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Last Week in Japanese News 12/04/2022-12/10/2022 [1]
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Date: 2022-12-11
Hello, this is RWPOINTWOMAN, and this is Last Week in Japanese News, a series of translations of Japanese news articles from the Easy section of the Easy Japanese news reader app arranged by day.
This app is meant for Japanese language learners, so even though I'm not fluent, I can still translate without having to run to a Japanese dictionary all the time. I'm getting there, though.
On with the show!
December 4, 2022:
Japan's come-from-behind World Cup victory brings joy to Tokyo public viewing. (Asahi)
At a public viewing in Tokyo, there were shouts of joy at Japan's come-from-behind World Cup victory. Delight swept through the roughly 420 people gathered for the public viewing the moment Japan's victory occurred. Japanese supporters : "This is great!" "Although I had thought that they had no chance of scoring even 1 more point, I am happy that they turned this around like they did with Germany." "Also, what I saw next made me happy. Additionally, we support you, so please persevere." "I was glad to be Japanese. Thank you Japan!"
December 5, 2022:
"Shika yose", in which deer are called with a horn, begins in Nara. (NHK)
At Tobihino, Nara Park, Nara City, "Shika yose", in which deer are called with a horn, began on December 1. An organization that cares for the deer plays Beethoven's Symphony No. 6 with a horn and the deer come running from the nearby woods. A woman who came from Kanagawa Prefecture with her family said, "I was surprised when the deer came running at the sound of the horn." A 5-year-old girl said, "I gave the deer acorns. They were cute." "Shika yose" will be performed at 10:00 AM everyday until December 14. It will not be performed on the December 11 Nara Marathon.
Food intended for disabled children eaten at gathering. (NHK)
There are children who are disabled such that chewing and swallowing are difficult. The Tokyo Metropolitan Area is researching foods easy for these children to eat in partnership with a university. About 40 people such as children and parents gathered together to eat such a meal on December 4. Softer, easier to eat versions of favorites like karaage and spaghetti were made. There was shrimp tempura, which was placed in a mixer after being fried but still looked like ordinary shrimp tempura. There were also sweets such as cake. When the children ate the food, they smiled. A mother who came with them said, "The children were delighted. The children are glad that they can eat the same food as everyone else, but I think there needs to be more of it."
President Putin: "My relationship with Japan is limited to judo." (Asahi)
Russian President Putin: "Hello. My relationship with Japan extends only as far as judo." President Putin attended a meeting with young researchers in Sochi, which is in southern Russia, on December 1. The Russian government designated Japan as an "hostile nation" in March, but stated his relationship with Japan was, "only judo," laughing as if it were a joke. Putin, who started judo at 13, is known to be a "judo master" and he visited the Kodokan Institute, which is the headquarters of the global judo community, when he visited Japan from 2000 to 2016. He became honorary president of the International Judo Federation in 2008 but was stripped of his title in February 2022 over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
December 6, 2022:
Companies that produce their goods in Japan on the rise. (NHK)
More companies are shifting their production to Japan due to the depreciation of the yen and rising labor costs elsewhere. Fukuoka-based Yamaya Communications is a company that makes mentaiko out of fish eggs. This company produced it outside Japan for years. They began producing it in Vietnam in 2014 and overall production costs that include salaries and wages have tripled since then. Due to this, the company intends to start producing mentaiko meant to be sold in Japan in Fukuoka Prefecture next April. Because of COVID-19, there are also companies that concerned about parts not being delivered. JVC Kenwood is shifting production of its automotive GPS systems to be sold in Japan from Indonesia to Nagano Prefecture. The Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry is going to disburse funds to companies to construct new factories in Japan.
Mentaiko is walleye pollack roe generally served with salt and red pepper according to Jisho.
Akita Inu contest held, roughly 170 dogs entered as contestants. (NHK)
A dog show just for Akita Inu was held in Kochi City on December 4. About 170 Akita Inu from various parts of Japan were gathered there. The Akita Inu has been designated as a protected species by Japan. The Akita Inu Preservation Society holds an Akita Inu-only dog show every year to increase the perceived importance and numbers of these dogs. At the contest, the animals are judged based on characteristics like how beautifully their tails curl, how straight their ears are, and how beautifully their teeth are aligned. They are divided into groups based on age and sex and the best one is chosen. At the venue, there were also foreign Akita Inu fans. A woman who came to see the show said, "I do not usually see so many Akita Inu in one place, so I could really enjoy this."
