Tag: Japan

You would think this professor would have better things to do than trolling Japanese websites looking for anything not labeling Dokdo correctly. What a sad life to lead:

The foreign ministry lodged a strong protest against Japan’s weather agency for labeling South Korea’s easternmost Dokdo islets as Japanese territory in maps depicting the path of Super Typhoon Hinnamnor. 

The ministry said on Monday in a statement that Dokdo islets are South Korean territory historically, geographically and by international law.

The ministry stressed that it will sternly respond to Japan’s unjust infringement upon South Korea’s territorial sovereignty, adding it asked the neighboring country to correct the mistake. 

Professor Seo Kyoung-duk at Sungshin Women’s University, first alerted the government and news outlets that Dokdo was labeled as Japanese territory on weather maps posted on the website of the Japan Meteorological Agency. 

KBS World News

You can read more at the link.

I think all the protesting and activism will have the opposite effect the family is looking for:

Holding the small hands of her three young children, Brittany Alkonis has been protesting near the White House since last week, demanding the Biden administration do more to free her husband, Ridge Alkonis, a 34-year-old Navy lieutenant imprisoned in Japan.

On Wednesday, she was at it again, wearing a blue T-shirt emblazoned with the words “Bring Ridge Home.” Her children – ages 8, 7 and 4 – have stood by her, along with supporters such as Trevor Reed, the former Marine recently released from Russian custody.

Ridge Alkonis is serving a three-year prison term in Japan for a car crash that left a Japanese man and woman dead. As the United States’ efforts to free Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan from Russia make headlines amid the heightened tensions of the war in Ukraine, the Alkonis family hopes their fight will draw attention to detained Americans around the world – not just those held by adversaries, but also allies.

While stationed in Japan in May 2021, Alkonis was driving home with his family and their Australian labradoodle after a visit to Mount Fuji, near Tokyo. They had gone to an area about 8,000 feet high and accessible by car. After parking, the family hiked on a mostly flat trail for a few hours, Brittany Alkonis said. On their way home at 1 p.m., Ridge Alkonis was talking to his oldest daughter as he drove.

But mid-sentence, Alkonis suddenly fell unconscious, his family said. The vehicle, going about 25 mph, veered into a parking lot and crashed into several cars that were then pushed against two pedestrians: an 85-year-old woman and her 54-year-old son-in-law. They both died. A third person, a daughter of the elderly woman, was injured. Brittany Alkonis sustained an ankle injury.

When Ridge Alkonis awoke several minutes after the crash, witnesses said his face looked pale, his family said, citing police reports. His symptoms – paleness and a loss of consciousness – align with those of acute mountain sickness, which can affect people at altitudes above 8,000 feet, according to information published by the U.S. National Library of Medicine. In June 2021, a neurologist told Alkonis that he had suffered from the illness at the time of the crash, his family said.

I bet Alkonis could have quietly had his sentenced reduced or transferred to the U.S. at some point, but he may end up doing the full time in Japan

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but I do not believe the excuse of mountain sickness when the accident happened at a much lower elevation nearer to sea level and not at the higher elevation of 8,000 feet. Dropping in altitude relieves mountain sickness and does not make it worse. He likely got up early for the trip, had been hiking all day and was tired during the drive back. The mountain sickness excuse probably caused him to get a harsher sentence because it made it appear he was not accepting responsibility for what happened.

I think the protesting is making it harder for Japanese authorities to quietly reduce his sentence or transfer him to a U.S. prison. With all the attention this is causing the Japanese public is likely going to expect their politicians to keep Alkonis in jail in Japan for his full sentence.

Another country has finally gained some common sense in regards to COVID testing. Really they should do away with the COVID test for non-vaccinated travelers as well at some point since the vaccine does not prevent you from catching COVID:

Japan plans to drop its requirement that arriving, vaccinated international travelers show proof of a negative COVID-19 test, even as the country is posting record-high levels of the respiratory disease. 

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at an online news conference Wednesday said Japan will end the requirement next month. 

“From Sept. 7, those entering Japan can use proof that they have been vaccinated three times in exchange for proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of departure,” he said. 

Kishida is recovering from COVID-19 himself.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

This seems like a good compromise approach that allows these wartime workers to be compensated while allowing Japan to maintain the legality of the 1965 treaty:

“We’re now fully considering a plan that would allow the plaintiffs to receive compensation in a way that doesn’t conflict with the sovereignty issues that the Japanese government is concerned about,” Yoon said.

