©2011 Chappatte, distributed by Globe Cartoon. More cartoons on Chappatte’s web site. Geneva-based Patrick Chappatte works for the International Herald Tribune, for Geneva newspaper Le Temps, and for NZZ am Sonntag. All cartoons reproduced with permission.
The Red Cross has created a Family Links web site to connect families after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross), working closely with the Japanese Red Cross, has created a Family Links web site to help people who are seeking other family members in the wake of the 11 March earthquake and tsunami north of Tokyo.
The list of those missing, created Friday, had scores of names by Saturday. The ICRC notes on the site that if you do not find the name you are looking for, be sure to return, as names are added continually.
The areas particularly affected are the prefectures of Miyagi, Fukushima, Tochigi and Ibaraki, says the ICRC.
“People in Japan and abroad can register on the website to inform their family and friends that they are safe and provide their current contact details, while those looking for people can check the list for information. They can also register the names of missing family members and friends, encouraging them to get in touch,” the Geneva-based organization says.
The service is free and open to everyone. For those who don’t have easy Internet access or who need help using the site, the ICRC suggests contacting the nearest Red Cross office.
Prime minister declared nuclear emergency late Friday
A small amount of radiation has leaked from one of two Fukushima-based nuclear plants owned by Tokyo Electric Power Company, the firm says.
People are being evacuated from an area within 2-3km of the plant, as a precaution.
The company says the coolers at the plant have not cracked and they are not melting down, IB Times reports, after Japanese news agency reports said they could be melting down.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the US Air Force has delivered coolant to Japan as part of emergency supplies.
Japan’s prime minister declared a “nuclear emergency” late Friday when a nuclear reactor failed to cool after four nuclear power plants shut down automatically, following the 11 March major earthquake. Japanese law calls for an emergency to be declared if a cooler fails to shut down.
Links to other sites: BBC, Economic Times of India, International Business Times, Hong Kong
Update 15:15 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The International Federations of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has given indications of how its societies in the tsunami-affected areas, mainly Japan but also Indonesia and the Philippines are responding to the emergency. The 8.8 earthquake (some reports say 8.9), it notes, struck at 14:46 local time 11 March.
“A number of severe 6.4-magnitude aftershocks have followed.
Within minutes, the quake had triggered a tsunami that hit the eastern coast of Japan with 7-metre-high waves, which pushed inland and left a trail of destruction.
So far, at least 28 people are reported to have died, with many more injured or missing. The earthquake triggered fires and caused severe damage to buildings, leaving 4.4 million households without electricity.
The Japanese Red Cross immediately began an assessment exercise from its national headquarters and at branch level, mobilizing its staff and volunteers. The National Society deployed 11 national disaster response teams to carry out assessments and provide first aid and healthcare in the affected areas. Emergency relief planning is underway.”
Region on tsunami alert
An earthquake of this size, with the potential to trigger a tsunami, can cause waves to strike coastlines within a few minutes or even hours later. After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, early-warning and disaster preparedness programmes were stepped up in Red Cross Red Crescent National Societies and it is these early-warning measures that have been put into full operation across the region today.”
The Swiss government announced Friday afternoon that it has offered rapid assistance to the Japanese government following the large (8.9) earthquake and massive tsunami that came in its wake Friday 11 March. It is waiting for clarification of needs from Japan before sending an emergency team of experts from the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Unit (SHA).
Telephone links with Japan are under pressure from heavy use, the Swiss government confirms, and it is difficult to establish contact with Swiss citizens who have been in the regions hit by the quake and tsunami.
The SHA is also watching developments in neighbouring countries that are affected by the tsunami, particularly Indonesia and the Philippines, Bern says.
Estimates for the death toll are now in the hundreds, but with few official figures available.
Images of the tsunami that hit Japan Friday afternoon local time are daunting for the scale of the flooding and the speed with which it has swept large areas. Reporters in Japan say telephone lines are overwhelmed by people all trying to call at the same time, making it difficult to get a clear sense of what it happening. In Switzerland, TSR is providing images. (Ed. note: if you are outside Switzerland you are likely to have trouble viewing this)
The entire Pacific Bassin is under a tsunami warning except the US and Canadian continental shorelines. Hawaii has ordered a coastline evacuation and governments are now voicing fears that entire islands may have been washed over by massive waves.
The tsunami is the largest in Japan in 140 years, since records have been kept, Reuters reports.
In Geneva, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is organizing relief efforts with regional Asia/Pacific offices.
