Former Aichi Gov. Kanda Received Illegal Funds From Chubu Electric

 

A former director of Chubu Electric Power Co. told The Asahi Shimbun that it paid a total of 30 million yen ($296,000) from a slush fund to four gubernatorial candidates starting the 1980s and ending in the 2000s.

Aichi Prefecture’s former governor Masaaki Kanda has acknowledged he received a political donation from Chubu Electric, one of several regional utility monopolies.

Kanda, who served as Aichi governor for three terms between 1999 and 2011, admitted that he received funds from the company on at least one occasion in 1999.

Nagoya-based Chubu Electric is suspected of raising 250 million yen in off-the-book funding to buy support from politicians for nuclear power and other utility-related concerns.

The individual said he provided 3 million yen in 1999 and 5 million yen in 2003 to Kanda at his residence shortly before the start of his election campaigns.

Each time the executive said he made an appointment to meet Kanda before visiting his home and handing over cash directly to him.

Although Kanda admitted he received funds from Chubu Electric, he could not recall whether he received money in 2003. The former governor added that officials from the utility never asked him for anything in exchange.

“I remember that I received money once at the time of my first election, but I don’t clearly recall whether I received (money) or not at the time of my second election,” Kanda said. “I certainly did not provide favors to Chubu Electric, and they did not ask me for any favors, either.”

Kanda was a member of a Chubu Electric’s panel on utility policies that was comprised of locally influential people.

“Aichi’s governor was a member of the panel, so he was of special importance to us compared with governors of other prefectures,” the executive said.

For the 5 million yen it paid to the governor in 2003, the utility had five major construction companies contribute 1 million yen each. The executive said he told Kanda the names of the contractors.

To raise 250 million yen for the slush fund, the utility padded the amount it charged for orders that it placed to these companies, the executive said. His revelation raises the possibility that the utility used revenue paid by electricity consumers to buy the support of politicians for utility-related projects.

The executive said that Chubu Electric also paid money from the secret fund to candidates in three other gubernatorial elections during the same time frame beginning in the 1980s.

Each time, the company handed between 2 million yen and 5 million yen to relatives of the candidates or executives on their campaign teams. It some instances, a candidate’s side approached Chubu Electric for a monetary contribution, the executive said.

While prefectural governors have no legal authority in the decision-making process over the construction, operation and decommissioning of nuclear power plants, the safety agreements required between power companies and local governments oblige the utilities to gain the approval of prefectural and local governments before they can construct new reactors or restart those that have been idled.

“If we alienate prefectural governors, it will cause us many problems in promoting the utility’s projects,” said the executive.

A spokesman for Chubu Electric said the company has no record relating to the executive’s allegations.

The gubernatorial candidates from the other prefectures and former executives from their campaign teams said they are not aware of the alleged monetary handover or they have no memory of it.

Asahi

Another Power Failure At Nippon Steel

Nippon Steel Nagoya

Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp said its Nagoya steel plant suffered another power failure on Sunday, the second in about a month and the fourth this year, causing a release of smoke from coke ovens in a process to burn off gas.

The plant in central Japan began gradually resuming operations from Sunday evening after the power outage early in the morning led to a shutdown of most of its main units and a release of smoke for about three hours, spokesman Masato Suzuki said.

"We are still investigating the reason for the incident. Most of the units at the plant including two blast furnaces had resumed operations by this morning," he said on Monday.

The Nagoya plant, which produced 6.74 million tonnes of crude steel in the business year that ended March 31, suffered a power failure and smoke release twice in January and once in June, leading to a shutdown of the entire plant.

The release of smoke in June, which lasted more than 12 hours, left soot and tar stains on about 23,000 Toyota Motor Corp vehicles parked at shipping yards in Aichi prefecture, central Japan. Toyota said it was likely to seek damages from Nippon Steel.

"We have not heard anything about health problems from neighbours or about damage at nearby companies, including automakers," Nippon Steel's Suzuki said of the latest incident.
Toyota spokesman Ryo Sakai said: "There has been no damage at the storage yard and also no impact on production."

Nippon Steel's Nagoya plant, which was built in 1958, is the company's fourth-biggest in Japan and its steel sheets are used for cars.

"We don't think the blackout was due to any deterioration in the system," Suzuki said.
He declined to say what impact the incidents in June and July would have on its steel output and profit for this year.

Nippon Steel, the world's second-biggest steelmaker by crude steel output, posted a group recurring profit - pretax and before one-off items - of 361 billion yen ($3.55 billion) in the last business year to March. It has said the power failure in January cut its profit by 8 billion yen.

