the rut-tut-tut of the motorised rickshaws.

In fact, I could not even see the massive buildings that dominate this section of the city.

In front of me was one huge expanse of manicured green grass, an anomaly in this megalopolis of concrete.

The only sounds? The thwacks of golf balls being struck.

I was at a golf course in downtown Beijing, and striding toward me was Eddie Shi, who had arrived to fine-tune his long game.

He was flanked by his regular entourage: his father, his translator and his caddy, all of whom towered over him. Because Eddie is eight years old.

Competitive edge

With their wallets fattened by decades of unprecedented economic growth, wealthy Chinese parents have been trying to find new ways to give a competitive edge to their little ones.

One of the latest trends is enrolling children in sports more often associated with well-heeled Westerners, than China's new middle-classes.

Every week Eddie and his father, Shi Jian, make the three-hour drive from the nearby city of Tianjin.

They come to this course for the experienced coaching, Shi Jian, a manager at a Swiss pharmaceutical company, told me.

“It's a gentleman's sport “

Eddie Shi, eight

Here the coaches are foreign, which means Eddie can improve his English while he tinkers with his swing.

"Why would a Chinese eight-year-old like golf?" I asked.

"It's a gentleman's sport," Eddie told me, sounding more like one of those bow-tie-wearing, flannel-suited commentators from decades past.

Then he skipped off to fetch a golf ball printed with the Japanese robot cat Doraemon.

His father had these specially made as a reward, after Eddie hit a hole-in-one a few months ago.

On this Saturday, Eddie's lesson started with practice chips at the driving range.

"Aim for the marker," said his coach, a tall Australian.

I suspected that this was all too easy for Eddie, who has played golf since he was four and heads to a driving range most evenings after finishing his homework.

The previous week he hit a ball 190m with a driver.

Upward mobility

When Shi Jian was growing up, he played football with the kids in his neighbourhood.

Now, he says, there are fewer kids - the result of China's one child policy.

It's hard to get two teams together.

Eddie happens to play golf, but in today's China, cultivating your son or daughter is the true national sport.

Parents hope their daughters' musical skills will help them find a husband

The eight-year-old also takes private lessons for jazz percussion, maths and English, but his parents expect golf to make the biggest difference in his life, and help dispel the stereotype that Chinese people don't know how to have fun.

"China's future is an international one," said Shi Jian.

"If Eddie goes to the US in the future, he'll have more to talk about with his friends there."

Upward mobility doesn't come cheap though.

At this particular school, SGA Golf Academy, a 10-hour package of one-on-one sessions costs 10,000 yuan - two-thirds the average annual salary of an urban worker.

When the lesson ended, I asked Eddie what the hardest thing was about golf. He answered like a pro.

"The bunker," he said. Then he ran off to play video games, free for a little while.

For the first time that afternoon Eddie seemed like a regular kid, someone who gets silly and jokes around.

And although he appeared content during his lesson I couldn't help but wonder if Eddie wouldn't rather be less serious about the sport.

In another district, Shunyi, plots of farmland mix with international schools and gated communities. On weekends, children come here for the Equuleus International Riding Club.

 “There are too many people in China and everybody wants to move up”

Su Lin, mother

The entrance sits across the road from farm stands selling fruit and vegetables, but inside it feels more like the grounds of a boarding school.

On a recent morning, I watched young equestrians on horseback in the indoor arena. Proud parents looked on from the side.

One student, a beginner, didn't appear to be doing anything. Then I realised he was so young that his lesson involved just sitting astride the horse.

Brutal cycle

I met a 12-year-old who was about to head home after her trotting lesson. This girl was the picture of a genteel sportswoman: a riding crop in one hand, her long hair tucked under her riding hat, and cheeks pink from the chilly air.

Her proud mother, government worker Su Lin, rattled off a list of her daughter's accomplishments.

She has mastered all four swimming strokes, has excellent posture, practices tai chi, and has studied books of etiquette and ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arrangement.

These skills will help her get ahead, and maybe even secure a successful husband one day.

Su Lin acknowledged that everyone is caught in a brutal cycle here.

"There are too many people in China. There's little living space and everybody wants to move up. So everyone works harder, which just makes the competition worse," she said.

"What kind of activities did Su Lin do as a teenager?" I asked.

"None," replied the state worker. "I only studied."

Link to Original BBC News Article

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