Tokyo, 19 August, /AJMEDIA/
Tokyo Games sponsor accused of bribery got more than 50% discount
TOKYO – Business suit retailer Aoki Holdings Inc. paid 500 million yen ($3.7 million) for its sponsorship deal with the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee, less than half of what it cost other companies for similar arrangements, sources familiar with the matter said Thursday.
The sources also said the same day that Haruyuki Takahashi, a former Tokyo Olympic organizing committee executive who had significant influence in sports circles, is suspected of leading the decision to select the suit company as a sponsor more than a year before the official announcement.
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Japan, China vow to continue dialogue despite Taiwan tensions
TOKYO – Japan’s top national security adviser and his Chinese counterpart have agreed in talks that the countries will continue dialogue toward building constructive and stable bilateral ties, regardless of heightened tensions over Taiwan, their governments said Thursday.
During their about seven-hour meeting on Wednesday in the Chinese city of Tianjin, Takeo Akiba, secretary general of Japan’s National Security Secretariat, protested to China’s foreign policy chief Yang Jiechi over Beijing’s recent large-scale drills near Taiwan, according to a Japanese government official.
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Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong, 28 others plead guilty to subversion
HONG KONG – Prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong and 28 others have pleaded guilty to charges of subversion under the national security law, local media reported Thursday.
The former student leader is one of 47 pro-democracy figures indicted for holding unofficial primaries for pro-democracy candidates in July 2020 ahead of a Legislative Council election with the intent of gaining a controlling majority of the legislature.
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Sri Lanka leader hopes for Japan-led talks with creditors: report
NEW DELHI – Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe signaled Thursday that the debt-strapped South Asian island nation hopes Japan will lead its talks with major creditor nations, including China and India, for bilateral debt restructuring, according to Reuters news agency.
“Someone needs to call in, invite the main creditor nations. We will ask Japan to do it,” the president was quoted as saying in an interview, adding that he would visit Japan in September and hold talks with his counterpart, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
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Japan’s industry minister inspects crippled Fukushima nuclear plant
FUKUSHIMA, Japan – Japan’s industry minister Yasutoshi Nishimura inspected the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant Thursday, his first visit since assuming the position last week, to assess the progress of decommissioning and the ongoing challenges stemming from the March 2011 nuclear disaster.
Nishimura met with officials of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc., operator of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, and chiefs of local governments and the prefectural assembly, as his ministry faces multiple challenges such as a plan to discharge treated water containing trace amounts of tritium into the sea.
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Japan gov’t to extend monetary aid for Ukraine evacuees by 6 months
TOKYO – The Japanese government is preparing to extend by 180 days its financial aid program to Ukrainian evacuees who have no supporters such as family, friends or guarantors in the country, government sources said Thursday.
Continuation of the monetary support program, set to complete its first six months in late September, has been up for review as the Russian invasion of Ukraine that started Feb. 24 drags on and evacuees look set to be in Japan for a longer period.
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Russia’s war overshadows marathon nuke disarmament confab
NEW YORK – Rifts have widened within a panel of an ongoing nuclear disarmament conference as its weeks-long debates near an end next week, with outright disputes emerging over issues such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The biggest sticking points for the second main committee under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference include differences over phrasing related to Russia’s seizure of a nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine and cautionary language favored by China over Australia’s plans to acquire nuclear-powered submarines.
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3,500 Unification Church followers protest Japanese media reports
SEOUL – About 3,500 followers of the Unification Church from across South Korea, mostly Japanese women married to local men, staged a protest in central Seoul on Thursday against what they call biased Japanese media reports about the religious group.
The women, who immigrated to South Korea via mass weddings arranged by the controversial group, chanted slogans such as “Stop suppressing religion.” Some of them brought their children to the demonstration.
