Japan Happenings & Factoids (05 MAR 2018)

Editor’s Note: This is a Three-Part extravaganza. No Gomens required! (For non-7th Fleet sailors, that is “sorry!” in Japanese shorthand for the more formal “gomen nasai.” A thousand gomens for

– Vic

* CORRECTION: Gomen nasai … The 28 FEB Japan-gazer Update listed a wrong date for Emperor Akihito’s abdication ceremony … the actual date for that event will be: 30 APR 2019. Crown Prince Naruhito will take over on 01 MAY … So, it looks like 2019’s “Golden Week” holidays will be pretty special.
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= SIX RECENT JAPAN HAPPENINGS AND/OR FACTOIDS:

(1) A majority of university students in Japan do not read books for pleasure, an annual survey by the National Federation of University Co-operative Associations showed Tuesday (27 FEB). In the 2017 survey, 53.1 pct of the students said they do not read books at all, exceeding 50 pct for the first time since the federation started collecting such data on reading in 2004. “An increasing number of students have not developed the habit of reading until they are in high school. This had a significant impact on the survey results,” said Koji Hamajima, associate professor at Doshisha University, who analyzed the survey data. The 53rd survey on the university students’ life conditions, conducted in October and November, covered a total of 10,021 students at 30 public and private universities across Japan. The number of students who said they do not read at all for pleasure rose 4.0 percentage points from the previous year, up 18.6 points over the past five years. (Jiji Press)
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(2) The Japanese government says it will issue the J-ALERT nationwide emergency warning system in multiple languages. The system urges the public to evacuate when North Korea launches a ballistic missile and the missile is on course to fly over or fall onto Japanese territories. J-ALERT messages are currently available only in Japanese. Foreign missions in the country have been asking for multilingual messages. More travelers are expected to visit Japan in the run-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. The government will utilize the Tourism Agency’s “Safety Tip” smartphone app and provide J-ALERT service in English, Chinese and Korean starting next month at the earliest. (NHK News)
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(3) Increasing women on the board will become a recommended goal for Japanese companies under a revised governance code, and those lacking them will be asked to explain the reasons to the public. The code, adopted in 2015 by the Financial Services Agency and the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is slated to go through a revision in the spring to call for greater board diversity at listed companies in terms of gender and nationality. And to make the governance code more effective, the FSA will also compile guidelines to promote corporate-investor dialogue, urging companies to reflect on such questions as if their boards are diverse enough and if they have female representation. While the code and guidelines will be nonbinding, companies will be asked to explain the absence of female directors to shareholders and reporters at earnings announcements. Women executives, including board members, auditors and corporate officers, accounted for a paltry 3.7% at listed companies in Japan last year, according to the Cabinet Office. The figures were 34.4% for France, 23.2% for the U.K. and 17.9% for the U.S. in 2015. (NIKKEI News)

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(4) The Japanese government has made “no special considerations for how to deal with alien life entering the country,” according to a statement concluded at a Cabinet meeting about UFOs on 27 FEB. The document stating the verdict was issued in response to a question by Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) House of Representatives lawmaker Seiji Osaka. He submitted a question specifically for Cabinet decision about whether or not UFOs counted as an “armed attack situation” or one that “threatens Japan’s survival” set under a series of national security legislation that went into effect in 2016. Osaka’s inquiry about the government’s position on UFOs came after U.S. media reports that the U.S. Department of Defense had covertly investigated UFOs and extraterrestrial life in the past. Along with stating that no special considerations had been made, the response document from the Cabinet also said that “the government has never confirmed the existence of UFOs” and that it would “like to refrain from answering questions about individual news coverage.” The Japanese government in 2007 issued an official statement that the country “has not confirmed the existence of UFOs” for the first time. However, then Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura, who has since passed away, expressed, “Personally, I absolutely think they exist.” (Mainichi Shimbun)
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(5) The Japanese government budget for promoting artificial intelligence in fiscal 2018 is less than 20 percent the amount to be spent by the U.S. and Chinese governments, a Kyodo News tally found Saturday (24 FEB), potentially exacerbating Japan’s competitive disadvantage in the field. Planned AI-related spending totals 77.04 billion yen ($720 million) in the draft budget for the year starting April 1, up some 30 percent from the current year. But that is still far short of the approximately 500 billion yen and 450 billion yen expected to be spent by the U.S. and Chinese governments respectively. The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is promoting the use of AI to improve productivity in Japan, which has a rapidly aging population and already grapples with a labor shortage. Still, the widening gap in AI-related investment between Japanese and U.S. companies suggests it will be difficult for Japan to overturn U.S. dominance. In the private sector, Japan’s AI investment is around 600 billion yen annually, according to Japanese government data, compared to over 7 trillion yen in the United States where information technology giants like Amazon.com Inc. and Google Inc. lead the way. (Kyodo News)
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(6) A stone that a man stumbled across near his home in central Japan has turned out to be a meteorite believed to date back 4.6 billion years. It is the first meteorite identified in Japan in 15 years. Six years ago, Katsuyuki Mitsumura was harvesting vegetables at a field near his house in the city of Gifu, when he found a strange stone that was black and gleaming. The man brought the stone back home and put it at the entrance to the house as an ornament. Last June, the 74-year-old company employee happened to read a newspaper article on meteorites that rained down on the region about one century ago. This prompted him to take his stone to a local university for analysis. The probe into the stone ended up involving other research institutions, including the University of Tokyo and the National Institute of Polar Research. Researchers found that the stone, weighing about 6.5 kilograms, is an iron meteorite. They said that iron makes up 93 percent of the stone, and it has relatively low nickel content, making it the first of its kind to be confirmed in Japan. (NHK News)

