News Blast: No. 3 Economy, Atomic Echoes, Julia Roberts Does Not Hate Japan, And More

► In the 2nd Quarter heard 'round the world: China passed Japan to become the world’s second-largest economy behind the United States, a place Japan held for the last four decades. The Times writes for Japan "the figures reflect a decline in economic and political power" and notes the reaction in the country "was one of resignation." The Wall Street Journal suggests the overtake is the shock therapy Japan needs, while The Economist wonders how Japanese firms will cope as China whizzes by.

►Americans and people from Great Britain observed "Victory over Japan Day", marking Japan's official surrender August 15, 1945, effectively ending World War II (also celebrated in the U.S. on September 2 for complicated historical timing reasons). Some people in NYC celebrated with a kiss, aping the famed Times Square photograph. While bitter memories still abound across all nations, one  G.I. recalls his relief and reflects on the day's ominous atomic echo.

►For the first time since the end of World War II, the full Japanese Cabinet did not visit the controversial Yasukuni Shrine.

►"The great temples of Kyoto are still standing today because an American scholar named Langdon Warner, who took a fancy to Japanese art and culture, suggested to the U.S. Command that they test their new atomic bombs on different cities," notes a Japan Today article about Tokyo residents' fight to save historic school buildings in Tokyo's Chuo Ward.

►The New York Times profiles Toshikazu Sugaya, a man wrongfully imprisoned 17 years after giving a false confession to three murders. Notes The Times: "Mr. Sugaya, now 63, has become a national figure, and perhaps the country’s most vocal critic of forced confessions — a recurring problem [in Japan]. He has written or co-written three books, including one titled 'Falsely Convicted,' and tours the country giving talks about his experience."

►Asahi: "Signs in Japanese at overseas airports, train stations, tourist spots or other sites sometimes seem a bit off to native readers of the language, even when the grammar and usage are fine. The reason for that niggling feeling is often the wrong choice of fonts." Related: Jetwit's thoughts on Japan's Englishification.

►In addition to vuvuzela, bromance, and staycation, the third edition of the Oxford Dictionary adopts hikikomori, a Japanese word that signifies the abnormal avoidance of social contact.

►In movie news: an American actor releases a film documenting stories from hibakusha, Kurosawa's influential Yojimbo celebrates 50 years after its U.S. release, the man who played the original Godzilla speaks, CNN broadcasts a lengthy profile on actor Ken Watanabe, and Julia Roberts does not hate Japan.

►Jakarta adopts Japan's women-only train cars. Related: Pink Tentacle posted incredible vintage posters encouraging Tokyo subway etiquette.

►A WTO panel rules in favor of Japan, the U.S. and Taiwan over the European Union's tariffs on liquid crystal displays.

►In food news: Japanese sushi students aim for better paying jobs overseas, Japanese whiskeys get foothold in U.S., Time Out Tokyo digs Japanese snow cones, and New Yorkers are invited to discover nutritious Japanese cuisine at the Healthy Food & Green Festival Sunday.

►From 4,000 teams to 2: Konan and Tokaidai play Saturday to win Japan's national high-school tournament.

►The Economist reviews Jeff Kingston's Contemporary Japan, says it does "sterling service in stripping away or qualifying" old-fashioned conceptions about Japanese national identity, both from an insider and outsider perspective.

►Size isn't everything in sumo. (Warning: video contains "strips of cloth tied tight and a lot of flesh" according to the WSJ reporter.)

►Hundreds of Pokémon players vie to be the world's best.

►"In a small country like Japan, even storing a flower vase can be a problem."

Image via.

S.J.

News Blast: Manga News, Kan's First Week, Rice Ball Day And More!

Manga News reports on the BP oil spill. Image via.

Manga Brings News into the Now

A new Japanese website publishes the latest news in manga format. Many 1-2 page stories are commissioned from famous manga artists, and range from a 2-pager on the BP oil spill to a new study which proves that monkeys enjoy watching TV. We're hoping Hiroki Otsuka will be available to illustrate our news blasts!

