Toyota Chief Slammed

TOKYO

Japanese media is criticizing Toyota for their delayed response to the current car recall. Toyota's are being recalled for the accelerator failure in many of their cars, but Toyota has taken its time to deal with the problem. Toyota represents a major part of the Japanese car industry as well as Japan altogether, and this is giving them a really bad rep.

This shows that Toyota is not making this serious issue a priority. Japanese newspaper Nikkei commented that "Words are not enough. The company's crisis management ability is being subjected to sever scrutiny." A separate Japanese newspaper Asahi says that "The entire world is watching how Toyota can humbly learn from its series of recent failures and make safe cars".

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Sorry Bluefin

WASHINGTON

Sorry bluefin, you lose another battle for your lives. The proposal by Monaco and the U.S. for banning bluefin tuna fishing. In the last 50 years the population worldwide for bluefin has declined 70%, but the scary fact is that 60% of that came from this last decade.

Unfortunately, this ban was rejected at a United Nations conference in Doha, so fishing for this diminishing species will continue for another year. Sushi restaurants and fish markets can do their part by not selling bluefin tuna, but as I work at multiple sushi restaurants, bluefin tuna is very popular among customers and businesses will continue to sell it.

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Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

In class we discussed changes in society, so I wanted to talk about changes in Japan's society. I also want to discuss the changes specifically after WWII, since that was a major event in Japan's history that is relatively recent and caused a swarm of changes.

After the devastating loss for the Japanese, everyone needed money to live. Families were changing by the role of women changing. Women started working and that allowed for their social status to rise. They gained more freedoms politically and socially. Family, which is a very significant ideal is Japanese culture was changed forever.

Also after WWII, many historically important Japanese cultures were outlawed. Kabuki theater and martial arts were made illegal. Emperor worship was replaced with democracy in schools. Hundreds of thousands of weapons such as samurai swords were given up because they were not allowed to teach the "samurai spirit" in schools anymore.

Japan is defined as a constitutional monarchy, which means that they do have an emperor, but with limited powers. The Diet, which is the Japanese parliament, has the most power and is formed through elections.

Conglomerates

A conglomerate in Japan is called a "keiretsu". This means a system or series of grouping enterprises with interlocking business relationships and shareholdings according to Wikipedia. There are three different types of keiretsu. The first is kigyo shudan, which means a horizontally intergrated busines. The second, seisan keiretsu, stands for a vertically integrated manufacturing network; the third ryutsu keiretsu stand for a vertically integrated distributing network.

Most conglomerates started out with their central banks that used its money to lend out to is other business enterprises. One of the most important events that has affected keiretsu is the recession in the 1990s. Many companies were hit by the drowning economy and other business picked them up through acquisitions.

Here is a list of some major Japanese keiretsu:

• Fuyo (Canon, Hitachi, Nissan, Yamaha)
• Mitubishi (Mitsubishi Motors, Kirin Brewery, Nippon Oil, Nikon)
• Toyoto (Toyota Motors, Lexus, Toyota Financial, Towa Real Estate)
• Mitsui (Fuji Film, Mitsui Real Estate, Toshiba)
• Dai-Ichi (Isuzu, Tokyo Electric Power, Fujitsu)
• Sumitomo (Kobe Steel, Toho, Konica Minolta, Hankyu Railway)

As with media, Japan is actually more stable compared to the U.S. and Europe when it comes to conglomerates. Japan's media was basically untouched by large corporations until Rupert Murdoch's Star TV came into the picture. Murdoch bought 20% of Asahi which is one of 5 major TV networks.

U.S. Air Base in Okinawa

OKINAWA
The Japanese government has realized that a U.S. air base that is located in Okinawa needs to be relocated. The Futenma Marine Corps air station is occupied by many of the 50,000 American military personnel in Japan. The problem is that Okinawa is a heavily populated city in Japan and this air base is having too much of an impact on the city's local residents and environment.

Japan's Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is trying to resolve this problem by attempting to relocate the air base. It will be very difficult to pass something that will make both Japan and the U.S. content, but it needs to be done. Hatoyama has set the deadline to resolve this problem by May; however, trying to come up with a solution in a couple months seems impossible.

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Japan's Cultural Imperialism

This topic is so important when it comes to Japan. Especially in the country's capital, Tokyo, cultural imperialism surrounds Japan. Of course, most Japanese have Japanese as their primary language, but English is so essential for business in Tokyo. Most Japanese business men can understand and speak English too and that affects the way they live and work. Celebrities in the U.S. are so well-known in Japan that Japanese culture has a lot of American in it.

Even though it does not relate to journalism, fashion in the U.S. and around the world currently in based on Japanese ideals. Many current design in today's sportswear and fashion are heavily influenced by the Japanese. Right now, "Made in Japan" is synonymous for high-quality "in" trends. People want stuff from Japan because they are always on top of the newest trends and styles, just like in electronics. They are so far ahead of everywhere else that people want to follow them.

My favorite brand of eyewear right now is DITA LEGENDS, which is a Los Angeles based sunglasses company that manufactures all of their frames in Japan. Their sunglasses go from $400 up to $2,000 for one pair. Everything is handmade and show signs of perfection and quality.

CIA Knows Japan

I found some of this information quite interesting from the CIA website. Here are some facts I stole from the CIA, I hope they don't care or else I might not be attending class for some reason...(I hope I "disappear"!)

Background:

In 1603, after decades of civil warfare, the Tokugawa shogunate (a military-led, dynastic government) ushered in a long period of relative political stability and isolation from foreign influence. For more than two centuries this policy enabled Japan to enjoy a flowering of its indigenous culture. Japan opened its ports after signing the Treaty of Kanagawa with the US in 1854 and began to intensively modernize and industrialize. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Japan became a regional power that was able to defeat the forces of both China and Russia. It occupied Korea, Formosa (Taiwan), and southern Sakhalin Island. In 1931-32 Japan occupied Manchuria, and in 1937 it launched a full-scale invasion of China. Japan attacked US forces in 1941 - triggering America's entry into World War II - and soon occupied much of East and Southeast Asia. After its defeat in World War II, Japan recovered to become an economic power and an ally of the US. While the emperor retains his throne as a symbol of national unity, elected politicians hold actual decision-making power. Following three decades of unprecedented growth, Japan's economy experienced a major slowdown starting in the 1990s, but the country remains a major economic power. In January 2009, Japan assumed a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2009-10 term.

Radio broadcast stations:
AM 215 (plus 370 repeaters), FM 89 (plus 485 repeaters), shortwave 21 (2001)
Television broadcast stations:
211; note - in addition, US Forces are served by 3 TV stations and 2 TV cable services (1999)
Internet country code:
.jp
Internet hosts:
47.249 million (2009) country comparison to the world: 2
Internet users:
90.91 million (2008) country comparison to the world: 3

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