To prevent further similar problems, it aims to bring forward the installation of a back-up power supply route for gas blowers for coke ovens from the planned date of end-March 2016.

Reuters

Nagoya Police Use Praise To Enforce Law

Aichi Prefecture is taking a unique approach to reducing the number of traffic accidents after having the worst rate in the country 11 years running.

The police in Naka Ward, Nagoya, rather than attempting to crack down on rule-breakers, are trying positive reinforcement on people who “do the right thing.”

“When people are praised, it puts them in a good mood. This in turn serves as motivation for them to continue that behavior, which will hopefully spread to the people around them,” an officer at Naka Police Station said.

“Thank you for putting on your helmet. You are a role model to others,” Assistant Police Inspector Seiji Kondo said through his megaphone to a man on a bicycle near Nayabashi Bridge in Naka Ward on July 17.

A while later, a child crossed the street with his hand raised high in the air, and another police officer came up quickly and gave him a card that says “Good job!”

The lad didn’t seem to understand what the card was for, but knew that it was meant as praise and smiled broadly.

The Aichi Prefectural Police adopted this approach in June. Since many people pass through Naka Ward, there is a high rate of accidents involving bicycles and pedestrians.

“We decided to stop telling them what not to do. We believe we can raise people’s awareness for traffic safety by complimenting them on their good behavior instead,” said Hirokazu Nonogawa, chief inspector of the traffic department.

The same method was used in June last year in the Shibuya district in Tokyo during Japan’s qualifying matches for the FIFA World Cup.

The scramble intersection near the statue of Hachiko is a popular location for viewing the matches. Last year the National Police Agency set up a “DJ Police” booth, using humor and pleasant comments to successfully guide foot traffic through the neighborhood.

The Aichi Prefectural Police took a lesson from that operation.

Officers in the community affairs department and the traffic department carry cards to pass out to anyone they see displaying model behavior.  They have distributed more than 100 in the last month alone. 

If the recipient is an elementary or junior high school student, the police will ask for their name and school, then later notify the school of their student’s excellent behavior.

Heiwa Elementary School in Naka Ward has taken to announcing the names of students who have received cards during assemblies.

“Praising a student in front of others will help raise their awareness for safety, and will motivate others to do the same, so it’s a positive influence,” said Vice Principal Takuya Yamanaka.

The Aichi Prefectural Police are also planning to get stores and businesses involved by giving discounts to customers who carry a good behavior card.

Chunichi

Toyota Delays Deliveries

Cleaned Vehicles Awaiting Shipment

Toyota Motor Corp. said it expects to delay the delivery of about 23,000 vehicles by up to a month while it cleans up soot spewed from a Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. plant in central Japan.

According to the automaker, around 20,000 vehicles bound for export and some 3,000 units for domestic shipment kept at two storage sites in the city of Tokai in Aichi Prefecture were affected by the black smoke emitted from the steel mill late last month.

The delivery of vehicles for export may be delayed from one week to one month and that of cars for shipment in Japan is likely to be behind schedule by up to three weeks. A company official said it has not decided whether to seek compensation from Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal.

Toyota mobilized a total of about 5,000 employees from its factory to clean the vehicles for export while dealerships are removing the soot from cars to be delivered in Japan.

On June 22, a power failure occurred at the Nagoya steelworks' coke oven and the operator burned gas containing carbon monoxide, causing the emission of black smoke.

The external power supply was shut down mistakenly at the mill due to errors in an operation manual.

Prefectural Nagoya Airport Rated Inefficient

Departure Entry at Nagoya Airport, Komaki

The Prefectural NagoyaAirport (NKM) has been rated as one of the most inefficient airports in Asia. 

The rating has been done by the Airport Transport Research Society (ATRS) and is included in the Annual Global Airport Benchmarking Report.

The Air Transport Research Society released the results of its annual benchmarking study of commercial airports in Asia and the Pacific. Based on a rigorous analysis of airport cost and revenue data, the ATRS benchmarking study assessed the productivity and efficiency of nearly 200 airports and selected the most efficient airports in each of the regions, as well as the most efficient airport, overall.

This year, Incheon Airport won the top productivity and highly efficient airport in Asia. Three of Korea’s 14 airports, managed by Korea Airports Corp. (KAC), were named among the most efficiently operated airports in Asia.

The Kansai International Airport in Japan was found to be the most inefficient in Asia.

