[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Monday, Aug. 10, 2009
Nagasaki seeks world ban on nukes
64 years after A-bomb, mayor says alternative is annihilation Nagasaki
Kyodo News
Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue, echoing a call by U.S. President Barack Obama, urged people around the globe on Sunday to choose a path toward a world free of nuclear weapons as the city commemorated the 64th anniversary of the atomic bombing.
A moment of silence was observed at 11:02 a.m., the time on Aug. 9, 1945, when a U.S. bomber dropped the atomic bomb that killed an estimated 74,000 people by the end of that year.
Another 3,304 people were recognized this past year as fatal victims of the Nagasaki bombing, bringing the total of those who have died to 149,266, according to city officials.
"We, as human beings, now have two paths before us," Taue said in his Peace Declaration during the annual memorial ceremony at Nagasaki Peace Park. "While one can lead us to a world without nuclear weapons, the other will carry us toward annihilation."
Obama said in April that the United States will seek a world without nuclear weapons, creating a wave of optimism among people petitioning for the abolishment of nuclear arms around the world.
"President Obama's speech was a watershed event, in that the United States, a superpower possessing nuclear weapons, finally took a step toward the elimination of nuclear armaments," Taue said, adding that people in Nagasaki are circulating petitions urging the U.S. leader to visit their city.
As for Japan, Taue said the country must take a leading role in disseminating around the world the "ideals of peace and renunciation of war" as stipulated in the Constitution.
Taue urged the central government to turn into law Japan's stated three nonnuclear principles of not producing, possessing or allowing nuclear weapons on Japanese territory. He also said the government should work on creating a nuclear weapons-free zone in Northeast Asia, including North Korea.
Taue touched on Pyongyang's nuclear test in May, saying, "As long as the world continues to rely on nuclear deterrence and nuclear weapons continue to exist, the possibility always exists that dangerous nations like North Korea and terrorists will emerge."
He urged the international community to make North Korea destroy its nuclear arsenal and said the five major nuclear powers — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — must "fulfill their responsibility to reduce nuclear arms."
In support of Taue, Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, president of the U.N. General Assembly and a Roman Catholic priest, spoke at the ceremony, saying, "The only certain way to assure that nuclear weapons will never be used again is to eliminate them outright."
Prime Minister Taro Aso pledged at the ceremony to stick to the three nonnuclear principles as he gave a speech similar to the one he delivered in Hiroshima three days earlier.
Aso mentioned an agreement reached Thursday under which 306 plaintiffs will be granted certification as suffering from atomic bomb-related illnesses and get the accompanying benefits.
The move came after the government lost 19 straight lawsuits filed across the country over the certification issue, putting an end to their six-year-long legal battle.
Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, 1945, six days after Nagasaki was bombed.
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Monday, Aug. 10, 2009
Sakai blames her husband
Actress reportedly tells police her drug use started last summer
Kyodo News
Actress Noriko Sakai has reportedly told Tokyo police she started inhaling illegal stimulants last summer at the urging of her husband, sources said Sunday.
Sakai inhaled the drugs with her husband, Yukichi Takaso, after heating them or by using a pipe, the sources quoted her as telling investigators.
Sakai was arrested Saturday on suspicion of possessing an illegal stimulant and allegedly admitted to the charge.
She had been missing since Aug. 3, when her husband, a 41-year-old self-described professional surfer, was arrested after a police officer found a plastic bag containing stimulants in his underwear in Shibuya Ward.
Police had continued trying Sunday to confirm her admission to possessing illegal stimulants because the statements she made Saturday had been somewhat ambiguous.
"I don't remember in detail about stimulants being in my room. But if they were in my room, it must be true," Sakai, 38, reportedly told investigators after she turned herself in at a police station Saturday.
Sakai and Takaso were both arrested on suspicion of breaking the law prohibiting production, possession or use of amphetamines, methamphetamines and similar drugs. These drugs produce hyperactivity and can induce euphoria. Regular use can eventually produce such disorders as severe depression and paranoia.
A urine test Sunday on Sakai turned out negative for drugs, the sources said.
Inhaled amphetamines or methamphetamines usually become undetectable in about a week, experts said.
The Metropolitan Police Department arrested Sakai after she turned herself in at a police station in Bunkyo Ward at around 8 p.m. Saturday.
She decided to surrender to police after learning through TV news programs that an arrest warrant had been issued for her, the sources quoted her as saying.
The police obtained the warrant Friday after searching her Minato Ward apartment, where she lives separately from Takaso.
The search allegedly turned up 0.008 gram of a stimulant drug wrapped in aluminum foil, leading investigators to suspect it was residue because a normal dose is usually about 0.03 gram.
Dozens of straws apparently used to inhale fumes after heating the drug were also found and seized.
A sample taken from the straws matched Sakai's DNA, according to the sources.
Victor Entertainment Inc. announced Sunday it has canceled plans to sell a greatest hits CD of Sakai's songs that had been scheduled to come out Sept. 16.
The company also suspended sales of other products related to Sakai, including online distribution of her songs.