The Swiss Humanitarian Aid Office is holding its first meetings to assess the needs, in contact with Japanese authorities, GenevaLunch has been told, and the Military Disaster Relief team is on standby to work with the SHA if requested.
Videos that be can viewed outside Switzerland follow the images from TSR.
Flights rail service are disrupted in the area around Miyazaki, some 1,000km south of Tokyo, the largest town near Mount Shinmoedake, at the southern tip of Japan. The volcano began erupting 27 January and scientists say they have no idea how long it will go on or how fierce it will be, but Thursday 3 February it sent up a 1.5km-high plume of smoke. There have been no major injuries but as a precaution the area around the volcano has been cut off to prevent the curious from approaching it.
These eruptions are the largest in 50 years for the volcano, part of whose claim to fame is to have figured in the James Bond movie “You Only Live Twice”.
Meanwhile, troops are being deployed to the city of Uonuma, in Niigata Prefecture along the western seaboard of Japan, which is in danger of avalanches from the four-plus metres of snow that have recently fallen there.
Links to other sites: Japan Times, NPR
Official data released 31 January shows 16% rebound
Japanese manufacturing began to recover in 2010, figures released by the government 31 January show, with industrial production up 15.9 percent for the year, after a nearly 22 percent drop in 2009. Automobiles, electronics and steel manufacturing led the rebound. It was not enough to cheer up the Tokyo stock market Monday, however, where shares fell over continuing worries about instability in the Middle East, as protests in Egypt carry on.
Japan has recalled its ambassador to Moscow to protest Russian President Dmitri Medvedev’s visit to one of a string of disputed islands off the northern coast of Japan. Medvedev visited Kunashir island 1 November, the first time a Russian or Soviet head of state has done so. The Japanese foreign ministry said the recall was temporary. The incident comes just weeks after Japan and China had their most serious row in years over a group of disputed islands in the East China Sea.
The former Soviet Union seized the Kuril islands in the final days of the world war two and the dispute has interfered with a peace treaty formally ending the war between the two countries.
Links to other sites: New York Times, Reuters, Ria-Novosti
Asia’s first refugee resettlement programme underway
Karen mother and daughter, newly arrived at Mae Ra Ma Luang refugee camp near the Thai-Myanmar/Burma border (photo ©2010 UNHCR / J Redfern)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Three families who have spent 25 years in the Mae La camp in northern Thailand have landed near Tokyo, Japan, where they are being resettled as refugees, the first in Asia’s new refugee resettlement programme. UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) in Geneva announced that the 18 people, two couples and their children ages 3-15, will soon be joined by another two families who had to stay behind in Bangkok because they had come down with the flu.
The families are farmers from the Karen ethnic minority in Myanmar/Burma.
Japan says it will accept up to 90 refugees over three years. The families will be settled in Tokyo, given apartments, language lessons, vocational training and help in finding jobs. Two more groups of refugees will be accepted by Japan in one and two years.
The Japanese government has said it will ask China to pay for damage to the two coast guard vessels allegedly rammed by a Chinese fishing boat 8 September off disputed islands in the East China Sea. “Naturally speaking, we are to ask for the repair cost for the damage” to the vessels, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku 27 September at a press briefing in Tokyo. Japan announced the release of the fishing boat captain 24 September, but China says it still expects an apology and compensation.
The fisherman’s release provoked a storm in Japan over the weekend with critics saying Japan had allowed itself to be pushed around by China. The tiff has soured relations between the two Asian economic giants. China is Japan’s largest trading partner.
Links to other sites: CNN, Reuters, Wall Street Journal
Update 10:05 “China does not have a trade embargo on rare earth exports to Japan”, says a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, as reported by the Washington Post, 23 September. According to an earlier New York Times report, China’s government had announced an embargo on exports to Japan of a class of minerals critical to Japan’s high-tech industry in an effort to obtain the release of a Chinese fishing boat captain. Tensions have mounted after Japan extended the detention of the captain until 29 September.
The minerals, known as rare earth elements, are used in the manufacture of high-tech items such as displays, hybrid cars, cell phones and wind turbines. China has already suspended high-level talks with Japan and has urged local travel agents not to promote Japan as a tourist destination.
The Chinese captain rammed his fishing boat into two Japanese coast guard ships near a group of islands in the East China Sea controlled by Japan but claimed by China.
