Category: Japan

It looks like the Japanese military is experiencing a growth in female recruits:

Japan’s Self-Defense Forces are considering new female training units to accommodate an influx of female recruits that is expected to continue to climb in the coming years, Japanese media reported this week.
The island nation is finding it increasingly difficult to accept female recruits with its existing units stretched to capacity, the Jiji Press news agency reported, citing sources with knowledge of the deliberations.
As a result, the Self-Defense Forces are considering the addition of new units across the country to accommodate recruits in all three service branches.

Stars & Stripes

Here are some statistical facts about females in the Japanese military:

The Ground Self-Defense Force mainly holds female recruit training at Camp Asaka in Saitama prefecture, Jiji said. It too is considering the formation of a new unit to relieve the pressure on Asaka, but further details were unavailable.
The Self-Defense Forces have gone from 144 female servicemembers in its inaugural year, 1954, to more than 15,000 as of March 2018, or 6.5 percent of the total force, according to its website. That number is up 1.6 percent since 2008 and continues to climb, the Defense Ministry’s 2018 white paper added.
The ministry plans to eliminate quotas and raise the number of female servicemembers to more than 9 percent by 2030. 

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Banning Chinese products that could be cybersecurity risks should have been something done 10 years ago, but I guess better late than never:

Japan is set to ban government use of telecom products from Huawei and ZTE over national security concerns surrounding the Chinese companies.

Relevant government agencies will likely reach an agreement as early as Monday to ban the companies from taking part in government procurement, according to local media.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the move was aimed at preventing cyberattacks and the leaking of confidential information.

“Ensuring the cyber security of government agencies has become increasingly important. We will deal with the matter from various perspectives,” he said.

Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya also pledged efforts to ensure security.

The move comes days after Meng Wanzhou, 46, the chief financial officer and daughter of founder Ren Zhengfei, was arrested in Vancouver, from where she may well be extradited to the United States. She is suspected of violating U.S. sanctions against Iran.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

In Japan the increasing use of English words in subway station names is drawing some criticism:

 

Following a recent naming trend that mixes Japanese and English words, Tokyo Metro Co. has announced that a new station set to open ahead of the 2020 Games will be called Toranomon Hills.

Toranomon Hills is the name of a skyscraper housing a business complex in the namesake district of Minato Ward. The station is under construction in an area between Kasumigaseki and Kamiyacho Stations on the Hibiya Line, seven minutes on foot from the supermodern, 52-story structure, which opened in June 2014.

The announcement Wednesday came a day after East Japan Railway Co. announced that a new station on the Yamanote Line between Shinagawa and Tamachi stations would be called Takanawa Gateway. JR East’s new station is scheduled to partially open in the spring of 2020, with full operations beginning in 2024.  [Japan Times]

You can read the rest at the link, but it seems to me that using English for stations linked to the 2020 Olympics makes sense.  Even nearby Korea uses English words for subway station names in Seoul such as “Seoul-forest”, “Ttukseom Park”, “Konkuk University”, etc.

However, some people have had fun with the English names for Tokyo subway stops by offering these recommended changes:

山手線改め山手メトロポリタンループラインの路線図です。ご査収ください。 pic.twitter.com/Fy0DRxcqXK

— くらげ (@kurage60) December 4, 2018

Does anyone have any good recommendations for changing subway station stop names in Seoul to English? I guess an obvious one would be to rename Itaewon Station to “Hooker Hill Station”.

Lets hope the five missing Marines are found:

Two U.S. Marine aircraft crashed early Thursday during a refueling drill, leaving five crew members missing after two were rescued off the coast of Kochi Prefecture later in the day.

A KC-130 air-refueling tanker and an F/A-18 fighter jet were involved in what the military termed a “mishap” in the early morning hours. One crew member was rescued later in the morning by the Maritime Self Defense Force and sent to a hospital, while another was rescued later in the day, according to the Japanese Defense Ministry. The Marine Corps said the second marine had been transported to a local hospital. One of the two was a crew member of the F/A-18.  [Japan Times]

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest dust up between Korea and Japan:

“It’s very regrettable that the Japanese government is continuing to respond excessively to our judiciary’s ruling, and (we) call for its restraint,” the foreign ministry’s spokesman, Noh Kyu-duk, said at a press briefing.

He said it’s natural for an administration to respect a court decision in a democracy.

The ministry called in Japan’s ambassador to Seoul, Yasumasa Nagamine, to deliver a direct protest message.

The ambassador did not answer a reporter’s question while entering the ministry building in Seoul.

Here is the latest diplomatic spat between Japan and the Moon administration:

South Korea voiced strong regret Tuesday about the Japanese foreign minister’s reported comments on soured bilateral relations in another sign of a deepening rift over history issues.

South Korea’s top diplomat, Kang Kyung-wha, earlier said she’s considering a visit to Japan, although no schedule has been set, in a bid to mend fences.