Drone flight range extended, applications such as off-island transport spread. (Asahi)
On December 5, the Civil Aeronauts Law was amended to allow drones—unmanned aerial vehicles—to flown farther than the operator can see over populated areas. Under the amended Civil Aeronautics Law, operating a drone over a populated area from far enough away that it is invisible requires that Level 4 requirements be met, and both a new aircraft certification system and a new pilot's license system have been created to ensure that the drones are flown safely. Also, drone accidents are to be reported to the Japanese and punishments for violating this law will be meted out. Now that Level 4 regulations have been written, it is expected that their uses will expand to transporting purchased goods to places like other populated islands and populated mountainous regions; inspecting infrastructure, surveying damage after a disaster, etc. It is expected that the market for drones will scale up to ¥800 billion in fiscal year 2027.
Preliminary calculations show that efforts of Japanese national soccer team had economic effects of ¥16.3 billion. (Asahi)
The efforts of the Japanese national soccer teams made sales of things like soccer-related goods and home-delivered foods climb and preliminary calculations indicate an economic effect of ¥16.3 billion. At Alpine Tokyo in Shinjuku, Tokyo, people looking to buy its goods could be seen after the store opened. Sales of replica uniforms increased sevenfold compared to before the opening of the games because of Japan's victory against Germany and many as 60 replica Mitoma uniforms in 2 days after he played against Spain. Pizza delivery sales are also strong. 23 Domino's Pizza stores extended their business hours to 5:00 AM the day Japan played Spain. Reportedly, they sold 1.6 times as much as they typically do that exact day of the week. The Japanese national soccer team's performance generated ¥16.3 billion in economic activity according to the preliminary calculations of Toshihiro Nagahama of the Dai-ichi Life Research Institute. Reportedly, if Japan makes Best 8 for the first time ever, the economic effect could exceed ¥20 billion.
Students learn how to help out during New Year's at Kitano Tenmangu Shrine in Kyoto. (NHK)
The Kitano Tenmangu Shrine in Kyoto, Japan is famously the shrine of Sugawara no Michizane, the Shinto god of learning. On New Year's Day, a vast number of people come to the shrine to pray that they will pass their school entrance exams. They gathered together a group that included students to help out. On December 4, about 70 people including students came to the shrine. The students, etc. visited the shrine in red hakama. And then they learned how to count omamori individually and in pairs and hand them over. They also practiced handing them over. A student said, "I want to do the task of making sure everyone can greet the new year joyfully as carefully and courteously as possible. The shrine believes that about 1 million people will come to worship at it between January 1 and January 3.
December 7, 2022:
Japan considers investigating nursery schools in Japan after 3 nursery school teachers arrested. (NHK)
On December 4, 3 nursery school teachers at Sakura Nursery School in Susono City, Shizuoka Prefecture caring for the children were arrested by police. According to the police, the teachers were accused of pushing on the face of a 1-year-old while dangling them upsidedown by their legs. According to Susono City, aside from that, these teachers had also committed 16 other cruel acts including showing a child a knife and threatening them with it and beating a child who would not eat about the head. The Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare stated, "It is extremely regrettable that something like this should happen at a place where the safety of children should be paramount. We will think about investigating whether Japanese nursery schools are taking proper care of their children."
Kindergarten uniforms and gym uniforms can now be rented for ¥500/mo. (NHK)
Mikuma Kindergarten in Hita City, Oita Prefecture will start a rental service just for school and gym uniforms for the children that charges ¥500/mo next April. At this kindergarten, the combined purchasing price of a school uniform and a gym uniform is ¥30,400. However, over the course of 3 years, ¥500/mo adds up to ¥18,000, about 60% of that. As they get bigger, the uniforms can be exchanged for a larger size. The service uses the uniforms of children who have already graduated. Those such as parents have said, "I have 3 children and this costs a lot of money, so this is good," and, "The uniforms are small and the children looked cute, so I am happy." The kindergarten stated, "We can carefully use these uniforms without throwing them away, so we think it is also good for the environment."