Prime Minister Kan’s First Week   

The New York Times reports Naoto Kan is off to good start, breaking politics as usual with tough talk and giving his party a poll bounce.Only a week in office, and Kan, the new Japanese PM with a whistleblower’s reputation, has been making waves. He unveiled a campaign to halve Japan's debt in 6 years, saying "Politics is power, and power must be used to remove the cause of people's unhappiness." In his first meeting with a foreign leader, Afghan president Hamid Karzai visited to promise effective use of  Tokyo's pledged $5bn in aid. Party members have even designed and distributed 'Yes We Kan'  T-Shirts, punning on his name and U.S. President Obama’s campaign slogan from 2008.

Kan said Tuesday that he would not visit the Yasukuni War Shrine in Tokyo during his time as Prime Minister. Yasukuni is a shrine for World War II dead, and has long been associated with ultra-nationalist sentiment in Japan. Protests frequently occur in and around it about Japanese foreign policy and immigration policies – it has symbolic significance for both right-wingers and left-wingers. When PM Koizumi visited frequently between 2001 and 2006, it caused a foreign policy rift with China. Kan says "I think it is a problem for the prime minister or cabinet ministers to officially pay their respects at the Yasukuni Shrine because Class A war criminals are honored there."

Controversial off the record comments Kan made a year ago are resurfacing. According to a new book written by Shokichi Kina, a DPJ party member, Kan told him that Okinawa "should just become independent" and that negotiations to remove the U.S. bases in the prefecture "aren't resolvable." The comments have come to light only days after Kan expressed his support of Futenma, and his intent to continue Hatoyama’s policies in respect to it.

Tokyo Indie Music Scene

CNNGo goes to a Go!Go!7188 gig and gets blown away. Writer/Photographer Alex Zolbert interviewed the local Tokyo indie band before the show. They were reticent and answered many of his questions only with blank stares, so he wasn’t expecting much. He ended up being pleasantly surprised by their "relentless" performance, and "their throngs of fans were surging and pumping their fists."

If you want to hear more great Japanese indie bands with attitude, check out this list from the end of the decade with acts like Shugo Tokumaru and Macdonald Duck Éclair. My personal favorites for the record: The Boredoms and Cokiyu.

JAPAN CUTS Watch

The Japan Times gives an intriguing review of Confessions, which opened June 5th in Japan and receives its U.S. premiere at our JAPAN CUTS festival in July. Reviewer Mark Schilling says director Nakashima’s work "turns genre on its head," and that Confessions has "a strange power."

Also playing at JAPAN CUTS is omnibus film Mutant Girl’s Squad. Asahi gives an overview of the film’s drunken genesis at last year’s NYAFF and its international screening schedule.

World Cupdate – Samurai Blue Victorious

Samurai Blue defeated Cameroon 1-0 this week. The victory marks Team Japan’s first-ever in World Cup finals, and response to it in Japan was jubilant. Public viewings of the televised match happened in stadiums throughout the country, and late-night parties spilled out from bars into the streets after the winning goals .

Keisuke Honda, who scored the winning goal, said: "This goal was a nice birthday present for me. I am so happy now and there is a great atmosphere in the team. We were able to stop Cameroon’s attacking players and I think that was why we were able to get a good result. We had confidence before the game."

Fans at home were overjoyed, though many Japanese on the street don’t predict Samurai Blue progressing past the next matches. The World Cup Blog previews Japan v. Netherlands. Our fingers are crossed!

World Cup fans, or Japan Society's proposed staff uniforms? Via. 

  
Bite-Sized News:

►Happy Rice Ball Day! Celebrating the world's oldest existing rice ball (aprx. 2000 y.o.).

►U.S. bans military forces in Okinawa from drinking at off-base bars and clubs after midnight 

►June 16 was the 150th anniversary of the first Japanese delegation sent to the U.S. New York City holds three events to celebrate.