Prices of rare earth elements have sky-rocketed this year and China announced an across the board export reduction of 40 percent early September, citing environmental concerns. China mines 93 percent of the world’s rare earth elements.
Links to other sites: Economist, New York Times, Xinhua,
(video) Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Data released 16 September by Wipo, the World Intellectual Property Organization based in Geneva, shows a slowdown in IP registrations in 2008 and, based on partial data, in 2009, but the global picture is mixed. IP registrations include patent, trademark and industrial design applications, with industrial design applications suffering less from the glocal economic downturn than the other two categories.
The one country that bucked the mostly downward trend was China, although it accounted for an overall fall in trademark applications in 2008 while remaining the country with the largest number of trademark requests, 670,000.
The figures are part of the World Intellectual Property Indicators 2010, published by Wipo, with figures mainly from 2008-09.
Patents: applications, grants down
The number of patents granted in 2008 is estimated to have fallen by 0.6 percent, to 780,000 for the year. South Korea alone had a 32.5 percent drop and the overall figure was saved from showing a serious global contraction by China’s growth in patent grants. The fastest growing area was in demand for energy-related patents: fuel cells, solar, wind and geothermal energy. Patent applications filed for those technologies increased in nine years nearly seven-fold, from 584 applications in 2000 to 3,424 applications in 2009.
Applications for patents fell in virtually every country in 2009, preliminary data show, down 10 percent in Japan and down 5 percent in South Korea, but China’s applications rose by 8 percent.
Some 6.7 million patents were in force worldwide in 2008, a 5.3 percent increase over 2007. Patents in force in China and the Republic of Korea saw double-digit growth at 24 percent and 10.1 percent, respectively.
Residents of Japan and the US owned around 48% of total patents in force in 2008.
Trademarks: Bric nations, 30% of applications
The Bric (Brazil, Russian Federation, India and China) countries accounted for 30 percent of all trademark applications in 2008, far above their combined share in patents. Overall, trademark applications fell by 0.9 percent in 2008, the first decrease since 2001. They rose again in 2009, first figures show, but only in some countries: China and France recorded considerable growth in trademarks filings, while Germany, Japan and the US reported a drop.
In 2008, approximately 2.37 million trademarks were registered across the world, 7 for percent growth compared to 2007. China accounted for around 90 percent of the worldwide growth in trademark registrations. It also recorded the highest growth in these registrations (+56.8 percent), followed by the UK (+23.6) and the Russian Federation (+21.7).
Industrial design registrations led by China
China saw a 17 percent increase in industrial design applications in 2008, accounting for much of the world’s total growth of 5.7 percent in this area. France in 2008 remained the country holding the largest number of these patents, some 400,000, but China is expected to overtake France in 2009.
Video, presentation of the World Indicators by Francis Gurry, head of Wipo in Geneva
Japanese Prime MInister Naoto Kan has won the election for the presidency of the party he leads, the Democratic Party of Japan, and sent off a challenge by veteran politician Ichiro Ozawa, known as the “shadow shogun” for his behind-the-scenes deal making. Kan scored 721 points of the total 1,222 possible, against Ichiro’s 491 points in the vote 13 September.
The prime minister now faces the possibility that his party will split, as those who support Ozawa may walk out.
You guessed it: the high-profile presentation in Moscow of a new book, Moscow: Traffic Problems of a Megalopolis, was delayed 90 minutes by traffic, or rather by the late arrival of a special guest. The guest was former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and the book was written by his son Kichiro Hatoyama, a visiting lecturer at Moscow State University’s Graduate School of Business Administration, who suggests that Muscovites take lessons from Japan in how to better manage their clogged road system. The father was caught in heavy traffic, but the mayor of Moscow sent a police escort to his rescue, making him only 90 minutes late. Police escorts, complain Moscow motorists, are part of the problem, according to the Moscow Times, which reported the story.
Date for compliance with special US treaty covering UBS draws near
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – The Swiss Federal Council has approved four double taxation treaties, with Poland, The Netherlands, Japan and Turkey, all of which now conform to OECD requirements. The governing council of seven has forwarded these to the Swiss Parliament, which can consider an optional vote to approve the treaties. Switzerland earlier this year gave final approval to 10 0ther double taxation agreements.
The government also approved two completely new agreements, with Georgia and Tajikistan, but noting that “because a speedy entry into force of the DTAs was sought, Switzerland, Georgia and the Republic of Tajikistan agreed to waive the extended administrative assistance clause in accordance with the OECD standard for the time being.”