"The arrest is very regrettable. An antisocial act like this should never be acceptable," the company said in a statement. "We will keep taking severe actions" against this type of behavior.
Masahisa Aizawa, president of Sakai's talent agency, Tokyo-based Sun Music Production Inc., said at a news conference Sunday he might have to release her.
"If she is indicted, we must naturally come to (a decision), including dismissal," he said.
Aizawa said he was not aware of any drug use by Sakai, although he thought she looked thinner when he met with her last month. Continuous use of stimulants can lead to weight loss.
"I was worried when I met her in mid-July because she had lost some weight. I thought she was mentally tired from taking care of her kid or other things," he said.
Aizawa apologized on Sakai's behalf and expressed relief that she decided to turn herself in. The agency had said during her disappearance it was unable to contact her.
Sakai was summoned early last week to the site where her husband was arrested but refused to appear at a police station for a voluntary urine test. She then disappeared with her 10-year-old son, who was found safe Thursday at an acquaintance's home in Tokyo.
The police said Sakai called the acquaintance from a public phone Wednesday and asked to hear her son's voice.
Sakai, also known by the nickname "Nori-P," married Takaso in 1998 and she gave birth to her son in 1999.
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Monday, Aug. 10, 2009
Temblor shakes Tokyo vicinity
Kyodo News
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.9 jolted Tokyo and wide areas of eastern Japan on Sunday evening, the Meteorological Agency said.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the 7:56 p.m. quake that originated some 340 km under the surface of the sea off the Tokaido area and lasted an unusually long time, the agency said.
There was no fear of tsunami following the earthquake, it said.
The temblor measured 4 on the Japanese seismic scale of 7 in central Tokyo as well as several parts of Miyagi, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Saitama and Chiba prefectures.
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Monday, Aug. 10, 2009
Aso suffers another kanji gaffe
Kyodo News
Prime Minister Taro Aso made another mistake Sunday regarding kanji, immediately drawing criticism from some opposition lawmakers.
Aso said "shoseki" when he should have said "kizuato" (scars) while reading a speech in Nagasaki about the 1945 atomic bombing.
He was trying to say the bombing has left "scars (on the survivors) that will never be healed."
Kizuato is not a particularly difficult word to read, but Aso apparently read it in the "on-yomi" style, which is based on the ancient Chinese sounds of the characters.
"I don't think it is appropriate to read (the word) in the wrong way on a day of prayer, when everybody in Nagasaki is feeling pain," said Mizuho Fukushima, president of the Social Democratic Party.
Since taking office as prime minister last September, Aso has made numerous kanji mistakes while reading prepared speeches in public.
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Monday, Aug. 10, 2009
Nagasaki seeks world ban on nukes
64 years after A-bomb, mayor says alternative is annihilation Nagasaki
Kyodo News
Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue, echoing a call by U.S. President Barack Obama, urged people around the globe on Sunday to choose a path toward a world free of nuclear weapons as the city commemorated the 64th anniversary of the atomic bombing.
A moment of silence was observed at 11:02 a.m., the time on Aug. 9, 1945, when a U.S. bomber dropped the atomic bomb that killed an estimated 74,000 people by the end of that year.
Another 3,304 people were recognized this past year as fatal victims of the Nagasaki bombing, bringing the total of those who have died to 149,266, according to city officials.
"We, as human beings, now have two paths before us," Taue said in his Peace Declaration during the annual memorial ceremony at Nagasaki Peace Park. "While one can lead us to a world without nuclear weapons, the other will carry us toward annihilation."
Obama said in April that the United States will seek a world without nuclear weapons, creating a wave of optimism among people petitioning for the abolishment of nuclear arms around the world.
"President Obama's speech was a watershed event, in that the United States, a superpower possessing nuclear weapons, finally took a step toward the elimination of nuclear armaments," Taue said, adding that people in Nagasaki are circulating petitions urging the U.S. leader to visit their city.
As for Japan, Taue said the country must take a leading role in disseminating around the world the "ideals of peace and renunciation of war" as stipulated in the Constitution.
Taue urged the central government to turn into law Japan's stated three nonnuclear principles of not producing, possessing or allowing nuclear weapons on Japanese territory. He also said the government should work on creating a nuclear weapons-free zone in Northeast Asia, including North Korea.
Taue touched on Pyongyang's nuclear test in May, saying, "As long as the world continues to rely on nuclear deterrence and nuclear weapons continue to exist, the possibility always exists that dangerous nations like North Korea and terrorists will emerge."
He urged the international community to make North Korea destroy its nuclear arsenal and said the five major nuclear powers — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — must "fulfill their responsibility to reduce nuclear arms."
In support of Taue, Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, president of the U.N. General Assembly and a Roman Catholic priest, spoke at the ceremony, saying, "The only certain way to assure that nuclear weapons will never be used again is to eliminate them outright."
Prime Minister Taro Aso pledged at the ceremony to stick to the three nonnuclear principles as he gave a speech similar to the one he delivered in Hiroshima three days earlier.
Aso mentioned an agreement reached Thursday under which 306 plaintiffs will be granted certification as suffering from atomic bomb-related illnesses and get the accompanying benefits.