Hakuho Wins Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament

Grand champion Hakuho defeated his Mongolian compatriot, Harumafuji, on Sunday to win his 30th career title at the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament, edging closer to the all-time championship record in Japan's ancient sport.

Hakuho was pushed back to the edge by fellow grand champion Harumafuji in the final bout of the 15-day tournament, but finally got a grip on Harumafuji's belt and hauled his opponent down to improve to 13-2 for the event.

The 29-year-old Hakuho is now just two behind the record of 32 championships held by former grand champion Taiho. Chiyonofuji is second on the list with 31.

Harumafuji gave Hakuho a serious challenge but couldn't finish off his opponent and closed out the tournament with a 10-5 record.

Legoland Planned for Nagoya

Planned Legoland Nagoya

Legoland will open its first park in Japan, as the kingdom of tiny bricks spreads around the globe.

A £185m theme park will open its doors in 2017 in Nagoya, mostly replicating the Lego pirates, vikings and miniature cities that enthral children and exhaust parents in six other Legolands in five countries.

While Legoland Japan raises the possibility of Lego bullet trains or Lego sakura cherry blossom trees, a company spokesperson said no decisions had been taken about specific details for the Japanese market.

The first Legoland opened in 1968 in Billund, the small Danish town where a master carpenter fashioned the first Lego brick in the 1930s. A second park in Windsor opened in 1994, but the pace of expansion is picking up.

Merlin Entertainments, the London-listed company that bought Legoland in 2005, sees potential for 20 Legoland parks. Legoland is in the United States, Germany and Malaysia, while Legoland Dubai is due to open in 2016. "We remain committed to our target of opening a new [Legoland] park every two to three years," said Merlin chief executive Nick Varney.

Merlin, which also owns Madame Tussauds and the London Dungeon, will spend £53m over three years on the Nagoya park, while local partner Kirkbi Invest will raise the rest. The Japanese theme park market is estimated to be worth £4bn, the largest in Asia, and Merlin is keen to catch up with rival Disney, which has been in Japan for more than two decades.

The Guardian

Muslim Sumo Osunaarishi And Ramadan

With his stunning upsets of not one, but two yokozuna in the early stages of the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament here, Osunaarashi, as might be expected, is plotting his next move.

 

But the victory the 22-year-old has in mind is being fought outside the ring.

As the first African and Muslim sumo wrestler in Japan, Osunaarashi must grapple daily with the fact he cannot eat or drink during daylight hours because of Ramadan.

"I'm so hungry my head is spinning," the No. 3 maegashira moaned as he entered the dressing room after his victory over yokozuna Kakuryu on July 17, the fifth day of the tournament.

There were no words of joy over winning a "kinboshi," or golden victory, the term for when a maegashira wrestler upsets a yokozuna. Osunaarashi was thinking only of food.

Because Ramadan is determined by the lunar calender, in which a year is roughly 11 days shorter than one in the solar calender, the number of days in Ramadan that overlap with the annual Nagoya tournament changes each year.

Osunaarashi, born Abdelrahman Alaa Eldin Mohamed Ahmed Sharan in Giza, Egypt, had to fast the last two days of the Nagoya tournament in his debut year of 2012 and also for the 12 days following the fourth day of the tournament last year.

But this year, Ramadan started on June 29, the day before the official ranking of wrestlers for the Nagoya tournament was announced. It lasts until July 27, which coincides with the final day of the tournament.

He trains and fights during the day, but is unable to eat or drink to boost his energy level.

After his bout, as the sun set while he was in the car going back to his lodgings in Inazawa, Aichi Prefecture, the wrestler suddenly rushed into a convenience store to chug down soft drinks. When he got to his destination, he ate fried duck and cooked Egyptian jute soup himself, eating more than his usual portion.

The next morning, he arose before dawn and reheated the leftovers, hoping he would remain full for the rest of the day.

Because he lost 7 kilograms during last year's Ramadan, Osunaarashi is trying to maintain his daily calory intake by mixing butter into his rice.

While training under the summer sun, Osunaarashi does his best to minimize his thirst by gargling. "The thirst is the most unbearable of all," he said.

He even developed a 38-degree fever during the tournament. Although he was given an intravenous drip at a hospital, he refused to ingest medication during daylight hours.

On July 23, when the tournament was its 11th day, Osunaarashi's score was five wins against six losses. Although the tournament is nearing its end, Osunaarashi can still count on tough opponents both inside and outside the ring.

Asahi