—–Original Message—–
From: J.P. Niemeyer
To: jp_niemeyer55
Sent: Sun, Mar 4, 2018 7:24 pm
Subject: Japan-gazer Update — February 28, 2018

平成30年2月28日 = (30th Year of Heisei Era, 2nd Month, 28th Day)
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= This week’s poem:

All Is Vanity

Sometimes “changed”
Is simply the same
Things rearranged…

{ From my Blog: https://carllafong.blogspot.jp }

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= 5 Things Going On Lately:

(1) Washington plans to dispatch U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) cutters to the Asia-Pacific region to thwart North Korean smuggling attempts and enforce international sanctions, a move generally welcomed by Japan. Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) and the Japan Coast Guard (JCG) have been patrolling the Sea of Japan and East China Sea to check for possible violations of the sanctions slapped on Pyongyang. USCG comes under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and is authorized to exercise police action at sea as a military unit. A Japanese government source said having USCG deal with ship-to-ship transfers would “apply psychological pressure on North Korea.” When the U.S. Treasury Department on Feb. 23 announced new sanctions against North Korea, it included the names of ships that have provided oil to North Korea through transfers at sea. In September 2017, the United States proposed as an additional sanction against North Korea the ability to forcibly board ships suspected of providing products to North Korea. However, the U.N. Security Council did not include that measure on its list of sanctions because of opposition from several nations. “At the current time, there is no consensus in the international community to take such measures,” a senior Foreign Ministry official said. (Asahi Shimbun)

* COMMENT: A logical/meaningful step forward in the process to strengthen sanctions, but still no authority to board & inspect. Good chance for USCG to build at-sea interoperability with USN, JMSDF, and JCG (and South Korean counterparts?)
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(2) The Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) scrambled fighter jets to intercept two Russian Air Force nuclear-capable Tupolev Tu-95MS strategic bombers on 20 FEB. The two bombers, escorted by Sukhoi Su-35S (Flanker-E+) multirole fighter jets, flew down the entirety of Japan’s East coast. The Russian bombers were shadowed by F-2, F-4, and F-15 JASDF fighter jets. Japanese airspace was not trespassed. The Tu-95MS aircraft is an updated variant of the older Tu-95, a Soviet-era four-engine, long-range, turboprop, strategic bomber that can carry stand-off nuclear-capable cruise missiles. Russia is currently upgrading its Tu-95MS fleet and is expecting to operate up to 20 retrofitted aircraft in the near future. Two Tu-95MS strategic bombers last flew along the perimeter of Japanese airspace in October 2017. In April 2017, two Tu-95MS bombers and one Ilyushin Il-20 maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft also skirted Japanese airspace during a long-range patrol. Additionally, in January 2017, JASDF fighter jets intercepted three Russian Tu-95 strategic bombers circumnavigating the major islands — Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu — of the Japanese archipelago. Japan is facing a shortage of fighter aircraft as China and Russia have stepped up their aerial patrol activities in the region. JASDF is in the process of inducting F-35A Lightning II fifth-generation stealth fighter jets, the conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) variant of the aircraft. (TheDiplomat.com)

