平成29年１０月18日 = (18 OCT 2017)

Japan-Gazer Update

This week’s poem:

Carpe Diem

A brand new day to seize,
Quest for fame and cash,
I am ready for adventure,
But first, take out the trash…

https://carllafong.blogspot.jp/

– – – – –

5 Things Going On Lately

(1) A Japanese court ordered the government on Wednesday (11 OCT) to pay a total of 618 million yen in damages over past aircraft noise pollution to some residents near the U.S. military’s Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo. On the noise pollution litigation filed by some 1,000 residents, however, the Tachikawa branch of Tokyo District Court rejected the plaintiffs’ requests for compensation for future noise pollution and a halt to late-night and early-morning flights using the base. Presiding Judge Takeo Setoguchi said, “The noise has caused interruptions to daily lives and psychological damage such as a sense of insecurity.” Setoguchi ordered damages payment of 4,000-12,000 yen per month per plaintiff to those living in areas where aircraft noise levels register 75 or higher on the weighted equivalent continuous perceived noise level, or WECPNL, an internationally recognized measurement of aircraft noise. These residents “suffered illegal rights infringement beyond tolerable limits,” the judge said. Since 1976, a series of lawsuits have been filed by residents near the air base over its aircraft noise pollution, with the state being ordered to pay past damages. (Jiji Press)

COMMENT: These lawsuits always seem to end-up with the plaintiffs winning monthly subsidies, but the judges refusing to stop/suspend USF or JSDF aircraft flight operations. Encroachment around Japanese airfields exists and is not going away — and military aircraft are going to continue to fly… Hmmm… One place to watch will be the cities located around Atsugi Air Base, which had been receiving huge & growing subsidies from GOJ due to noise from USN jets (deployed there from the aircraft carrier in Yokosuka) — well, those jets are being moved to Iwakuni Air Base, so the noise will be going away — will be interesting to see how the process works, in reverse, as “noise pain & suffering payments” are reduced…
– – – – –

(2) U.S. President Donald Trump is likely to meet with the parents of Megumi Yokota and other members of the families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korean agents decades ago during his planned visit to Japan early next month, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday (12 OCT). Through the meeting, Japan and the United States aim to demonstrate to North Korea their solidarity in resolving the abduction issue, people familiar with the matter said. Giving a speech in Shibata, Niigata Prefecture, Abe disclosed that in a meeting in New York in September he asked Trump to have talks with the abductees’ family members, including the parents of the iconic abduction victim. According to Abe, Trump answered that he will meet them and said that the kidnappings by North Korea were awful. Abe also quoted Trump as saying that he will do his very best to rescue Japanese abduction victims that have yet to return home. (Jiji Press)

COMMENT: President Trump’s mentioning North Korea’s kidnapping of Megumi Yokota in a recent high-visibility international speech, was really well-noticed & received in Japan. I suppose, if nothing else, the November POTUS visit will bring Japan into Washington D.C.’s field-of-vision/focus, for a while… Meanwhile, darker clouds may be gathering over U.S.-Japan trade relations — time to go back & re-read books and articles from back in the 1980s, when U.S. & Japan traded punches over economic issues…
– – – – –

(3) A Jiji Press public opinion poll showed on Friday (13 OCT) that 48.2 pct of respondents support Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s proposal to recognize the country’s Self-Defense Forces by revising war-renouncing Article 9 of the constitution. In the October survey, 34.4 pct said they do not support the Abe-proposed constitutional amendment, and 17.4 pct said they cannot take a position. Abe, also leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, has called for adding a third sentence to Article 9 to stipulate a rationale for the existence of the SDF while keeping its two existing sentences intact. The Abe proposal was backed by over 70 pct of LDP supporters and by more than 60 pct each of supporters of Komeito, the coalition partner of the LDP, and opposition Nippon Ishin no Kai. Support for the proposal stood at about 40 pct among those endorsing the Party of Hope, led by Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike. (Jiji Press)

COMMENT: There is a view that the intent of PM Abe’s dissolving the Diet and forcing a spot election (on 22 OCT) for the powerful House of Representatives was pure political tactics, with the intent of further weakening the (pesky) opposition parties, and setting things up for “legalizing” Japan’s Self Defense Forces (JSDF) and thereby enabling JSDF to become more pro-active & effective as an actor on the international security playing field.
– – – – –

(4) The United States and South Korea began a joint naval drill on Monday (16 OCT) in the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea off the Korean Peninsula to prepare for possible provocations by North Korea, according to South Korean authorities. Joined by a total of 40 vessels, including the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and a South Korean Aegis ship, the drill is scheduled to continue through Friday to enhance joint operation capabilities, said officials of the South Korean Ministry of National Defense. North Korea may conduct provocative acts, including a missile launch, to protest the joint exercise. “In various locations in the North, TELs (transporter erector launchers) have repeatedly appeared and disappeared,” a South Korean military official said Sunday, according to the South’s Yonhap news agency. “Based on this, we have judged that the North could launch a provocation at any time, and we have remained on increased alert,” the official was also quoted as saying. (Jiji Press)

COMMENT: Seems like, recently, lots of discovery has been happening about North Korea and U.S. Forces exercises around the Korean Peninsula —- Well, out here, it really is just business-as-usual, since these combined US-ROK large-scale military training evolutions have been going on for a long time. Does anyone remember “Team Spirit”…? —- And, things were more interesting back then, because any USF training in the Sea of Japan (East Sea?) would draw the attention of the Soviet Pacific Fleet, and sometimes “things would happen”, like in 1984, when USS KITTY HAWK collided with a Victor I-class nuclear-powered attack submarine. BTW, a real good primer on US-ROK combined exercises is located at this link:

http://www.38north.org/2014/02/rcollins022714/

A Brief History of the US-ROK Combined Military Exercises
www.38north.org
Former US DOD officer, Robert Collins, discusses how the US-ROK joint military exercises came about, what they are meant to accomplish and how they may evolve in the …
– — – –

(5) The Justice Ministry on Friday (13 OCT) unveiled unmanned facial recognition gates that will be introduced at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Wednesday to speed up immigration control procedures for Japanese. The recognition system is capable of judging whether headshot photos of travelers taken with cameras at the gates match their passport photos in about 10 seconds, the ministry said. On Wednesday, three gates will be put into use, first for Japanese nationals returning home. The ministry hopes to introduce the system at the Narita, Chubu, and Kansai international airports in fiscal 2018, including for departing Japanese nationals. After entering a gate, travelers will be required to stand in front of a mirror-like display where photos are taken. Hats and masks must be taken off. (Yomiuri Shimbun)

COMMENT: Technology is your friend …. or Big Brother…

Copyright 2017 Japaan-Gazer
www.vicsocotra.com