Hospitals, pharmacies, etc. experience medication shortage. (NHK)
The year before last, drugs were found to have been produced incorrectly by manufacturers with domestic factories. After that, problems were found at other companies. The Japanese government ordered these companies to temporarily halt their drug production. Medications have become scarce due to this. In August, a pharmaceutical industry group investigated things like whether places such as hospital were unable to dispense drugs and how many drugs arrived late. When they asked 223 companies, 28.2% out of 15,036 were late. This is 7.8 percentage points greater than last year. 41% of the late arrivals were generic drugs. Generic drugs are cheap, off-patent drugs made by special companies. An expert stated, "It will take 2-3 years for production to become sufficient again."
JR-EAST deploys first self-driving bus in Japan. (Asahi)
JR-EAST began using a self-driving BRT (Bus Rapid Transit System) on December 5. JR-EAST's Kenennuma Line suffered damage to its railway track during the East Japanese Earthquake, so afterwards, they began operating a BRT along a private road. The autonomous vehicle is constructed to run while detecting magnetic markers embedded in the road with sensors and its maximum speed is 60 km/h. Having had its safety confirmed during a proof-of-concept test, it began to run 4.8 km from Yanaizu to Rikuzen-Yokoyama Station on December 5. Currently, it has a driver, but they envision switching to autonomous mode to cope with the shortage of drivers due to the aging of the population. Because the BRT is less costly, more reliable, etc. they are looking at whether to replace unprofitable local railways with it.
December 8, 2022:
ANA to resume hiring recent college graduates, etc. as cabin crew. (NHK)
All Nippon Airways stopped hiring those such as recent college graduates in the spring of last year. This was because there were fewer passengers due to the pandemic. However, it became easier for foreigners to enter Japan on trips, etc. this fall, which increased use of airlines. Because of this, ANA has decided to resume using those such as recent college graduates as cabin crew such as flight attendants in April of 2024. New cabin crew members have not been hired in 3 years. Those who have already graduated by now will be hired starting next year. Japan Air Lines (JAL) has decided to start hiring recent college graduates as cabin crew next April.
Coffee bean scraps are reborn... as a young person's idea of something cute. (Asahi)
Students responded to the troubles of Mottainai, an established café in Toranomon, Tokyo. The sleeves made from used coffee bags are part of a larger lesson by students familiar with the store. The students proposed reusing waste materials like used coffee bags when they noticed them. The coffee bean bags used for purses contained coffee beans that could not be sold and have a deodorizing. Matsuya Department Store proprietor Kazuo Kuroyanagi: "We were extremely incapable of launching an effort to transform scraps into new things. We felt as if we could make cute products." It is thought by Mottainai that the goods made from waste materials like coffee bags as per the students' idea will be splendid.
This year's "Dish of the Year" "frozen gourmet." (NHK)
The Dish of the Year in Japanese society is whatever dish people often discussed that year. It is chosen every year by a company that gathers data about food and this year it is, "chilled gourmet." "Chilled gourmet" is chilled food from places like restaurants. The establishment's delicious food can be eaten at home. There is a great variety and it can be bought from a vending machine. Because of its superb resistance to spoilage, very little is thrown away. Money spent by households consisting of more than 2 people on chilled food jumped over 20% over the past 2 years compared with the pre-pandemic level. According to an organization for companies that make frozen food, more people are eating at home and buying frozen food compared with the pre-pandemic era.
Export value of agricultural, forestry, and fisheries products, etc. grows to over ¥1 trillion at fastest ever rate. Nishikigoi made "export priority item". (Asahi)
The value of agricultural, forestry, and fisheries products, etc. exports from Japan through October rose at its fastest pace ever to over ¥1 trillion. The Japanese government has newly designated nishikigoi an "export priority item" with the aim of increasing exports of it. The value of exports of agricultural, forestry, and fisheries products, etc. from January through October of this year is 15.3% greater than the same time last year at ¥1,121,800,000,000 and grew to exceed ¥1 trillion 1 month sooner compared with last year. This is the 2nd straight year in which the value of Japanese exports exceeded ¥1 trillion. The top destinations include China and the United States and Japanese scallops and strawberry-flavored sake are among the most strongly favored products. The Japanese government has released a target of ¥2 trillion export value by 2025 and has selected 28 items including beef and rice as "export priority items". Nishikigoi , which are very popular outside Japan, have been added to that list and the Japanese government has decided to promote nishikigoi-rearing areas and expand exports.