* COMMENT: Loads of similar flight activity occurred back during the Cold War (which we figured was finished in 1989…?) In recent times Russian and Chinese military aircraft are sure giving JASDF pilots plenty of chances to alert-launch & intercept.
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(3) Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov agreed Friday (16 FEB) to accelerate work toward starting joint economic activities on a group of Russian-held islands claimed by Japan. During their meeting in Munich, they also decided to meet again in Tokyo on 21 MAR to prepare for PM Shinzo Abe’s planned visit to Russia in MAY and Abe’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kono lodged a protest with Lavrov over Russia’s military exercise being held on the islands off Hokkaido and Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev’s approval of military use of a civilian airport on the island of Etorofu, called Iturup by Russia. Abe and Putin agreed in December 2016 to start discussions on the joint projects on the islands, which Japan hopes could lead to an eventual settlement of the territorial row. They then agreed in September 2017 to conduct joint economic activities in five areas — aquaculture, greenhouse farming, tourism, wind power, and waste reduction. Both countries agree the projects can only go ahead under a special scheme, yet to be worked out, that would not compromise their legal positions regarding sovereignty over the isles. The islands, called the Northern Territories by Japan and the Southern Kurils by Russia, were seized by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II. The dispute over the islands has kept Japan and Russia from signing a postwar peace treaty. (Mainichi Shimbun)

* COMMENT: Will be interesting to see what “special scheme” is developed for Japan and Russia to “share” the islands, while tip-toeing around the sovereignty issue …. BTW, on this particular island/territorial dispute, U.S. recognizes Japan’s sovereignty claim (unlike the Senkakus and Takeshima/Liancourt Rocks.)
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(4) Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency successfully launched on Tuesday (27 FEB) an H-2A rocket carrying an information-gathering optical satellite of the government. The H-2A Launch Vehicle No. 38 lifted off from JAXA’s Tanegashima Space Center on Tanegashima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, at 13:34. The satellite was put into orbit as scheduled about 20 minutes after the launch. Japan introduced information-gathering satellites in response to a ballistic missile launch by North Korea in 1998. NK’s missile flew over the Japanese archipelago and fell into the Pacific. The de facto spy satellites are operated by the Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center. (Jiji Press)

* COMMENT: A short reminder of Japan’s continued investment in a national reconnaissance capability. Although it seems like commercial satellite imagery is getting to the point where not much on the ground goes unnoticed anymore.
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(5) Japan has discovered another North Korean tanker it suspects of transferring goods with a vessel in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday (27 FEB). It was the fourth time Japan has suspected such an illegal transfer in recent weeks and comes as the administration of the U.S. President Donald Trump and key Asian allies prepare to expand interceptions of ships suspected of violating sanctions on North Korea. The North Korean-flagged tanker Chon Ma San, designated by the United States as a sanction target, was spotted by a Japanese surveillance plane with the Maldivian-flagged tanker Xin Yuan 18 some 250 kilometers east of Shanghai on Saturday, the Foreign Ministry said in a release. “Judging from the fact that the two vessels lay alongside each other with their lights turned on at night, both vessels could have been engaged in some type of activity,” the release said. (Yomiuri Shimbun)

* COMMENT: The sanctions cat-and-mouse game continues. At least JMSDF is out and about taking notice and pictures…
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< << BONUS >>>

The government committee preparing rituals related to Emperor Akihito’s abdication announced Tuesday that a ceremony to be held on 30 MAY 2019, the day he steps down, will be a state occasion. The panel headed by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga also agreed to stage a ceremony celebrating 30 years of the emperor’s reign on 24 FEB next year ahead of his relinquishment of the throne — the first by a Japanese monarch in more than 200 years. His elder son Crown Prince Naruhito is set to ascend the throne on 01 MAY 2019. The committee also decided to hold an event in 2020 to commemorate the promotion of the emperor’s younger son Prince Akishino to “koshi,” the title given to the first in line to the throne. At the abdication ceremony to be held at the Imperial Palace, the emperor will give a message to the general public, while the event to mark his 30 years of reign will be staged at the National Theater in Tokyo. The current emperor, 84, ascended the throne on Jan. 7, 1989, following the death of his father Emperor Hirohito, posthumously known as Emperor Showa. Japan’s parliament enacted a one-off law last June enabling him to pass the throne to his 57-year-old son. The special legislation had to be worked out as the Imperial House Law lacks a provision on the emperor’s abdication. (Mainichi Shimbun)

* COMMENT: Start making your travel reservations now, because 2019 is shaping-up to be a real special year …. along with the Imperial activities, Japan will host a G-20 Summit and the Rugby World Cup.

