[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Monday, Dec. 28, 2009
Ozawa group faces fresh scandal over land buy
Kyodo News
Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa is under a new cloud of scandal over his fund management body's 2004 purchase of Tokyo land using more than \400 million that initially went unreported and was involved in shady, rather quick transfers, sources said.
Initially held as cash, the money was transferred to several bank accounts of Ozawa-linked political organizations, then later quickly moved to his fund management body, Rikuzankai, the sources said.
Rikuzankai listed funds used to purchase 476 sq. meters of land in Setagaya Ward worth about \340 million in its 2005 political funds report, although the land was actually bought in October 2004.
Ozawa's office has said a financial institution loaned \400 million to Rikuzankai using a time deposit of that value as collateral and spent the money for the land. But strangely, the payment was made before the financial institution actually lent to the fund management body, the sources said Saturday.
Prosecutors questioned DPJ lawmaker Tomohiro Ishikawa on a voluntary basis Sunday in the belief he can shed some light on the murky fund management process, they added.
Representative Ishikawa, who is also from Hokkaido, was performing clerical work at Rikuzankai when the land deal went down.
Hatoyama coughs up
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Sunday that he has just paid around \600 million in gift taxes on about \1.26 billion received from his mother since 2002.
"I undertook the procedure. I declared the tax instead of revising the tax return," Hatoyama told reporters in front of the prime minister's office.
Hatoyama sent a tax return to a tax office in Muroran, Hokkaido, on Friday afternoon, sources close to him said. Hatoyama represents a Hokkaido district in the Lower House.
Hatoyama's actions came after two of his former state-paid aides were indicted Thursday over a political funds scandal involving money provided by his mother that was falsely reported as coming from other sources.
Liberal Democratic Party President Sadao Tanigaki said the incident should have been treated as a criminal case involving the prime minister because it involves such a huge sum.
"Speaking from this viewpoint, it is not natural to see the case closed (by the prime minister just paying a gift tax)," he said Sunday.
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Monday, Dec. 28, 2009
Okada to revamp document disclosure
Kyodo News
Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada wants to revamp the declassification system for diplomatic documents because the current system leaves document release largely to the discretion of bureaucrats, sources close to him said Sunday.
Okada is thinking of drawing up new rules and setting up a third-party panel to supervise information disclosure so the current principle governing the declassification of documents compiled 30 or more years ago will be better served, the sources said.
This could also mean removing declassified documents from bureaucrats' hands for purposes of disclosure.
Selecting which documents to declassify is the domain of the Diplomatic Record Declassification Review Division, part of the Minister's Secretariat at the Foreign Ministry.
Its decisions are subject to approval by a committee that comprises the heads of the secretariat and of each bureau in the Foreign Ministry.
After consulting the sections and divisions in charge of diplomacy with the countries concerned, a decision is made to either declassify a document or keep it secret. Many are kept secret.
However, the declassification review division can only access a document that has been moved to the basement library by the section in charge of that particular document, and many records concerning key diplomatic issues, such as the territorial dispute between Japan and Russia and the Japan-U.S. security alliance, are still in the hands of the vice minister, bureau chiefs and other sections in the Foreign Ministry even though they were compiled 30 or more years ago.
The declassification review division also has just over 10 officials working there, and the personnel shortage has reportedly resulted in some 40,000 document files languishing in the basement library.
Okada will begin making concrete proposals for revamping the disclosure system in January.
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Monday, Dec. 28, 2009
Narita airport ramps up security after foiled attack on U.S. plane
NARITA, Chiba Pref. (Kyodo) Narita airport tightened security procedures Sunday at the request of the United States, where a terror attack on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit was foiled just before landing.
Despite being jammed with travelers at the start of the yearend holidays, airlines operating flights to the U.S. are now using tougher screening measures.
Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways increased body checks at boarding gates, a step usually applied to just a fraction of all passengers.
They are also opening and examining all carry-on items during boarding.
The operator of the airport also asked passengers to start boarding earlier.
"I came earlier than usual because I read a newspaper article that said security would be tightened," said Katsunori Sakai, a 57-year-old dentist from Fuchu in western Tokyo going to Las Vegas with his family. "It can't be avoided for safety's sake."
A 73-year-old woman from Wako, Saitama Prefecture, head to the U.S. to meet her son said she was shocked.
"I was surprised with the tight security," she said.
A Nigerian man claiming links to the al-Qaida terrorist network set off a small explosive device aboard a Delta-Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit on Friday. The plane, which was carrying 278 passengers, landed safely.
In the wake of the attack, the U.S. Transport Security Administration asked JAL and ANA to closely inspect all passengers boarding planes to the U.S. and to conduct more body searches. The Japanese transportation ministry has instructed airlines to conduct full security checks on passengers for all flights, domestic or international.
At Japanese airports, travelers must pass through metal detectors but are not necessarily body searched.
