Tag: Japan

By keeping the masks on public transportation this is essentially maintaining a defacto mask mandate. This is because many people will likely just keep their masks on as they walk from the subway or bus to wherever their destination is:

The most recognized emblem of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the one likely to persist, is about to lose some of its clout in Japan.

New mask guidelines from the government take effect Monday, three years after face coverings became a universal fashion accessory across the country, according to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s website.

The ministry will recommend individuals decide for themselves whether to wear masks in public. Never an actual mandate, mask wear persists in Japan as the pandemic wanes. 

The coronavirus continues to infect an average 9,500 people per day, a declining number. Japan on Jan. 14 experienced its highest one-day pandemic death toll, 503, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

Under the guidelines revised in February, the ministry recommends wearing masks only in medical facilities and on crowded trains and local buses but says nothing about masks on Japan’s iconic shinkansen trains or long-distance buses.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Unsurprisingly Koreans are not fond of the forced labor compensation plan with Japan:

Nearly 60 percent of South Koreans are against the government’s plan to compensate victims of Japan’s wartime forced labor on its own without involving Japanese firms, a poll showed Friday.

In the poll of 1,002 adults conducted by Gallup Korea on Wednesday and Thursday, 59 percent said they oppose the plan as it does not require Tokyo’s official apology and compensation.

Some 35 percent said they support the compensation plan for the sake of national interest and Korea-Japan relations, while 6 percent were unsure.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Like I predicted, the Korean left is going apocalyptic with the forced labor agreement with Japan:

A group of civic groups on Tuesday condemned the government’s plan to compensate victims of Japan’s wartime forced labor on its own, saying the decision amounts to national humiliation similar to Korea’s 1910 forced annexation by Japan.

The government of President Yoon Suk Yeol announced the plan Monday in an effort to restore strained relations with Tokyo. It calls for establishing a foundation charged with collecting public donations and compensating more than a dozen victims.

Critics, including some victims, civic groups and the main opposition Democratic Party, bristled strongly at the decision, arguing that it makes no sense to compensate victims with public donations, rather than money from Japanese companies that exploited them for hard labor.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but there was never going to be a deal the Korean left would be happy signing with Japan because they need to keep this issue alive. Stoking anti-Japanese sentiment has long been a way to distract the Korean public from other issues. Even the Korean right has done this before in the past as well. Unfortunately this deal will probably not last because as soon as the Korean left takes power again they will likely scrap it.

Somebody is either lying or something was lost in translation:

A U.S. senator’s claim that the Japanese reneged on a promise to transfer a Navy officer imprisoned in Japan was false and inappropriate, Japan’s Ministry of Foreign affairs said Friday. 

Sen. Mike Lee on the Senate floor Wednesday criticized Japan’s handling of the conviction and imprisonment of Lt. Ridge Alkonis, who’s serving three years for a May 2021 car crash that killed two Japanese citizens. During his speech, Lee accused Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi of backtracking on a deal for the sailor’s release to U.S. custody. 

Lee said he met in August with Hayashi in Tokyo, where the foreign minister made an “unequivocal commitment” to transfer Alkonis. However, a “junior member of the Japanese embassy” contacted Lee’s staff and denied Hayashi ever made the commitment, the senator said.

Lee’s remarks were “contrary to the facts and cannot be accepted,” and the ministry lodged an official complaint through the U.S. government over the matter, a ministry spokesperson told Stars and Stripes by email Friday.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but I continue to think that all the public pressure being put on Japan will make it less likely they will release him early.

I figured some fund like this would be set up to resolve the forced labor issue. I like the scholarship fund idea though instead of just paying the victim’s families cash because it shows that the Japanese are investing in Korea’s future:

South Korea and Japan have tentatively agreed to create a “future youth fund” to sponsor scholarships for students, as part of a deal on settling the issue of compensation for Korean victims of Japan’s wartime forced labor, sources said Sunday.

The fund will be jointly formed by the Federation of Korean Industries, South Korea’s big business lobby, and the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren), according to the government sources.

The South Korean foreign ministry is expected to announce the details Monday along with the details of a broader agreement reached between the two countries to settle the issue of compensation for Korean victims of forced labor during World War II, the sources said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but expect the Korean left to go bonkers in their criticism due to President Yoon trying to settle this issue and improve relations with Japan.

This should be no surprise that protesters would come out against trying to improve relations with Japan:

Soon after President Yoon Suk Yeol gave a key address, calling Japan a partner for South Korea’s regional security and economy, some hundreds held a rally on Independence Movement Day on Wednesday, urging him to keep his promise of resolving historic disputes with the neighboring country including the one over sexual slavery during its 1910-45 rule of Korean Peninsula.

In the late morning chill, around 200 civic activists gathered near the Japanese Embassy in central Seoul, holding paper cutouts of yellow butterflies — a symbol of victims representing a wish to escape from violence and fly — chanting “apologize,” and demanding compensation from Japan.

The protest was a part of the 1,585th weekly rally protesting Japan’s wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II that has been held for the last 30 years.

Lee Yong-soo, a 93-year-old victim of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery, took over the microphone, said she still has a faith in President Yoon, and demanded his administration to send the matter to the United Nations Committee Against Torture.

“The then-presidential-candidate Yoon Suk Yeol was the third person to visit me, and he said he would resolve the comfort women issue even if he wasn’t elected. His words touched me,” she said. “I don’t think that he lied (at that time), and I will believe in him.”

Watching Lee’s tearful speech, 63-year-old Kim Deok-yeon said he has participated in the demonstration since last year to raise awareness, especially among the younger generation.

“These people were forced to become sex slaves of Japan’s wartime brothels, but Japan seems reluctant (to take responsibility). As a Korean citizen, I couldn’t stand my anger toward Japan for committing such atrocities,” he said, referring to the victims as “survivors of a dark part of history.”

Kim stressed the importance of educating Korean students about undistorted facts in and out of the country, lamenting Japan’s recognition of Dokdo as part of its territory.

“History doesn’t lie — it has everything recorded down. Now is a time to properly educate the younger generation about our country’s past so that the same history will not repeat itself in the future,” he said, hoping young people would create a change.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but if this 63 year old man really cared about sex slaves then what is he doing about modern day sexual slavery of Korean women in China right now?

According to one report the sexual trafficking of Korean women is a $105 million industry in China. Imperial Japan was obviously wrong about trafficking Korean women 80 years ago which they claim was resolved with the payments made in the 1965 Normalization Treaty. The Japanese government had apologized even started a victim compensation fund before the prior President Moon shut it down for political reasons. Restarting this victim compensation fund appears to be the route that President Yoon is trying to go again, but we will see what happens.

It is good to see ferry service between Japan and South Korea is back to normal:

Ferry services between South Korea’s Busan and Japan’s Tsushima Island resumed Saturday after a three-year suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Busan Port Authority said two ferry vessels departed from a port in the southeastern city at 8:30 a.m. and 10:10 a.m., and arrived at Hitakatsu Port on the southwestern Japanese island 1 1/2 hours later.

Tsushima is the closest Japanese island to the Korean Peninsula.

With the resumption, Busan has now reopened all four sea routes with Japan that were halted in April 2020 due to the coronavirus.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.