Tokyo Metropolitan Area allows credit unions to be used as emergency shelters. (NHK)
The Tokyo Metropolitan Area is convinced that in the event that an enormous earthquake called a "Tokyo Inland Earthquake", 45 million people would be unable to return home. Due to this, it is necessary to have many shelters to which people can flee. On December 2, the Tokyo Police Department and an organization for Tokyo Metropolitan Area credit unions agreed to collaborate in the event of a disaster such as an earthquake. Every credit union in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area is now a designated shelter for those who cannot return home due to an event like that. There are 750 such establishments and they are now included among the designated shelters like schools. They will also help people reach them. Credit unions are local small businesses, etc. that lend and hold money. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police stated, "Many people use credit unions, so this would be very helpful during a disaster."
December 9, 2022:
Year's best car electric kei car. (NHK)
Every year, car experts select the best new car to have begun to be sold that year as Car of the Year. The year, 2 electric cars made by Nissan Motors and Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, the Sakura and eK X EV, were selected. They are electric smaller-than-normal kei cars. The experts said these are affordable electric cars that are easy to purchase. This is the first time that electric kei cars have been awarded this. This year, an increasing number of corporations are selling cars in Japan and over 39,000 were sold from January through October of this year. 2.8 times as many were sold compared with last year, the most ever. Chinese corporations plan to begin selling electric vehicles in Japan and it looks as if competition will be fierce.
Okayama Castle tower lent for ¥100,000, hosts New Year's party. (NHK)
Repairs on Okayama Castle in Okayama City have finished and it is good as new as of October. And then it became capable of being rented out for New Year's parties. An Okayama City-based company rented a castle tower there and hosted a New Year's party there in December. About 60 people were gathered there, and food and alcohol were lined up at a table on the 1st floor. And then they enjoyed the Okayama City scenery that night on the highest floor. A guest who came to the New Year's party said, "This is the first time that I have come to Okayama Castle since it was restored. I was glad that the cityscape at night was very beautiful." The castle tower can be rented by 1 group at a time for 1 day. For ¥100,000, it can be rented for a gathering of up to 100 people for a 5:30 PM-9:30 PM slot.
Economy watcher investigation find 1st decline in 4 months of "street corner economy". (Asahi)
People well attuned to the business of small business owners unveiled figures from a "street corner economy" survey showing a decline in economic activity for the first time in 4 months. The Cabinet Office announced the results of the November economic activity survey and they revealed a 1.8 drop in economic activity compared with the previous month for a total of 48.1. Reportedly, the answers frequently identified the effects of high commodities prices and included, "The awareness of the need for crisis preparedness in case of loss livelihood is getting stronger and more and more customers are only buying the bare minimum," and, "costs are rising and it's affecting profits." Additionally, the outlook for economic activity 2-3 months out has also been falling and for 3 consecutive months. However, each of these movements has been small and the keynote decision to maintain the status quo included, "We believe the economy is moving in the right direction."
Nestle to raise prices of coffee, confectionery, etc. next year. " (Asahi)
Nestle Japan has announced that it is raising the price of 118 items including beverages, confectionery, and seasonings and decreasing the volume of units of sale of 8 others and that this will be implemented starting on March 1, 2023. Nescafé Excella Fuwa Cafe Latte 26P will increase from ¥544 to ¥654, Nestle Milo Original 240 from ¥410 to ¥478, and Kit Kat Mini Variety Pack will go from 13 varieties to 12. Reportedly, the magnitude of the price increases is roughly 10-25% for beverages, roughly 9-13% for confectionery, and roughly 7-10% for seasonings. It is assumed that the principal causes are the continuing high cost of raw ingredients and the depreciation of the yen.
Horyu-ji Temple performs o-minugui, a yearly ritual of wiping dust off of the statues of Buddha. (NHK)
On December 8, UN World Heritage Site Horyu-ji Temple performed o-minugui, which is wiping the dust off the Buddhist statues. This is performed every year around this time both to clean the statues and to greet the new year. After the monks read their sutras, they use tools like feather dusters to clean these national treasures as carefully as possible. People come to the temple to watch the cleaning of the statues. A woman from Oita Prefecture said, "I came here not knowing anything but I was deeply moved. I also thought it would be good to come early in the morning."
That's all for now.
[END]
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