►Though recuperating from cancer treatments, maestro Seji Ozawa cancels more concerts, but still plans to appear at Carnegie Hall in December to launch their Japan NYC season.

►Taliban holds Japanese journalist for $1m. He says he's in good health, but giving into demands would have the incident repeated.

►In news about news, The Japan Times reports over 90% of Japanese still read newspapers every day--a consistent figure over the past decade where U.S. readerships have steadily declined .

►The Japanese government launches sexy new ad campaign... for bonds. One real-life testimony: "I want my future husband to be diligent about money. Playboys are no good."

►A space capsule that may contain the first-ever asteroid samples heads for its final destination from Australia to Japan. Related, Discovery News shows first photos of Japan's experimental solar sail spacecraft sailing.

►Japan-U.S. panel called to maintain a program inviting English and other foreign language instructors to Japan, challenging a government view that it is an unnecessary public project.

►The Wall Street Journal reports about Japan's quirkier inventions becoming an economic conerstone, the rise of Tokyo’s bike commuters, revival of Japanese blood-type personality indicators, development of a baby robot, and not one but two Japan news recaps.

►The Economist reports e-commerce bucks Japan's economic downs.

►Time Out takes a Japanese 'staycation' in New York City. Getting hungry just looking at the food page.

►For drinking devotionals, CNNGo lists Tokyo bars affiliated with religious organizations. At Bozu’s Vow Bar  (Monk’s Vow Bar), the Buddhist décor isn’t fake and the bartenders are ordained Buddhist priests.

►Author Shoichi Uchiyama tells the Daily Telegraph that he's had to increase his monthly insect tasting sessions in restaurants across Japan because of their popularity.

►Not sure what pairs best with hornet larvae, but we may have something for escargot: Kanazawa brews sake fit for French restaurants.

N.O., S.J.

The Japan – China – US Triangle

Considering the fact that East Asia Forum has been reporting almost obsessively over the relationship between China and the United States, the United States and Japan, or Japan and China, it's obvious that whatever the results of this tense triangle are, their influence will be global.

Left to right: Philip Berkowitz, Henry Liu, George Pierce, Timothy Wilkins.

Japan and the U.S. have enjoyed the closest of relationships, politically and economically, for the last sixty years. However, China’s emergence as a world economy in the past decade has made it a power to be reckoned with. Japan Society will host a breakfast panel discussion that focuses on the business experience of multinational companies -- and their counsel -- in navigating mergers and other alliances among China, Japan and the United States, nations with completely divergent cultures, histories, and legal systems.

We've got a great line up for this event.

Speakers:
Carl Cheng, Partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP
Henry Liu, Chairman and Managing Partner of China Practice, Nixon Peabody LLP
George Pierce, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Toyota Tsusho America, Inc.
Timothy Wilkins, Partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP

Moderator:
Philip Berkowitz, Partner, Nixon Peabody LLP

It's open to the public, completely free, and happening on April 20th! 

Japan doomsday fears premature

“Many people in the financial world - not all of them kooks - have managed to convince themselves that Japan is hurtling towards some kind of fiscal doomsday, and that no matter what the Yukio Hatoyama government does or doesn’t do, it’s already too late - Japan, they say, will be defaulting on its pension obligations. Or defaulting on its debt. Or will find itself unable to halt a string of bank failures that will bring the financial system to its knees. Or some combination thereof.” (Asia Times Online)

Lucky for us, Sir Deryck Maughan, the head of KKR’s Global Financial Institutions Group and Chairman of KKR Japan and John Paulson, President and Portfolio Manager, Paulson & Co. Inc. are coming to Japan Society next month to discuss the future of economics in Japan and the United States. So we’ll know for sure whether fire is really going to rain from the sky or not.
P.S.
If you’re looking to come to any of our upcoming Corporate Events, be sure to check out this fun video for tips on how to properly exchange business cards or meishi (名刺) with a Japanese business person!