The move came after the government lost 19 straight lawsuits filed across the country over the certification issue, putting an end to their six-year-long legal battle.
Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, 1945, six days after Nagasaki was bombed.
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Monday, Aug. 10, 2009
Sakai blames her husband
Actress reportedly tells police her drug use started last summer
Kyodo News
Actress Noriko Sakai has reportedly told Tokyo police she started inhaling illegal stimulants last summer at the urging of her husband, sources said Sunday.
Sakai inhaled the drugs with her husband, Yukichi Takaso, after heating them or by using a pipe, the sources quoted her as telling investigators.
Sakai was arrested Saturday on suspicion of possessing an illegal stimulant and allegedly admitted to the charge.
She had been missing since Aug. 3, when her husband, a 41-year-old self-described professional surfer, was arrested after a police officer found a plastic bag containing stimulants in his underwear in Shibuya Ward.
Police had continued trying Sunday to confirm her admission to possessing illegal stimulants because the statements she made Saturday had been somewhat ambiguous.
"I don't remember in detail about stimulants being in my room. But if they were in my room, it must be true," Sakai, 38, reportedly told investigators after she turned herself in at a police station Saturday.
Sakai and Takaso were both arrested on suspicion of breaking the law prohibiting production, possession or use of amphetamines, methamphetamines and similar drugs. These drugs produce hyperactivity and can induce euphoria. Regular use can eventually produce such disorders as severe depression and paranoia.
A urine test Sunday on Sakai turned out negative for drugs, the sources said.
Inhaled amphetamines or methamphetamines usually become undetectable in about a week, experts said.
The Metropolitan Police Department arrested Sakai after she turned herself in at a police station in Bunkyo Ward at around 8 p.m. Saturday.
She decided to surrender to police after learning through TV news programs that an arrest warrant had been issued for her, the sources quoted her as saying.
The police obtained the warrant Friday after searching her Minato Ward apartment, where she lives separately from Takaso.
The search allegedly turned up 0.008 gram of a stimulant drug wrapped in aluminum foil, leading investigators to suspect it was residue because a normal dose is usually about 0.03 gram.
Dozens of straws apparently used to inhale fumes after heating the drug were also found and seized.
A sample taken from the straws matched Sakai's DNA, according to the sources.
Victor Entertainment Inc. announced Sunday it has canceled plans to sell a greatest hits CD of Sakai's songs that had been scheduled to come out Sept. 16.
The company also suspended sales of other products related to Sakai, including online distribution of her songs.
"The arrest is very regrettable. An antisocial act like this should never be acceptable," the company said in a statement. "We will keep taking severe actions" against this type of behavior.
Masahisa Aizawa, president of Sakai's talent agency, Tokyo-based Sun Music Production Inc., said at a news conference Sunday he might have to release her.
"If she is indicted, we must naturally come to (a decision), including dismissal," he said.
Aizawa said he was not aware of any drug use by Sakai, although he thought she looked thinner when he met with her last month. Continuous use of stimulants can lead to weight loss.
"I was worried when I met her in mid-July because she had lost some weight. I thought she was mentally tired from taking care of her kid or other things," he said.
Aizawa apologized on Sakai's behalf and expressed relief that she decided to turn herself in. The agency had said during her disappearance it was unable to contact her.
Sakai was summoned early last week to the site where her husband was arrested but refused to appear at a police station for a voluntary urine test. She then disappeared with her 10-year-old son, who was found safe Thursday at an acquaintance's home in Tokyo.
The police said Sakai called the acquaintance from a public phone Wednesday and asked to hear her son's voice.
Sakai, also known by the nickname "Nori-P," married Takaso in 1998 and she gave birth to her son in 1999.
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Monday, Aug. 10, 2009
Temblor shakes Tokyo vicinity
Kyodo News
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.9 jolted Tokyo and wide areas of eastern Japan on Sunday evening, the Meteorological Agency said.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the 7:56 p.m. quake that originated some 340 km under the surface of the sea off the Tokaido area and lasted an unusually long time, the agency said.
There was no fear of tsunami following the earthquake, it said.
The temblor measured 4 on the Japanese seismic scale of 7 in central Tokyo as well as several parts of Miyagi, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Saitama and Chiba prefectures.
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Monday, Aug. 10, 2009
Aso suffers another kanji gaffe
Kyodo News
Prime Minister Taro Aso made another mistake Sunday regarding kanji, immediately drawing criticism from some opposition lawmakers.
Aso said "shoseki" when he should have said "kizuato" (scars) while reading a speech in Nagasaki about the 1945 atomic bombing.
He was trying to say the bombing has left "scars (on the survivors) that will never be healed."
Kizuato is not a particularly difficult word to read, but Aso apparently read it in the "on-yomi" style, which is based on the ancient Chinese sounds of the characters.
"I don't think it is appropriate to read (the word) in the wrong way on a day of prayer, when everybody in Nagasaki is feeling pain," said Mizuho Fukushima, president of the Social Democratic Party.
Since taking office as prime minister last September, Aso has made numerous kanji mistakes while reading prepared speeches in public.
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