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Hiroshima – The Hiroshima High Court turned down second-generation hibakusha’s appeal for state compensation on Friday, upholding a ruling by the Hiroshima District Court. In the lawsuit, the 27 children of survivors of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing of the city have demanded that the government pay each plaintiff ¥100,000 ($653) in damages under the atomic bomb survivors support law, claiming it was undeniable that they were genetically affected by the radiation from the bomb. Excluding second-generation hibakusha from the scope of the legally defined assistance violates Article 14 of the Constitution, which guarantees equality under the law, they maintained. However, “the bomb’s genetic influence has been neither proved nor commonly acknowledged,” said Presiding Judge Kenji Takamiya. “Hibakusha and second-generation hibakusha should be taken as having significant differences medically and scientifically.” The exclusion by the government “does not constitute unjust discrimination,” Takamiya continued. “It’s the legislative body that has sole discretion to decide whether to provide legal assistance to them.” The Nagasaki High Court already rejected a similar appeal by local hibakusha’s children in February, in support of a lower court ruling. The plaintiffs have brought the case to the Supreme Court. Source link

What do Shohei Ohtani, tax-free savings accounts and affordable grilled eel meals have in common? They were among the top products and services shoppers in Japan went crazy for this year. Annual rankings of hit products have a 53-year history in Japan. It all started in May 1971 with the Nihon Keizai Shimbun’s launch of a thrice-weekly trade publication, the Nikkei Ryutsu Shimbun, that covered marketing and distribution. As a promotional gimmick, someone came up with the idea of running a hitto shōhin banzuke (hit product listing) in the form of a traditionally stylized list of wrestler rankings issued ahead of the six annual Grand Sumo tournaments. Using the same distinctive brush calligraphy as in sumo, the Nikkei’s banzuke was topped by yokozuna (grand champion), followed by ozeki (champion), sekiwake (junior champion) and so on. The rankings immediately resonated with the public and remain popular to this day, appearing on the front page of the since-renamed Nikkei Marketing Journal (Nikkei MJ) in the first week of December. Source link

Small firms are spending far more of their profits on wages than their bigger counterparts and could struggle to keep hiking pay, casting doubt on whether wage gains could broaden enough for the Bank of Japan to keep raising interest rates. Next year’s wage prospects are crucial for sustaining a consumption-led recovery — a prerequisite for further rate hikes by the Bank of Japan. While Japan has succeeded in getting companies to finally deliver the kinds of pay hikes it has been pushing for years, the uneven corporate pay burden now complicates the BOJ’s plans to lift interest rates away from historic lows. Source link

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s minority government has made a series of concessions to gain opposition support for its supplementary budget, which passed the House of Representatives on Thursday. Ishiba’s efforts to win the support of not just the Democratic Party for the People (DPP), with which the ruling bloc has a partial alliance, but also Nippon Ishin no Kai reflect his desire to gain their cooperation in the parliamentary session to be convened next month. He also apparently aims to prevent opposition parties from uniting ahead of next summer’s election for the House of Councilors. Source link

DAMASCUS/AMMAN/BAGHDAD – Twenty-three-year-old Syrian military conscript Farhan al-Khouli was badly paid and demoralized. His army outpost in scrubland near the rebel-held city of Idlib should have had nine soldiers but it just had three, after some had bribed the commanding officers to escape serving, he said. And of the two conscripts with him, one was regarded by his superiors as mentally unfit and not trusted with a gun, Khouli said. For years, the Islamist rebels of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) had sat behind the nearby front line, with Syria’s long civil war frozen. But on Wednesday, Nov. 27, Khouli’s commanding officer — at another post behind the front lines — called his mobile phone to tell him a rebel convoy was heading his way. Source link

Mitsubishi Electric is in talks with domestic rivals about teaming up on power chips, its chief executive officer said, advocating Japanese alliances on the manufacture of a crucial component that drives the world’s devices. While management is broadly supportive of working together, such discussions have snagged on the administrative level and have not moved forward, CEO Kei Uruma said. Still, a sense of urgency is growing as Japanese companies fall further behind German market leader Infineon Technologies. “There are too many competitors in Japan,” Uruma said in an interview. The power chip industry requires continuous technological innovation, and it makes sense to work together while there’s still a chance at winning market share, he said. “We shouldn’t be fighting each other. We need to unite.” Source link

Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako are to visit the city of Wajima in Ishikawa Prefecture on the Noto Peninsula on Tuesday to meet people affected by massive rainfall in September. The day trip will mark the imperial couple’s third visit to the disaster-hit peninsula, including trips to meet people affected by the magnitude 7.6 earthquake that struck the region on Jan. 1. Their travel plan was reported at a Cabinet meeting Friday. According to the Imperial Household Agency, the emperor and empress will arrive at Noto Airport in Wajima on a special flight from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Tuesday morning. In the afternoon, they are set to inspect an area damaged by floods due to the downpours and receive an explanation from Wajima Mayor Shigeru Sakaguchi. The couple will meet with evacuees and go back to Tokyo at night. The emperor and empress will travel by bus in the prefecture. The trip will be postponed to Wednesday if the weather is bad. Aides have said the couple are concerned about those in Noto hit by the two disasters. The upcoming visit was decided after discussions between the agency and the prefecture. Source link

A record 10,866 kodomo shokudo — cafeterias offering free or low-cost meals to children in need — are now operating across Japan, according to a recent report by nonprofit organization Musubie. Musubie’s survey, conducted from August to October this year, revealed an increase of 1,734 locations from last year. This brings the national coverage rate to 34.7%, meaning one in three school districts now has a kodomo shokudo. With the recent surge, the number of these cafeterias has surpassed the combined total of Japan’s elementary and junior high schools, which stands at 9,265. Source link

New York – Time Magazine on Thursday named U.S. President-elect Donald Trump its “person of the year,” marking the second time he has won the accolade, in acknowledgement of the mogul’s stunning political comeback. Trump, who defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 election, adorns the magazine’s title cover sporting his distinctive red tie and striking a commanding pose. “For marshaling a comeback of historic proportions, for driving a once-in-a-generation political realignment, for reshaping the American presidency and altering America’s role in the world, Donald Trump is Time’s 2024 — Person of the Year,” the magazine said. Source link

New York – The holding company of Coincheck debuted on the Nasdaq Global Market on Wednesday, making it the first Japanese cryptocurrency exchange to be listed in the United States. Coincheck, effectively controlled by Japanese online broker Monex Group, aims to expand its operations through acquisitions in the U.S. and Japan, where the cryptocurrency industry is growing, using proceeds from the initial public offering of the holding company, Coincheck Group NV. Coincheck Group closed at $13.35 for a market capitalization of about $1.7 billion. It went public in the U.S. through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, based on a plan made by Monex Group. The listed shares will be used as a “currency” for company acquisitions, Monex Group Chairperson Oki Matsumoto said, expressing his desire to implement a growth strategy for Coincheck over the coming year. Regarding the Japanese crypto industry, he showed an eagerness to buy rivals to expand Coincheck until the Japan Fair Trade Commission steps in to stop his group. The group could buy up all domestic competitors other than main rival BitFlyer, he added. Monex Group took over Coincheck following a massive cryptocurrency theft at the exchange in 2018. Coincheck was among Japan’s leading crypto exchanges, with around 2.15 million accounts, as of the end of last month. The crypto industry is gaining momentum in the U.S. amid high hopes for policies under President-elect Donald Trump, who has expressed support for cryptocurrencies. The value of bitcoin, a major cryptocurrency, exceeded $100,000 per bitcoin earlier this month. Source link