The Hat Trick Installment:

平成30年2月13日 = (30th Year of Heisei Era, 2nd Month, 13th Day)

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= This week’s poem:

Decision Point

Now and then
It’s better to stop
And start things over again
The key point
Is knowing when

{ From my Blog: https://carllafong.blogspot.jp }

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= 5 Things Going On Lately:

(1) The Japan Coast Guard (JCG) plans to install radars and surveillance cameras on remote islands to boost its ability to monitor and respond to illegal operations by North Korean fishing vessels in the Sea of Japan (SOJ) and repeated incursions by Chinese ships in Japan’s territorial waters near the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture. The radars and cameras will be installed on steel towers erected near lighthouses at 23 locations on islands in Okinawa, Kagoshima, and Shimane prefectures to strengthen surveillance of nearby waters. The JCG plans to start operating the surveillance equipment as soon as fiscal 2019. According to the JCG, the radars will be capable of providing the location information of ships sailing up to 50 kilometers offshore. The cameras can provide images of objects up to several kilometers away. Data and images will be sent to the JCG headquarters in Tokyo. If a suspicious ship is detected, the JCG will be able to quickly decide whether to dispatch a patrol boat to the area or take other measures. The lighthouses are located in places with good views over the sea and have equipment that can supply power. JCG has already concluded contracts for purchasing radars and other equipment to be installed at 20 locations on islands in Okinawa Prefecture. Construction has started on some of these facilities. JCG plans to combine this radar surveillance network with the JCG’s existing surveillance and warning system that uses satellites to swiftly confirm the situation in waters near Japan’s coast. (Yomiuri Shimbun)

* COMMENT: Japan’s slow security upgrade to its outlying islands continues (with both JCG and JSDF.) Also, in the ocean surveillance business, every bit of locational data helps to build good “situational awareness” which can drive good/effective decision-making in Tokyo.
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(2) The Japanese government plans to conduct a five-year experimental study on quantum-encrypted communication from fiscal 2018, with a view to putting the technology into practical use promptly, a government source said Thursday (08 FEB). In its fiscal 2018 draft budget, the government has included about 300 million yen to cover related costs, including on the designing of a satellite-mounted laser system to transmit quantum encryption keys that are used to both encrypt and decode messages. The government plans to test the laser system by using small satellites or aircraft traveling at high altitudes. Quantum-encrypted communication is believed to be difficult to tap because any such attempts would be immediately detected. The technology is expected to be primarily used in the fields of diplomacy and security, such as communication with diplomatic missions abroad and vessels in remote locations. (Jiji Press)

* COMMENT: A key point for me is the “vessels in remote locations” bit — in recent years, JMSDF’s area of operations has expanded beyond just the waters around Japan. I wonder if this technology will support submarines…?
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(3) The Japanese government’s open-armed acceptance of the United States’ Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), which was recently released by the administration of President Donald Trump, has underscored Japan’s dependence on the U.S. nuclear umbrella amid North Korea’s nuclear and missile development — a move running counter to its own efforts toward nuclear abolition as the world’s only atomic-bombed country as a result of war. Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono issued a statement on 03 FEB after the NPR was released, saying that the U.S. nuclear strategy clarified Washington’s commitment to providing extended deterrence to its allies including Japan and that Tokyo “highly appreciates” the latest NPR which showed such a policy. The statement also touched on nuclear disarmament, saying that Japan will cooperate closely with the United States to “promote realistic and tangible nuclear disarmament” while responding to actual security threats, stressing Japan’s reality in which the country faces a nuclear threat by North Korea. Japan supported the Obama administration’s call for a “world without nuclear weapons” and its nuclear arms reduction policy, but had conveyed its concerns to Washington over nuclear disarmament programs that could lead to the weakening of deterrence, such as eliminating nuclear arms to be mounted on cruise missiles. The latest NPR included the deployment of nuclear cruise missiles, which served as one of the reasons for Tokyo to welcome the policy. (Mainichi Shimbun)