China now appears likely to be the world’s second largest economy in 2010, after the US, based on GDP (gross domestic product); it had already overtaken Japan for quarterly growth by the end of 2009. It has held the number two position since 1968, when it took it over from West Germany. The latest quarterly figures for Japan show slow growth for the second quarter, only 0.4 percent (annualized, with seasonal adjustments), while China continues to grow steadily. Official figures for both will be available only at the end of 2010, but the Financial Times reports that figures released 16 August are well below the 2.3 percent growth rate expected by most analysts. The economies are difficult to compare for a number of reasons, and China is generally considered to under-report its growth, but the latest figures confirm the trend that China’s influence is outstripping that of Japan.
Links to other sites: New York Times, Guardian, UK, Xinhua
Japan has apologized to South Korea for its colonial rule of more than four decades – 1910 to 1945 – over the country.
During the occupation, many South Koreans were forced into slave-labor, or were made to fight as front-line soldiers for the Japanese military.
Many women were also made to work as prostitutes in brothels operated by the Japanese military.
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said, “For the enormous damage and suffering caused by this colonization, I would like to express once again our deep remorse and sincerely apologize.” Japan will also handover many Korean artifacts taken during the occupation.
Seoul accepted the apology.
Naoto Kan was elected the new leader of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and Friday the Diet approved him as the new prime minister. Kan, 63, is the finance minister. The former civic activist has promised to “rebuild the country”. He replaces Yukio Hatoyama, who resigned abruptly Wednesday, under pressure over US bases and Japan’s troubled economy.
Links to other sites: Financial Times, Guardian, Xinhua
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama resigned early Wednesday 2 June and as the yen fell, over the news, giving exporters a boost, stocks rose. Hatoyama, in office only nine months, has suffered record low popularity, and is the fifth prime minister in four years.
Links to other sites: Bloomberg/Business Week, Financial Times
China has ended the first quarter of 2010 with a growth rate of 12 percent, higher than expected. Inflation, up 2.2 percent, was lower than expected but data published Thursday 15 April show that housing prices rose by 11.7 percent in the past 12 months. The strong economic growth has observers saying China could well overtake Japan in 2010 as the world’s second largest economy. Speculation is rife in Western business media about the impact, ranging from fears of the economy overheating and the possibility of the yuan being uncoupled from the dollar to when the government is likely to raise interest rates, which have just gone up in several neighbouring countries.
Links to other sites: Bloomberg, Financial Times, Xinhua
Manga fest in Lausanne
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – This past Sunday 4 April, instead of the Easter bunny, my family and I were surrounded by Narutos, Mimikkos, Ilpalazzos and other “Japanese inspired characters” I had never met. The people wearing wigs, platform shoes and carrying fake swords were in “cosplay”, which is short for costume play, at the sixth annual Polymanga festival in Lausanne.
Polymanga is a three-day festival featuring mangas, anime, video-games, cosplay and a tribute to Japanese culture that includes tea ceremonies, origami and Japanese calligraphy. The founder and president of this event is 26-year-old David Heim. “In 2005 there were 6,000 visitors and 15,000 in 2009.” Heim told GenevaLunch that the 2010 Easter edition which ended 5 April was even larger.
China now looks set to overtake Japan in 2010 as the world’s second largest exporter, with February figures well above even the optimistic forecasts: 45.7 percent over February 2009. Figures from a year earlier reflect the dip due to the economic crisis, but February figures were double the increase in January exports, up 21 percent. The Financial Times notes that Chinese authorities nevertheless intend to wait to lift stimulus measures because of an uncertain global economy.
Imports are also growing steadily, providing more evidence that the Chinese economy is rebounding.
Links to other sites: Financial Times, Xinhua
Monday 15 February is popularly known as Presidents Day in the US, with many businesses and government offices shut. The holiday is officially called Washington’s Birthday, to celebrate the first president of the US, but when it was moved from 22 February to the third Monday in the month, going into effect in 1971, President Richard Nixon called it Presidents Day, to honour all US presidents. The label stuck, albeit informally.
China has begun its week-long celebration of the Chinese New Year, with its stock markets and businesses closed to celebrate the arrival of the Year of the Tiger.
The Year of the Tiger looks likely to be the year China slips into second place as a world economic power. Japan published figures Monday that show it remains the world’s second largest economy, with GDP (gross domestic product) of $5.085 trillion. The figure for China is $4.909t. China is expected to overtake Japan during 2010 but it will need another 20 or more years to catch up with the US, whose economy is three times the size of China’s, many analysts suggest.