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Monday, Dec. 28, 2009
Ozawa group faces fresh scandal over land buy
Kyodo News
Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa is under a new cloud of scandal over his fund management body's 2004 purchase of Tokyo land using more than \400 million that initially went unreported and was involved in shady, rather quick transfers, sources said.
Initially held as cash, the money was transferred to several bank accounts of Ozawa-linked political organizations, then later quickly moved to his fund management body, Rikuzankai, the sources said.
Rikuzankai listed funds used to purchase 476 sq. meters of land in Setagaya Ward worth about \340 million in its 2005 political funds report, although the land was actually bought in October 2004.
Ozawa's office has said a financial institution loaned \400 million to Rikuzankai using a time deposit of that value as collateral and spent the money for the land. But strangely, the payment was made before the financial institution actually lent to the fund management body, the sources said Saturday.
Prosecutors questioned DPJ lawmaker Tomohiro Ishikawa on a voluntary basis Sunday in the belief he can shed some light on the murky fund management process, they added.
Representative Ishikawa, who is also from Hokkaido, was performing clerical work at Rikuzankai when the land deal went down.
Hatoyama coughs up
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Sunday that he has just paid around \600 million in gift taxes on about \1.26 billion received from his mother since 2002.
"I undertook the procedure. I declared the tax instead of revising the tax return," Hatoyama told reporters in front of the prime minister's office.
Hatoyama sent a tax return to a tax office in Muroran, Hokkaido, on Friday afternoon, sources close to him said. Hatoyama represents a Hokkaido district in the Lower House.
Hatoyama's actions came after two of his former state-paid aides were indicted Thursday over a political funds scandal involving money provided by his mother that was falsely reported as coming from other sources.
Liberal Democratic Party President Sadao Tanigaki said the incident should have been treated as a criminal case involving the prime minister because it involves such a huge sum.
"Speaking from this viewpoint, it is not natural to see the case closed (by the prime minister just paying a gift tax)," he said Sunday.
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Monday, Dec. 28, 2009
Okada to revamp document disclosure
Kyodo News
Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada wants to revamp the declassification system for diplomatic documents because the current system leaves document release largely to the discretion of bureaucrats, sources close to him said Sunday.
Okada is thinking of drawing up new rules and setting up a third-party panel to supervise information disclosure so the current principle governing the declassification of documents compiled 30 or more years ago will be better served, the sources said.
This could also mean removing declassified documents from bureaucrats' hands for purposes of disclosure.
Selecting which documents to declassify is the domain of the Diplomatic Record Declassification Review Division, part of the Minister's Secretariat at the Foreign Ministry.
Its decisions are subject to approval by a committee that comprises the heads of the secretariat and of each bureau in the Foreign Ministry.
After consulting the sections and divisions in charge of diplomacy with the countries concerned, a decision is made to either declassify a document or keep it secret. Many are kept secret.
However, the declassification review division can only access a document that has been moved to the basement library by the section in charge of that particular document, and many records concerning key diplomatic issues, such as the territorial dispute between Japan and Russia and the Japan-U.S. security alliance, are still in the hands of the vice minister, bureau chiefs and other sections in the Foreign Ministry even though they were compiled 30 or more years ago.
The declassification review division also has just over 10 officials working there, and the personnel shortage has reportedly resulted in some 40,000 document files languishing in the basement library.
Okada will begin making concrete proposals for revamping the disclosure system in January.
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Monday, Dec. 28, 2009
Narita airport ramps up security after foiled attack on U.S. plane
NARITA, Chiba Pref. (Kyodo) Narita airport tightened security procedures Sunday at the request of the United States, where a terror attack on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit was foiled just before landing.
Despite being jammed with travelers at the start of the yearend holidays, airlines operating flights to the U.S. are now using tougher screening measures.
Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways increased body checks at boarding gates, a step usually applied to just a fraction of all passengers.
They are also opening and examining all carry-on items during boarding.
The operator of the airport also asked passengers to start boarding earlier.
"I came earlier than usual because I read a newspaper article that said security would be tightened," said Katsunori Sakai, a 57-year-old dentist from Fuchu in western Tokyo going to Las Vegas with his family. "It can't be avoided for safety's sake."
A 73-year-old woman from Wako, Saitama Prefecture, head to the U.S. to meet her son said she was shocked.
"I was surprised with the tight security," she said.
A Nigerian man claiming links to the al-Qaida terrorist network set off a small explosive device aboard a Delta-Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit on Friday. The plane, which was carrying 278 passengers, landed safely.
In the wake of the attack, the U.S. Transport Security Administration asked JAL and ANA to closely inspect all passengers boarding planes to the U.S. and to conduct more body searches. The Japanese transportation ministry has instructed airlines to conduct full security checks on passengers for all flights, domestic or international.
At Japanese airports, travelers must pass through metal detectors but are not necessarily body searched.
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