Tokyo, 27 December, /AJMEDIA/
Reconstruction minister to be dismissed in blow to Kishida Cabinet
TOKYO – Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida decided Tuesday to replace reconstruction minister Kenya Akiba with Hiromichi Watanabe, who held the post previously, a source close to the matter said, making him the fourth Cabinet member to quit within around two months.
Akiba, who has been embroiled in political funds and other scandals, has met growing calls to quit before a regular parliamentary session begins in late January, not just from opposition parties but also from within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to which he belongs.
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China to reopen borders on Jan. 8, exit from “zero-COVID” policy
BEIJING – China said Monday it will reopen borders and abandon quarantine measures that have been in place to stem the spread of coronavirus infections on Jan. 8, in a full departure from its strict “zero-COVID” policy that involved lockdowns and isolation measures at designated facilities.
China’s National Health Commission said inbound travelers — both foreigners and Chinese nationals — will be able to enter the country after testing negative for COVID-19 within 48 hours before departure, and that a PCR test and quarantine at a designated facility will no longer be required.
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Apple Japan slapped with 14 bil. yen in back tax over duty-free sales
TOKYO – Apple Inc.’s Japan branch was slapped with 14 billion yen ($105 million) in additional taxes after authorities found bulk sales of iPhones and other items to foreign visitors were incorrectly exempted from consumption tax, a source close to the matter said Tuesday.
The Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau found Apple Japan’s approximately 140 billion yen tax-exempt sales over two years through September 2021 were the result of fraudulent duty-free purchases to be resold for commercial purposes, the source said.
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Japan’s Nov. jobless rate falls to 2.5%
TOKYO – Japan’s unemployment stood at 2.5 percent in November, down from 2.6 percent the previous month, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said Tuesday.
The job availability ratio was unchanged at 1.35 in November, meaning there were 135 job openings for every 100 seekers, according to separate data from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
FEATURE:Activists combat social injustice facing Britain’s ESEA communities
LONDON – As Britain moves on from the COVID-19 pandemic, during which people of East and Southeast Asian heritage experienced a surge in hate crimes, activists are working to ensure that the issues faced by their often marginalized communities continue to be combatted.
Grouped together under the relatively new acronym ESEA, members of these communities represent one of Britain’s fastest-growing ethnic minority groupings, particularly given the high proportion of international students among them.
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North Korean drones fly over South Korea territory: military
SEOUL – Multiple drones from North Korea crossed into South Korea on Monday and flew over its territory, prompting the South Korean military to fire warning shots at them, the military said.
The incident, which marked the first known incursion into South Korean territorial airspace by a North Korean drone since 2017, was a “clear provocation” by the North, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
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Decision not to indict over Sri Lanka detainee death in Japan is unjust: panel
NAGOYA – An independent judicial panel has ruled an earlier prosecutors’ decision not to indict officials at an immigration center in Nagoya over the 2021 death of a Sri Lankan detainee is unjust, paving the way for the case to be reconsidered, it said Monday.
In a decision dated Wednesday, the citizens who form the committee for the inquest of prosecution in Nagoya concluded the prosecutors should reconsider whether they can charge officials at Nagoya Regional Immigration Services Bureau, including the director at the time, for professional negligence resulting in the death of Sri Lankan woman Ratnayake Liyanage Wishma Sandamali.
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Japan sacks MSDF captain over alleged state secret leak
TOKYO – Japan’s Defense Ministry on Monday dismissed a Maritime Self-Defense Force captain over the alleged leak of state secrets to someone without security clearance, making it the first case of the secrecy law being enforced since it came into effect in 2014.
A Self-Defense Force criminal investigation unit referred the captain, Takashi Inoue, 54, to prosecutors for allegedly giving classified information to a former MSDF admiral who had already retired from the force, according to the ministry.
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Ex-Tokyo Olympic exec in bribery scandal released on 80 mil. yen bail
TOKYO – A former Tokyo Olympic executive indicted four times on charges of receiving bribes in connection with the games was released Monday on bail after posting an 80 million yen ($603,000) bond.
Haruyuki Takahashi, 78, was released from the Tokyo Detention House after the Tokyo District Court decided earlier in the day that there was no risk of him fleeing or destroying evidence.
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Toyota global output record high for November as supply-crunch eases
NAGOYA – Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday that its global output for November rose 1.5 percent from a year earlier to 833,104 vehicles, hitting a record high for that month.
While four other Japanese carmakers, including Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co., logged declines due to a supply-chain crunch for automobile parts caused by the COVID-19 outbreak in China and other factors, Toyota marked an increase for the fourth straight month, saying the supply issue for the company had eased.
