Tokyo, 08 March, /AJMEDIA/
Japan remains 2nd worst in int’l ranking for women in workforce
LONDON – Japan ranked second from last among developed nations with regard to the role and influence of women in the workforce for the seventh straight year, according to an index compiled by British magazine The Economist.
The index for 2022, published ahead of International Women’s Day on Wednesday, assessed working conditions and other factors affecting female participation in 29 of the 38 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Iceland ranked first, followed by Sweden, Finland and Norway.
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Singapore PM Lee’s estranged brother to remain self-exiled in Europe
SINGAPORE – The estranged younger brother of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said he has effectively self-exiled in Europe and is “unlikely to return to Singapore” due to fear of political persecution.
Lee Hsien Yang said during a phone interview with Kyodo News Tuesday he has been considering running in the presidential election that is to take place by September.
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YouTuber-turned-lawmaker set to lose seat for missing Diet sessions
TOKYO – A Japanese YouTuber-turned-lawmaker failed Wednesday to meet an upper house demand that he apologize for not attending any parliamentary sessions since being elected last year, a decision that will likely cost him his seat in the chamber.
The House of Councillors had ordered GaaSyy, whose real name is Yoshikazu Higashitani, to offer an apology in the Diet, but he did not return to Japan from abroad to participate in a plenary session.
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Carriages resume taking foreign envoys to emperor after COVID halt
TOKYO – New foreign envoys to Japan on Wednesday took horse-drawn carriages to present their credentials to Emperor Naruhito, marking the resumption of the tradition that had been suspended for three years due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The incoming ambassadors made the roughly 1.5 kilometer journey from the front of Tokyo Station in the heart of the capital to the Imperial Palace in lacquered carriages decorated with chrysanthemum seals. The practice had been halted and cars had replaced carriages since March 2020 in order to avoid attracting crowds.
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Japan logs record red ink in Jan. on energy, slower export growth
TOKYO – Japan posted a record current account deficit of 1.98 trillion yen ($14 billion) in January, hurt by swelling import costs that caused the resource-poor nation to register its largest-ever trade deficit, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.
Growth in exports was far slower than that of imports, partly because Japanese firms curbed China-bound shipments due to the Lunar New Year holidays there that came earlier than usual. This translated into a whopping 3.18 trillion yen trade deficit, double the year-earlier figure.
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5 arrested over unauthorized cultivation of modified Japan killifish
TOKYO – Five people have been arrested and four referred to prosecutors for their alleged involvement in the unauthorized cultivation of Japanese killifish genetically modified to glow in red, police said Wednesday, with the fish originating from eggs taken from a Tokyo Institute of Technology lab by a student.
The arrests are the first in Japan for an alleged violation of the Cartagena law, which came into force in 2004 to regulate the use of genetically modified living organisms, according to the Tokyo police. Dubbed “swimming jewels,” Japanese killifish of different colors and shapes have become popular as aquarium fish.
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Woman gets prison term for deaths of children left in hot car
YOKOHAMA – A Japanese district court on Wednesday sentenced a woman to three-and-a-half years in prison for causing her two toddlers’ deaths from heat exposure after abandoning them in a car in July in Kanagawa Prefecture, southwest of Tokyo.
In handing down the ruling on Reina Nagasawa, 22, Presiding Judge Noburo Kiyama said the case was “heart-wrenching” as the mother left her 1-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter in a scorching hot vehicle for more than two hours and 40 minutes so she could spend time with her date.
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Baseball: Ohtani to start Japan’s WBC opener against China
TOKYO – Two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani will take the mound Thursday when two-time World Baseball Classic champion Japan faces China in its Pool B opener, Samurai Japan manager Hideki Kuriyama said Wednesday.
Although the skipper said he hadn’t decided on his big star’s offensive role for the first game, Ohtani said he also expected to bat at Tokyo Dome.