Her counterpart, Taro Kono, however, said in a meeting with Japanese lawmakers that Kang does not need to come to Japan without a “proper” response to his government’s demands, according to NHK.

Late last month, South Korea’s Supreme Court ordered a Japanese steelmaker to compensate four Korean men for their wartime forced labor.

Seoul also announced a decision to disband a Tokyo-funded foundation on Korean women forced into sexual slavery by Japanese troops during World War II.  (……)

A senior South Korean official expressed concern about Kono’s reported remark on Kang’s possible trip there.

“If it’s true, I think it’s undiplomatic and inappropriate as a foreign minister in charge of diplomatic relations,” the official told reporters, saying his statement reflects Seoul’s formal view on the matter.

He added the government is very concerned that Japan’s leaders continue provocative rhetoric with regard to the Seoul court’s ruling in ignorance of the fundamental problem.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the Moon administration is about to scrap an agreement made with the Japanese to settle the comfort women issue:

The planned shutdown of the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation, funded by Japan, is seen as Seoul’s move to effectively discard a 2015 accord between the neighboring countries on the “comfort women” issue.

Many Korean women were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II. Some historians put the number at as many as 200,000. Korea was under Japan’s brutal colonization from 1910-45.

I think this can be interpreted in showing how important the US Army considers missile defense for Japan that it stood up a brigade headquarters there:

The Army has reactivated a brigade to oversee missile-defense units on mainland Japan, Okinawa and Guam.

The 38th Air Defense Artillery Brigade was reactivated in a brief ceremony Wednesday at Camp Zama, headquarters of U.S. Army Japan in Kanagawa prefecture near Tokyo.

The brigade, based at Sagami General Depot, about 25 miles west of the Japanese capital, will oversee the 1st Battalion, 1st Air Defense Regiment at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, as well as the 10th and 14th Missile Defense Batteries on mainland Japan and a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, battery on Guam.

The unit, which will include about 115 personnel at full strength, is purely a headquarters unit, said U.S. Army Japan spokesman Kevin Krejcarek.

“It’s just personnel. There won’t be any missile batteries at Sagami,” he told Stars and Stripes ahead of Wednesday’s ceremony as protestors gathered outside Zama’s main gate.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but for those wondering USFK has its own air defense artillery brigade headquarters based at Osan Airbase.

It is very Japanese to apologize for causing a fuss even when you are taken hostage:

A Japanese journalist freed from Syria this week arrived home to overjoyed relatives and supporters, but also to vitriol from some who accuse him and other hostages of reckless behaviour.

Jumpei Yasuda was kidnapped in Syria in 2015, and spent more than three years in conditions he described as “hell.”

He arrived back in Japan on Thursday night, greeted by his delighted wife and parents, who had brought him homemade Japanese food to celebrate.

But even before Yasuda set foot on Japanese soil, he was the target of angry criticism — mostly online — ranging from accusations of recklessness to claims that he was not even Japanese.

“He is disturbing society,” wrote one Twitter user. “He’s an anti-citizen,” charged another.

Perhaps anticipating the criticism, Yasuda’s only statement upon arrival, read to reporters by his wife Myu, was dominated by an apology.

“I apologise for causing such trouble and worry, but thanks to all of you, I was able to come home safely,” he said.  [AFP]

You can read more at the link, but what made things worse for Yasuda was that he was once taken hostage in Iraq in 2004 as well.  This guy is obviously doing something wrong to be taken hostage by Islamic extremists twice.  With that said there is even a South Korean angle to this story:

And detractors have claimed Yasuda is not even Japanese, partly as the result of a bizarre hostage video showing him and another captive in Syria that emerged in August.

Despite speaking Japanese, he identified himself as a South Korean called “Omar”, apparently after his kidnappers banned him from revealing his identity or nationality.

“This guy isn’t even Japanese,” wrote one Twitter user. “He should go back to his country, South Korea,” added another.

That is pretty bizarre, but I am glad the guy made it safely back to Japan, but I think he should contemplate a career change.

I am surprised this wasn’t a requirement a long time ago:

The U.S. military has ordered extra scrutiny for South Koreans who want to visit friends or attend events on American bases in Japan.

U.S. Forces Japan recently added the longtime American ally to a list of nations whose citizens must undergo additional screening before they can be escorted onto installations.

A copy of the list posted near the entrance to the home of USFJ in western Tokyo now features South Korea alongside about 50 other nations, including North Korea, China, Russia, Iran and Afghanistan.

“No personnel will escort a designated third country national onto Yokota Air Base,” says a sign posted next to the list, which also includes France. “It is the responsibility of the escort sponsor to verify the individual is not from one of the … designated countries.”

USFJ did not provide a reason for the new checks on South Koreans.

People from designated third countries aren’t authorized to enter U.S. bases in Japan without prior coordination of supporting agencies and approval by the installation commander, said Air Force Maj. Genieve White, a USFJ spokeswoman.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.