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2009-08-13 21:52:32 | Weblog
[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]

[NATIONAL NEWS]
Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009
Lay judges rule after victim testifies
4 1/2 years handed to man who tried to kill another in Saitama


SAITAMA (Kyodo) The second trial involving lay judges under the new criminal trial system ended Wednesday in a 4 1/2-year sentence for a man who attempted to kill an acquaintance in Saitama Prefecture.

The case at the Saitama District Court was the first time a victim appeared as a witness, and the first in which leniency was possible because the attempted murder failed and the defendant turned himself in. The case follows the first tried by lay judges, a murder trial last week in Tokyo.

During the three-day trial in Saitama, prosecutors demanded a six-year prison term for Shigeyuki Miyake, 35, while his lawyers sought a suspended sentence because the defendant turned himself in, pleaded guilty and expressed regret for his act before the bench.

"Although the worst consequence was avoided, it was an extremely dangerous crime because the defendant stabbed the victim on the left side of his chest with a kitchen knife," presiding Judge Makoto Tamura said.

Miyake, a demolition worker, attempted to stab the 35-year-old unemployed man in Sayama in May.

All six lay judges and two alternates attended a news conference after the trial. Five agreed to be photographed by reporters and two gave their names.

"I've been quite tired. I don't think I want to do it again," said Kenji Kikuchi, smiling during the news conference.

Last week's first lay judge trial yielded a 15-year prison term for a 72-year-old man charged with killing a 66-year-old neighbor woman in Tokyo in May.

The lay judge system was inaugurated in May and is used for heinous crimes such as murder, robbery and rape. The reform aims to increase the involvement of ordinary citizens in the criminal trial process and enhance public trust in the judiciary.

In lay judge trials, six citizens selected at random sit on the bench, along with three professional judges at district courts.


[BUSINESS NEWS]
Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009
Sapporo to acquire 20% stake in Pokka
Kyodo News
Sapporo Holdings Ltd. announced Wednesday it will buy a 21.65 percent stake in beverage maker Pokka Corp. by September as it seeks to combat shrinking demand for beverages in its home market.

Sapporo, the country's fourth-largest beer maker, said it will acquire shares in Pokka from Japanese investment fund Advantage Partners LLP and other shareholders for less than ¥12.99 billion.

Sapporo and Pokka, a Nagoya-based maker of lemon-flavored and coffee drinks, already have ties in supplying their products to each other's vending machines.

But the latest deal will expand the alliance to cooperation in product development, distribution, sales and marketing, Sapporo said.

Realignment in the struggling Japanese food and beverage industry has been widely anticipated since Kirin Holdings Co. and Suntory Holdings Ltd. said last month they have begun negotiations for a merger that would create one of the world's largest beverage companies.

The move by Sapporo will focus attention on other players such as Asahi Breweries Ltd. It is likely to trigger further consolidation in the country's food and beverage industry as the industry suffers from dwindling growth opportunities on the back of the aging population and declining birthrate.

Sapporo is also considering a three-way business alliance with Japanese sweets and dairy product maker Meiji Holdings Co., which already holds a stake of 21.65 percent in Pokka, that may eventually develop into a capital tieup, sources said.


[NATIONAL NEWS]
Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009

Expect delay in Japan Post group share sales, opposition parties say
Bloomberg

The government's sale of shares in the Japan Post group, which includes the world's biggest bank by deposits, will be delayed, according to officials in the Democratic Party of Japan, which polls indicate will win the Aug. 30 general election.

Legislation pushed through in 2005 by then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi broke the 138-year-old government entity Japan Post into four companies under a holding company and allows for share sales as soon as next year. The assets of the banking and insurance units in Japan Post Holdings Co. amounted to $3.1 trillion as of the end of March, according to financial statements.

The DPJ and smaller ally Kokumin Shinto (People's New Party) oppose any moves to sell the shares next year, three party officials said. Kokumin Shinto is made up of foes to the postal system privatization Koizumi initiated.

"Listing the postal companies will be impossible in fiscal 2010 or even 2011," Masayuki Naoshima, policy chief at the DPJ, said in an interview Wednesday.

Shizuka Kamei, deputy president of Kokumin Shinto, said in an interview on Aug. 7 that he is against any sale of the government's shares in the postal service, including Japan Post Bank Co., which holds deposits of ¥177.5 trillion.

"It would be best to merge the Japan Post companies into one and do away with the holding company," Kamei said. "The government should hold all the shares in the company."

Kamei said his party will consider forming a government with the DPJ if they can reach an agreement on policies, after the election.

Kohei Otsuka, DPJ deputy spokesman for finance, said if the party takes power it will delay any sale during its first four years. Polls show the DPJ out ahead of the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party in the runup to the election.

"We will immediately freeze the sale of shares," he said in a July 15 interview. "Not listing the firms is also an option."


[NATIONAL NEWS]
Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009
One quake death; road repairs brisk
Kyodo News

A 43-year-old woman who was found dead in her apartment in the city of Shizuoka on Tuesday is the sole fatality recorded in the magnitude 6.5 earthquake that jolted central Japan earlier that day, police said Wednesday.

The body was discovered beneath a pile of books, according to the police.

The quake damaged almost 5,000 houses in Shizuoka Prefecture and injured more than 120 people.

Meanwhile repairs reached a fever pitch Wednesday on a section of the Tomei Expressway that was closed in Shizuoka Prefecture when it collapsed during the magnitude 6.5 quake Tuesday.

Repair of the collapsed shoulder and lane will be finished by noon Thursday, when an increase in traffic is expected as many people will be traveling during the Bon holiday period, according to the road operator and other sources.

The operator, Central Nippon Expressway Co., initially aimed at ending the restoration work by Wednesday midnight.

Expressways around the Tomei were overwhelmed with detour traffic, with part of the Chuo Expressway backed up for about 32 km around 7:30 a.m. between Tokyo and Yamanashi Prefecture.


[NATIONAL NEWS]
Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009
Stroke-induced brains of mice show signs of rewiring

NAGOYA (Kyodo) When one side of the brain loses function due to a stroke, the other side rearranges its neuronal circuits to replace the lost functions, according to a study by Japanese researchers.

A team at the National Institute for Physiological Sciences in Aichi Prefecture found such rearrangements of neuronal circuits through experiments on mice, according to the study published in Wednesday's issue of the U.S. Journal of Neuroscience.

Though the two sides of the human brain have different functions, the mice experiments indicate the unaffected side is capable of assuming the role of the damaged side, according to the study.

The results can be applied to rehabilitative programs for stroke survivors, said Junichi Nabekura, professor of neurophysiology at the institute and a member of the team.

The team induced ischemic strokes in mice's right brains, leaving their front left legs paralyzed.

In one to two weeks, however, the team observed active rearrangement of synapses, which transmit signals between neurons, in part of their left brains.


[BUSINESS NEWS]
Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009
Aeon to start selling jeans for ¥880
Kyodo News

Aeon Co., the nation's largest retailer, said Wednesday it will start selling jeans Friday with a price tag of ¥880, below the ¥990 price offered by Fast Retailing Co.'s Uniqlo chain, which sells inexpensive casual wear.

Aeon has taken advantage of production in China to lower the price, just as Fast Retailing has done.

Aeon claimed the jeans of its Topvalu brand would be the least expensive in the industry. Fast Retailing has offered the ¥990 jeans under its gu brand rather than the more popular Uniqlo brand.

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