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Kyodo Top12 News (22:30)(Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) ---------- Japan lawmakers, China's vice president agree to seek improved ties BEIJING - A group of Japanese lawmakers agreed Monday with Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao that both countries need to make efforts to mend bilateral relations badly damaged over territorial and historical issues. "Vice President Li said at least three times that we should overlook minor disagreements for the sake of common interests. That's important for Japan and China," Kiyohiko Toyama, a New Komeito lawmaker who heads the cross-party group, told a press conference in Beijing after the meeting. The eight-member group said it asked Li to cooperate in arranging a meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum to be held in November in the Chinese capital. ---------- Pope Francis departs S. Korea after 5-day visit SEOUL - Pope Francis departed South Korea on Monday after a five-day official visit to the country of 5.4 million Catholics, slightly over 10 percent of its population, and the first by a pontiff in 25 years. Earlier in the day, the pope held a Mass at Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul, at the beginning of which he greeted a group of South Korean women who were forced into the brothels for the Japanese military during World War II. The pope briefly shook hands with each of the seven women, some sitting in wheelchairs, at the start of the Mass he led for peace and reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula. One of them gave the pope a pin badge showing support for so-called "comfort women" and he immediately pinned it to his vestments and wore it throughout the Mass, which South Korean President Park Geun Hye attended. ---------- Former No. 2 leader urges China to allow real democracy in H.K. HONG KONG - Hong Kong's former No. 2 leader Anson Chan, an influential figure in pro-democracy camp, urged China on Monday to be sincere in allowing Hong Kong real democracy in the upcoming leadership election. "There is no point in exercising 'one man, one vote' if all the candidates are Beijing nominees," Chan, who was chief secretary in both the British colonial government and in the first post-handover administration, told a press conference while releasing the results of a public survey commissioned by her advocacy group Hong Kong 2020. Beijing's core legislative body has said the former British colony can pick its own leader by universal suffrage in 2017. But Hong Kong's pro-democracy camp has criticized Beijing's apparent bid to install a nominating system that guarantees its favored outcome. ---------- Japan-U.S. joint drills to be held in Kumamoto, Osprey use possible KUMAMOTO, Japan - The Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force and U.S. Marine Corps plan to conduct joint drills in December in Kumamoto Prefecture, possibly using the MV-22 Osprey aircraft, GSDF officials said Monday. The GSDF Western Army based in Kumamoto said their envisioned joint exercises at the GSDF's Oyanohara Training Area in Yamato, Kumamoto with the Marines stationed in Okinawa Prefecture will be the first of its kind to be held in the Kyushu region in southwestern Japan, the officials said. The Defense Ministry has yet to brief the Kumamoto prefectural government and Yamato town about the exercises as details of the training have not been finalized. ---------- TPP officials meeting to take place in Hanoi next month TOKYO - Countries involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade initiative will hold a working-level meeting in Hanoi next month, Japanese government officials said Monday. Chief negotiators from the 12 TPP member economies are also expected to meet during the 10-day negotiations starting from Sept. 1, aiming to bridge gaps over remaining issues such as intellectual property rights and reform of state-owned firms, and set the stage for a ministerial meeting, the officials added. The fresh round of working-level negotiations in the Vietnamese capital follows a meeting of TPP officials held in July in Ottawa, Canada. In Hanoi, the 12 countries are also expected to engage in bilateral talks on tariff issues -- another difficult area. ---------- Sankei reporter appears at prosecutors' office over Park article SEOUL - The Seoul bureau chief of the mass circulation Japanese daily Sankei Shimbun on Monday, in response to a summons by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office for suspected defamation of President Park Geun Hye, appeared at the office. Tatsuya Kato arrived at the office around 11 a.m. He entered the office with a defense lawyer and a translator. The questioning was expected to focus on whether an article written by Kato, 48, defamed Park. The office has issued a travel ban on Kato. A conservative civic organization filed a defamation suit against the bureau on Aug. 9 