Japan Relents on U.S. Base on Okinawa

Reneging on a prominent campaign promise, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told outraged residents of Okinawa on Sunday that an American air base would be moved only to the north side of the island rather than off the island. The announcement, a victory for the Obama administration and a humiliating setback for Mr. Hatoyama, confirmed what the Japanese media had been reporting for weeks: that he would accept Washington’s demands to honor a 2006 agreement to move the United States Marine Air Station Futenma to the island’s less populated north. Irate crowds greeted his arrival on Okinawa on Sunday with bright yellow signs that said “Anger,” and showered him with jeering cries of “Go home!” And in Tokyo, opposition leaders and even members of his own governing coalition assailed him for having turned the relocation into a huge political issue, only to go back to the original agreement.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/24/world/asia/24japan.html?scp=2&sq=Japan&st=cse

Uncertainty Buffets Japan’s Whaling Fleet

A small harbor on Japan’s northern coast, where whaling boats sit docked with harpoon guns proudly displayed, and shops sell carvings made from the ivorylike teeth of sperm whales, might seem to be an unlikely place to find opponents of the nation’s contested Antarctic whaling. Yet, local residents are breaking long-held taboos to speak out against the government-run Antarctic hunts, which they say invite international criticism that threatens the much more limited coastal hunts by people in this traditional whaling town. The Japanese government is facing renewed pressures at home and abroad to drastically scale back its so-called research whaling. Yet, Tokyo seems paralyzed by the same combination of nationalist passions and entrenched bureaucratic interests that have previously blocked any action to limit the three-decade-old whaling program.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/world/asia/16whaling.html?scp=2&sq=Japan&st=cse

Japanese Leader Backtracks on Revising Base Agreement

Backtracking on a prominent campaign pledge, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told angry residents of Okinawa on Tuesday that it was unrealistic to expect the United States to move its entire Marine Corps air base off the island. Mr. Hatoyama’s government could hang in the balance. He has pledged to come up with a plan by the end of this month to relocate the Marine air base and resolve a stubborn problem that has created months of discord with Washington. His delays and apparent flip-flopping on the issue have fed a growing feeling of disappointment in the prime minister’s leadership, driving his approval ratings below 30 percent. Visiting Okinawa for the first time since becoming prime minister, Mr. Hatoyama asked residents to entertain a compromise that would keep some of the functions of the base on the island while the government explored moving some facilities elsewhere.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/05/world/asia/05japan.html?scp=2&sq=Japan&st=cse

Japan Forces Bureaucrats to Defend Spending

Seeking to bring its spiraling debt under control, Japanhas undertaken an unlikely exercise: lawmakers are forcing bureaucrats to defend their budgets at public hearings and are slashing wanton spending. The hearings, streamed live on the Internet, are part of an effort by the eight-month-old government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama to tackle the country’s public debt, which has mushroomed to twice the size of Japan’s $5 trillion economy after years of profligate spending.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/29/business/global/29debt.html?scp=2&sq=Japan&st=cse

Bank of Japan sees inflation for FY 2011

Japan’s central bank will change its fiscal 2011 forecast to show the return of consumer-price inflation when it issues its semi-annual outlook Friday, according to a report Tuesday. The Bank of Japan will project the consumer price index to rise 0.2% in the fiscal year that began this month, changing from a forecast for flat prices during the 12-month period, the Nikkei business daily reported. The report attributed the positive price movement, marking Japan’s emergence from deflation, to the economic recovery and rising resource prices. The outlook is due out the same day as the BOJ’s policy meeting, at which the central bank is expected to keep its interest-rate target and stimulus programs unchanged.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bank-of-japan-sees-inflation-for-fy-2011-report-2010-04-26

Japan’s Missed Opportunity

Japan, one of the postwar era’s strongest anti-nuclear voices, missed an opportunity at the nuclear summit that ended here on Tuesday to translate its commitment to disarmament into a premier spot on an emerging global agenda. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama was overshadowed by those who came to Washington with specific ideas about how to shore up the global commitment to nonproliferation. The Japanese media have portrayed Mr. Hatoyama’s low profile as a reflection of the difficult state of U.S.-Japan relations. Although the issue of nuclear nonproliferation was identified early on as a priority after Japan’s new government took office in September, Mr. Hatoyama, who was seated next to President Obama over dinner, used his one-on-one time to discuss the relocation of the Futenma Marine Air Station on Okinawa, a thorn in the bilateral relationship.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/15/opinion/15iht-edsmith.html?scp=2&sq=Japan&st=cse

African Fossil Changes Ideas of Ant Origins

The first fossil ant from Africa, found in amber dating back 95 million years, challenges a previously held theory that ants originated in North America or East Asia. The finding is part of a larger study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences identifying 28 fossilized insects, one spider and one mite, as well as a variety of flora all trapped in amber from Ethiopia.The insects, the oldest that have been identified in Africa, are from the Cretaceous. There are also numerous fungi, ferns and spores that were previously unknown to paleontologists.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/science/06obamber.html?scp=1&sq=North%20Africa&st=cse

Missing-2/23/10:Coffin’s Emblem Defies Certainty

When the remains of hundreds of colonial era Africans were uncovered during a building excavation in Lower Manhattan in 1991, one coffin in particular stood out. Nailed into its wooden lid were iron tacks, 51 of which formed an enigmatic, heart-shaped design. The pattern was soon identified as the sankofa, a symbol printed on funereal garments in West Africa and it captured the imagination of scholars, preservationists and designers. Ultimately, it was embraced by many African Americans as a remarkable example of the survival of African customs in the face of violent subjugation in early America.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/arts/design/27sankofa.html?scp=10&sq=west+africa&st=nyt

Fleeing Rebels Kill Hundreds of Congolese

Depleted by an American-backed offensive and seemingly desperate for new conscripts, the Lord’s Resistance Army, one of the most infamous armed groups in Africa, has killed hundreds of villagers in this remote corner of Congo and kidnapped hundreds more, marching them off in a vast human chain, witnesses say. The massacre and abductions are a major setback to the effort to stamp out the remnants of the group, a primarily Ugandan rebel force that fielded thousands of soldiers in the 1980s and ’90s. But in recent years it has degenerated into a band of several hundred predators living deep in the bush in Congo, Sudan and the Central African Republic with child brides and military grade weaponry.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/28/world/africa/28congo.html?scp=3&sq=East%20Africa&st=cse

Elephant trade ban reaffirmed for Tanzania, Zambia

A U.N. wildlife conference rejected on Monday proposals by Tanzania and Zambia to relax a trade ban on elephants to allow a one-off sale of their ivory stockpiles. The 175-nation meeting voted down calls by the two nations, which say elephant numbers are rising and are a danger to people in rural areas, to ease trade restrictions to permit a sale of 112 metric tons of ivory.Many people have been killed by elephants. Even as we speak, children are not going to school because they are afraid of encountering elephants along the way.Conservation groups broadly welcomed the vote.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/22/AR2010032201860.html