Links to other sites: Vancouver Sun, US Mission in Germany, Xinhua
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Prix de Lausanne opened in Lausanne Tuesday evening with an announcement that tickets for the final selection performance Sunday are sold out.
The international dance competition, which has grown in stature in recent years but also in popularity as a hometown event, began with its usual flourish. Eighty-one handsome young dancers, ages 15-18, from 20 countries were selected from a record 226 applicants from 36 countries.
They are surrounded for the week by nervous tension, excitement and a crowd of enthusiastic followers. Given hometown crowds who can’t be in Lausanne for the competition, the Prix de Lausanne blog and particularly the collection of videoblogs are already proving popular.
This is the first year that more boys than girls have been selected. Japan has the largest single contingent, 16 students, with China following with 14 students.
Several of the selections are open to the public, for CHF10 (children 7-15 free) and CHF20 for Saturday’s events. The finals can be watched live (streamed) Sunday starting at 15:00.
Japan’s finance minister, Hiroshisa Fujii, has resigned due to ill health and he will be replaced by Naoto Kan, a founder of the ruling Democratic Party, which won the country’s leadership in September 2009 after 50 years of conservative rule. Fujii was widely respected for his conservative approach and the change comes at a time when Japan’s economy has been particularly fragile and fears of a recession are still strong.
© Chappatte, distributed by Globe Cartoon. More cartoons on Chappatte’s web site. Geneva-based Patrick Chappatte works for the International Herald Tribune, for Geneva newspaper Le Temps, and for NZZ am Sonntag. All cartoons reproduced with permission.
Japan has pledged $5 billion in additional assistance to Afghanistan’s government just days before US President Obama arrives in Tokyo for an official visit on Friday, 13 November. The increase in aid will go towards building schools, demining, training policement, and rehabilitating Taliban fighters. Obama is to announce a new strategy for the US presence in Afghanistan after he has finished with consultations, perhaps before the end of the week.
The US has said it will expect Afghan President Hamid Karzai to meet clear measures to reduce the corruption that is seen to plague his administration. Western countries have increasingly seen corruption and a lack of transparency as undermining the the government’s legitimacy, putting a brake on development and giving the Taliban a political opening among the population. AFP, Bloomberg, New York Times
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Eight countries in Central Asia and the Caucasus and five in Southeast Asia are implementing early warning systems to protect against weather-related events, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Today 14 October is International Day for Disaster Reduction, and the agency is highlighting how early warning and disaster risk reduction can save many lives when extreme weather strikes. Similar projects were introduced in seven southeast European countries in 2007.
These national and regional cooperation projects are part of a concerted programme that relies on technical expertise and funding provided by the WMO, the World Bank, UNDP and the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR).
“Natural hazards are a part of life. But natural hazards only become disasters when people’s lives and livlihoods are swept away…” (Kofi Annan, World Disaster Reduction Day, 2003)
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Nineteen countries have now secured their places in the Fifa World Cup finals to be held in South Africa in 2010 after the penultimate games in the qualification series. In the African group Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire are through and six places are up for grabs. Australia, Japan and the two Koreas take the Asian places with one more team entering a playoff with New Zealand. Seven of the 13 European places are decided:
Storm warnings on northern main island
Typhoon Melor made landfall on Japan’s eastern coast with almost 200km per hour winds, bringing much rain and 6 metre waves along the coast early 8 October. One man died when his bicycle hit a tree, another was killed by a falling branch. The storm disrupted flights and the bullet train service. Normal train service has been suspended, too, leaving morning commuters stranded. It is estimated that up to 500 ml of rain will fall in central parts of Japan, and the government issued landslide warnings.
Melor is the first typhoon to hit Japan in two years. Typhoons are unusual in the region in October. Asahi, BBC, Reuters
Police in Japan are investigating the death of Soichi Nakagawa, the country’s former finance minister, age 56, who was found dead in bed by his wife, in Tokyo. He left no will and the cause of death is not yet known. Nakagawa was considered by many to be one of the bright stars of the LDP party, which lost massively in August elections, after 50 years in power. He lost his seat in the sweeping-out. Nakagawa had earlier lost his post as minister, forced to resign in February 2009 after he famously appeared at a Rome conference of finance ministers in what appeared to be a drunken state, which he blamed on alcohol taken on his flight plus medication.
Links to other sites: Asahi, Bloomberg, Japan Today