for the article, which was carried in the Aug. 3 online edition of the newspaper. ---------- Japan resumes exporting Fukushima rice after 2011 nuclear crisis TOKYO - Exporting of rice grown in Fukushima Prefecture has resumed after it was halted in the wake of the nuclear crisis in 2011 and concerns about radiation contamination, a national agricultural cooperative said Monday. Three hundred kilograms of the Koshihikari brand of rice produced in the city of Sukagawa, Fukushima Prefecture, has arrived in Singapore, and will be sold at a supermarket from Friday after clearing customs, according to the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations. Fukushima Prefecture, a major producer of rice, had exported some 100 tons of rice in the year to March 2011 to such regions as Hong Kong, before the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that triggered the nuclear accident in the prefecture. ---------- Japan gov't starts drilling survey for U.S. base relocation NAHA, Japan - Japan's Defense Ministry on Monday started a drilling survey in waters off the coast of Nago in Okinawa Prefecture at the planned relocation site for the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma airbase, a senior ministry official said. The ministry plans to conduct the drilling survey at 16 seabed sites off the coast through Nov. 30 with a jack-up barge that was readied Sunday, the official said, adding it would conduct a similar survey at five sites. The ministry plans to inspect the strength and geological conditions of the seabed and the ground, the official said. The ministry's Okinawa Defense Bureau said it started a similar drilling survey at the beach of the U.S. Marines' Camp Schwab, which is situated near the relocation site. ---------- Japanese man held by Islamists may have travelled with rival group CAIRO - A Japanese man who is feared to have been captured in northern Syria by the Islamic State is believed to have been travelling with a rival jihadist militant group. According to a regional leader of the Islamic Front, the man, who left behind a passport identifying him as Haruna Yukawa, 42, had gone to report on the conflict between the two groups on Friday after entering Syria from the Turkish border near Kilis on July 28. The Islamic State has not responded to the Islamic Front's calls for Yukawa's release and likely seeks to extort a ransom from the Japanese government, the regional leader told Kyodo News in a phone interview. The Japanese government is investigating the case, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe receiving frequent updates on the matter from the Foreign Ministry at his vacation home in Yamanashi Prefecture west of Tokyo, government officials said Monday. ---------- Softbank unveils new smartphone co-developed with Sprint TOKYO - Softbank Corp. unveiled on Monday a new smartphone co-developed with its U.S. subsidiary Sprint Corp. for sale in both Japan and the United States as part of its efforts to cut procurement costs and strengthen its product lineup. The first handset developed with the third largest U.S. mobile phone carrier is manufactured by Sharp Corp. It goes on sale in Japan on Aug. 29 and is expected to hit the U.S. market sometime soon, according to Softbank. With a 5-inch display, the Aquos Crystal boasts a thin frame and comes with a high-quality wireless speaker, according to the Japanese telecom company. "With the expansion of a procurement scale, we can provide competitive devices with our own specification," said Maki Tahara, head of marketing strategy at Softbank Mobile Corp., the Japanese telecom firm's mobile phone service provider, at a news conference in Tokyo. ---------- Nikkei ekes out gain, dollar edges up into mid-102 yen zone TOKYO - Tokyo stocks eked out slight gains in thin Monday trading, with the Nikkei stock index extending its winning streak to a sixth day, as buying stemming from investor hopes for Japan's further economic measures offset selling to lock in gains after last week's rally. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended up 4.26 points, or 0.03 percent, from Friday at 15,322.60. The broader Topix index finished 0.58 point, or 0.05 percent, higher at 1,271.26. On the currency market, the U.S. dollar rose into the mid-102 yen zone. At 5 p.m., the dollar fetched 102.47-48 yen compared with 102.31-41 yen in New York late Friday afternoon. It moved between 102.25 yen and 102.49 yen during the day. The euro was quoted at $1.3385-3387 and 137.16-20 yen against $1.3395-3405 and 137.07-17 yen in New York. ---------- Weather forecast for key cities in Japan TOKYO - Weather forecast for Tuesday: Tokyo=fair, occasionally cloudy; Osaka=cloudy, occasionally fair; Nagoya=cloudy, occasionally fair; Sapporo=rain; Sendai=cloudy; Niigata=cloudy, occasionally fair; Hiroshima=cloudy, occasionally rain; Takamatsu=cloudy, occasionally fair; Fukuoka=rain; Naha=fair, then occasionally rain. (c) 2014 Kyodo News |