· July, 2007

Stories about Japan from July, 2007

Japan: Responses to the Kyuma A-Bomb Statement

  9 July 2007

Two weeks ago, then-Defense Minister Kyuma Fumio made a famous statement referring to the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as something that "couldn't be helped". Despite later attempts to qualify this statement, Kyuma was ultimately forced to resign amid public outcry and political opposition. Bloggers also had a lot to say on the topic of the controversial statement.

Japan: Baby Mammoth Discovery

Edo at Pink Tentacle reports that the frozen body of a baby mammoth, preserved in ice about 10,000 years ago, was discovered in northwest Siberia by a local reindeer herder. The body will be shipped to the Jikei University School of Medicine in Japan for analysis.

China: Cruise missile carted into Beijing

  8 July 2007

July 7 marked seventy years since the Second Sino-Japanese War began with the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. The day ostensibly started well, with a reconciliatory tone as Taiwanese and Chinese scholars just the day before had moved to team up on research into the resistance. Then, assuming this is related,...

Japan: Defending Kyuma

  6 July 2007

DeOrio at Trans-Pacific Radio has posted a detailed essay defending former Defense Minister Kyuma Fumio's infamous remarks regarding the U.S. A-bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of WW2. DeOrio writes that Kyuma's “departure from the Defense Ministry and replacement by Yuriko Koike can only be a benefit...

An Insider's View of the Japanese Meat Industry

  5 July 2007

A recent scandal involving a Japanese company from Hokkaido selling pork disguised as beef has once more eroded people's confidence in the quality and safety of their own food. One blogger provides a sobering warning, from first-hand experience working in a meat processing plant, about the lax enforcement of quality controls within the Japanese meat industry.

Japan: Fingerprinting coming soon

  1 July 2007

Turner at Keeping Pace In Japan writes about Japan's new fingerprinting system, set to commence in November of this year, which will apply to all foreign nationals entering the country.