Tokyo, 17 April, /AJMEDIA
Japan mulls “quasi-refugee” status for people fleeing conflicts
NIIGATA, Japan – Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Saturday the government is considering creating a more loosely defined refugee category to accept people fleeing conflicts in light of the humanitarian crisis stemming from Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“The Justice Ministry is considering a system for accepting people as refugee equivalents from a humanitarian standpoint even if they do not fall under” the 1951 refugee convention, Kishida said at a meeting in Niigata.
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North Korea test-fired “new-type tactical guided weapon”: KCNA
BEIJING – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un observed the test-firing of a “new-type tactical guided weapon,” state-run media reported Sunday, suggesting that it launched a short-range missile the previous day.
The development came after North Korea on March 24 conducted the first launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile since November 2017, marking an end to its self-imposed moratorium on ICBM tests introduced in April 2018.
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Japan seriously considering high-level dialogue with South Korea
TOKYO – The Japanese government is seriously considering high-level dialogue with incoming South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, with the conservative president-elect seen as willing to improve soured bilateral ties, a government source said Saturday.
High-level dialogue has not been held between the two countries for a while as the current administration of liberal President Moon Jae In has clashed with Japan over issues stemming from Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.
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No need to stop social activities with Omicron: Japan COVID adviser
TOKYO – Japan’s top coronavirus adviser said Friday the country no longer needs to “fully” stop social activities, as symptoms of the currently dominant Omicron variant are less severe than those of previous strains, in a major shift from his previous stance focusing on strict controls to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Shigeru Omi said in an interview with Kyodo News that Japan’s coronavirus situation has entered a new phase and there is no more need to take measures such as shutting down schools and department stores as the government did in April 2020 when the country’s first COVID-19 state of emergency was declared.
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Japan tilts toward Hiroshima as G-7 summit location for 2023: sources
TOKYO – Japan is considering Hiroshima, one of the two atomic-bombed Japanese cities in World War II, as the most viable location to host a summit of the Group of Seven nations next year under its presidency, government sources said Friday.
The choice of Hiroshima is seen as fitting to stress the importance of peace after Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and its threat of using nuclear weapons, the sources said.
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Japan firm donates 1,000 interpreting devices to help Ukrainian evacuees
TOKYO – A Japanese firm has donated 1,000 pocket interpreter devices to the Ukrainian Embassy in Japan to ease the language difficulties many evacuees face starting new lives in the country.
The initiative to provide the Pocketalk handhelds came from Tokyo-based Pocketalk Corp. “Our mission is to eliminate language barriers. I hope they can help evacuees,” its president, Noriyuki Matsuda, said.
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Tons of Japanese nuclear waste may be destined for overseas disposal
TOKYO – Japan’s nuclear power plants have over 57,000 tons of large equipment that have, or will in time, become radioactive industrial waste and may be destined to be disposed of overseas, a tally of electric power company data showed Saturday.
The scale of the would-be hazardous waste underscores the ongoing move within the government to reexamine a rule banning the exports of radioactive waste at a time when few municipalities are willing to accept such waste.
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Beached whale on south Japan island dies despite rescue efforts
AMAMI, Japan – A roughly 3.5-meter-long whale that washed up on the shore of Amami-Oshima Island in southwestern Japan died Saturday despite rescue efforts by residents.
Around 10 people, including members of a local whale and dolphin association and a volunteer fire company, attempted to save the whale beached in Tatsugo near the island’s northern tip. However, rough seas thwarted their efforts, and the whale died a few hours later.