* COMMENT: Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) says about a related meeting with U.S. on 14 JUN 2017 — “The Extended Deterrence Dialogue (EDD) provides an opportunity for the two governments to frankly exchange views on how to enhance alliance deterrence as part of their security and defense cooperation. Through EDD, the Government of Japan, a recipient of U.S. extended deterrence, can deepen its understanding of the U.S. deterrence policy and bilateral coordination in an increasing complex security environment. The two governments have long been discussing deterrence issues in various fora, and this EDD has been held on a regular basis since 2010. This (was) the first Extended Deterrence Dialogue with the Trump Administration.” …. It’s all about mutual trust, ne.
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(4) Japan reported to the United Nations on Wednesday an alleged transfer of goods between tankers in the East China Sea in violation of sanctions against North Korea, the Foreign Ministry said. Such ship-to-ship transfers are among the activities banned by U.N. Security Council resolutions adopted in response to North Korea’s nuclear weapon and ballistic missile testing. According to the ministry, a Maritime Self-Defense Force airplane spotted a North Korea-flagged tanker and another tanker registered in Belize alongside each other on the high seas about 250 kilometers east of Shanghai in the early hours of Tuesday (13 FEB). Based on the observations made of the ships’ activity, the Japanese government judged there was a high likelihood they were engaging in the transfer of goods, the ministry said. (Mainichi Shimbun)

* COMMENT: Recent press reports about stronger maritime sanctions …. It is one thing to find the bad actor(s), but then, what do you do next?
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(5) Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun reported that the government may buy up to 40 F-35B vertical takeoff stealth fighters from the U.S. that could operate from helicopter carriers, island bases, and commercial airports. “The government is considering actual operations of F-35B fighter jets by 2026, in an effort to utilize airports on remote islands and thereby improve the nation’s capability to defend the isles,” the newspaper said in a 12 FEB story. The F-35B is the maritime version of the advanced U.S. warplane that can perform vertical take-off and landings (VTOL) from the decks of warships. Tokyo is also weighing whether to deploy the F-35Bs aboard Izumo-class JMSDF “modified-destroyers” which carry helicopters and are built as de facto aircraft carriers. The U.S. military already operates F-35Bs in Japan; and the Japanese government will buy 42 F-35A standard takeoff fighter jets to replace older-generation JASDF fighters like the F-15 and F-4 Phantom. The Japanese government is considering inclusion of F-35B expenses in its fiscal 2019 budget plan, with a view to start delivery of F-35Bs from around fiscal 2024. (Asia Times)

* COMMENT: Another evolutionary development for JMSDF. Years ago, this would have been controversial, almost unthinkable, for Japan. But military (threat) developments in China and North Korea have changed public’s mood (and the security affairs playing field.)
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< << BONUS >>>

Following the victory of a government-backed candidate in the Nago mayoral race in Okinawa Prefecture, the central government is planning to resume the provision of U.S. base-hosting subsidies centered on the realignment of U.S. military forces in Japan to the Nago Municipal Government. Former Nago municipal assembly member Taketoyo Toguchi, supported by the Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner, Komeito, defeated incumbent Susumu Inamine, a staunch opponent of the government’s move to build a new U.S. military base in Nago’s Henoko district to replace U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, in the Nago mayoral election on 04 FEB. The central government is now poised to supply Nago with a total of around 3 billion yen (approx $30 million) as base-hosting subsidies for the 2017 and 2018 fiscal years. Nago was deemed eligible for such subsidies in fiscal 2007, and was provided with a total of around 1.8 billion yen ($18 Million) in the 2008 and 2009 fiscal years. However, the central government halted the provision of such subsidies in 2010, when the anti-base Inamine took the post of Nago mayor; the freeze continued throughout Inamine’s tenure. The system of distributing the base-hosting subsidies began in fiscal 2007, with eligibility limited to municipalities that would be seeing an increase in U.S. military facilities as a result of the U.S. military’s realignment in Japan. In the 2017 fiscal year, the central government supplied 14 municipal governments in seven prefectures with a total of 4.9 billion yen ($49 million) in such subsidies. (Mainichi Shimbun)

* COMMENT: The power of money (note: a similar phenomenon happened in Iwakuni, circa 2007-2008.) According to Okinawa resident & conservative political commentator, Masako Ganaha, the past 8 years in Nago City were sometimes called “Inamine Fukyo” (Mayor Inamine’s economic depression) …. a Yomiuri article reported that based on Inamine’s non-cooperation with Tokyo, Nago lost-out on about $135 million over 8 years …. Ms. Ganaha said the cut-off of government subsidies was one factor which contributed to Mayor Toguchi’s victory; and, the other factor was that Inamine’s campaign brought-in a large number of (pushy) outsiders/activists, and the local Nago residents finally said “enough is enough!”

Original commentary copyright 2018 Carl Lafong
www.vicsocotra.com