The Japanese government has long maintained that the issue of claims by former requisitioned workers has been settled under the 1965 Agreement on the Settlement of Problems Concerning Property and Claims and on Economic Cooperation between Japan and the Republic of Korea. Yoon’s reference to “sovereignty issues” is believed to refer to this position.

Yoon appears to envision measures such as subrogation in which a fund is created by Japanese and Korean companies to pay compensation to the plaintiffs.

“The historical issue can be resolved amicably through concessions and understanding,” Yoon said, if Japan and South Korea strengthen future-oriented cooperation. It appears that the South Korean president recognizes the need for compromise between the Japanese government and companies and Korean plaintiffs, but he did not refer to specific steps to be taken.

Yomiuri Shimbun

You can read more at the link, but don’t expect the Korean left to support this. What President Yoon will need to do is make sure this is implemented in a way that the Korean left can’t over turn whenever they win a Presidential election again like they did with the comfort women settlement with Japan once President Moon was elected.

I hope no-one from Korea thinks Japan is developing these systems to take back Dokdo. These systems are clearly intended to defend against Chinese and North Korean attacks:

NHK has learned what defensive items will be funded under the Japanese Defense Ministry’s demand for budgetary appropriations for the next fiscal year.

The Defense Ministry has compiled the budget request to drastically enhance Japan’s defense capabilities over the next five years, without showing the total cost.

The ministry plans to start mass production of new long-range standoff missiles that can attack targets from outside enemy range and could be used for counterstrikes.

They include an improved version of the Ground Self-Defense Force’s ground-to-ship missile and high-speed glide bombs to defend remote islands.

The ministry also plans to develop unmanned aircraft that can be used not only for surveillance and information gathering but also to launch an attack.

NHK World

You can read more at the link.

It is good to see this trilateral cooperation restarting again after it was stopped when former President Moon Jae-in was elected:

 South Korea, the United States and Japan will kick off a combined ballistic missile defense exercise in waters off Hawaii this week, informed sources said Sunday, amid their stepped-up security coordination against North Korea’s evolving military threats.

The biennial Pacific Dragon exercise is scheduled to take place from Monday through Aug. 14, according to them. In addition to the three countries, Australia and Canada will join the exercise in this year’s edition. 

Featuring the mobilization of eight warships and two aircraft, the exercise is aimed at enhancing cooperation among the participating countries in detecting, tracking and reporting ballistic missile targets. 

The exercise has been arranged as the defense chiefs of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan agreed to reinforce their security coordination during their trilateral gathering on the margins of the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on June 11.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It seems like momentum is building to resolve the forced labor issue between the ROK and Japan:

Foreign Minister Psrk Jin said Monday he believes a summit with Japan will take place once thorny issues, like Japan’s wartime forced labor, are resolved.

“I anticipate that a summit between South Korea and Japan will likely be held when desirable resolutions for ongoing issues, like wartime forced labor, are prepared,” Foreign Minister Park Jin told a parliamentary interpellation session.

Acknowledging that bilateral ties between the two countries are unlikely to recover without such a resolution, Park said the government will aim to find a “reasonable measure” for both countries while respecting the opinions of the victims.

When asked about possible measures to mend ties, Park said the government is reviewing many options such as former National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang’s proposal to launch a fund for the victims backed by both companies and people of South Korea and Japan.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The Unification Church has definitely been in the headlines recently due to its link to the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe:

The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, better known as the Unification Church, claimed that the church and its members in Japan faced death threats and hate crimes following the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The threats were reactions to “abusive” donation practices of the church, founded by self-claimed messiah Moon Sun-myung in 1954 in Seoul. 

Tetsuya Yamagami, the suspected gunman in the assassination of Abe during a campaign speech in the city of Nara on July 8, confessed to police that he came to hold a grudge against the former prime minister for his alleged link to the church. Yamagami’s mother reportedly made a huge donation to the Unification Church that forced her into bankruptcy. 

In a statement released on Monday, the church’s headquarters in Korea blamed media outlets for what it called “inaccurate and biased” news reports, following a news conference hosted by a group of Japanese lawyers on July 12 that it claims triggered a raft of hostile media coverage against it.

Since then, the church noted that several media reports have been produced solely based on comments from the members of the National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales of Japan, a group that represents former Unification Church members and their families.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but Yamagami’s mother was reported to donated $720,000 of her family’s inheritance to the church and then proceeded to go bankrupt a few years later.