Top news in Japan …

Nagasaki marks 62nd anniversary of atomic bombing. With a strong sense of resolve that the world must never again experience the suffering brought on by a nuclear attack, Nagasaki will carry out somber ceremonies today to remember the dropping of the second atomic bomb.
Japanese story: 核廃絶へ、強い自覚を  長崎６２回目「原爆の日」

More stories follow …

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Top news in Japan with a little bit of opinion:

Abe to meet with unrecognized hibakusha. Hibakusha is Japanese for victims of the atomic bomb. There is a group of people, who although they feel they should be recognized as hibakusha, have not been. Hibakusha are entitled to get help from the government, and it also confers a certain status on people, officially recognizing their plight. This group recently took their case to court asking to be recognized and failed. Today, August 6 is always remembered in Japan as the day the first atomic bomb was dropped. Abe will be in Hiroshima to to attend a solemn ceremony remembering the dropping of the bomb. After the ceremony he said he would meet with the representative of this group to see if there was something he could do to help out the group members (ruling out officially recognizing them as hibaksha).
Japanese story: 認定基準見直し検討へ　首相、被爆者代表と面会

More news stories follow …

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Top Ten news stories in Japan as of 11 pm last night (from Kyodo news):

1. Abe says again, with emphasis, he won’t resign. He also stated he will not reorganize his cabinet any earlier than he has already stated. His current plan is to reshuffle the cabinet at the end of August. When asked about the sacking of Farm Minister Norihiko Akagi, Abe said that as Akagi could not adequately explain discrepancies in the use of public funds, he no longer had the confidence of the people. Due to this situation, Akagi could no longer function in his position.
Japanese story: 内閣改造前倒しを否定　首相続投方針、重ねて強調

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Akagi has resigned. I can’t get too excited about this. He was obviously on his way out in the reshuffle, so his exit now can’t mean much …

Farm minister Akagi resigns to take blame for election damage 
Farm minister Norihiko Akagi tendered his resignation Wednesday to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to take responsibility for damage his political fund scandal caused to the governing coalition in the upper house election and his resignation was accepted, Akagi said.”Media reports concerning myself and other factors had an impact on the election and it was all too clear that it was a factor that invited the loss of the ruling coalition,” Akagi told reporters at the prime minister’s office.

Not unexpectedly, the US house has approved the comfort women resolution.

I strongly disagree with this resolution. I very much understand that resolutions like this are par for the course these days in Washington, but personally I think resolutions like this are pro-war. You don’t tell other countries, especially allies how to deal with difficult and complex problems. It will be interesting, if not unsettling, to see what the reaction is to the resolution. (Here are some reactions from when the bill was approved by the foreign relations committee.)

Let’s see how many people on the left are all too happy to accept foreign interventionism, so long as they agree with the purpose of the intervention. Let me spell this out for those who don’t understand what I am implying. Japanese nationals, especially politicians, should want the sovereignty of their country respected, and on principal should reject all interventions. However, I am sure that because many politicians on the left approve of the contents of the resolution, they will not pay any attention to the sovereignty issue. Had the bill said Japanese should go to church more often, of course, a different reaction would be expected. But the issue is not what America is telling Japan to do, it’s that America is telling Japan what to do!

Note the resolution explicitly tells the Japanese government how to educate its future generations. US congressmen do not even have the inherent right to tell parents how they will educated their children in America, much less Japan. Are we all Fascists these days? Imperialists? People really need to wake up on this issue.

Let’s see how many people on the left who reject interventionism in Iraq, and American imperialism in general, are all to happy to exuberantly embrace it here. Let’s see how many Japanese are good imperial subjects when it suits them.

Article and link follow ….

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Infected with HIV through tainted blood, Ryuhei Kawada: Won!

Lesbian candidate, Kanako Otsuji: Lost.

Hideki Tojo’s grandaughter, Yuko Tojo: Lost!

Finnish-born naturalized Japanese citizen, Marutei Tsurunen: Won! (reelection)

Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori: Lost!

An indigenous Ainu woman candidate, Kaori Tahara: Lost.

See below for some blurbs and links …

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[Entry update 1: I have added some news stories below results.]

[Entry update 2: I have added even more news stories.]

[Entry update 3: I have inserted some graphics from NHK news.]

[Entry update 4: It is not reflected below yet, however, the final unaccounted seat went to Komeito, whose total is now 9.]

Here are the results from the 2007 Upper House election in Japan:

Here is a table in English listing the same information (clicking on the party will take you to their home page):

Turn out Rate: 59% (link)

In the House of Councillors there were 121 seats up for election out of a total of 242. Of the seats not up for election 58 were controlled by the ruling parties (the red seats) and 63 were controlled by the opposition parties (the blue seats):

As a result of the election it now appears that the ruling parties won only 46 seats, while the opposition parties won 74 (one seat is still unaccounted for):

Here is what the new House of Councillors will look like, the ruling parties will control 104 seats, and the opposition parties will control 137 seats (one seat is still unaccounted for):

Early Headlines:

Ruling coalition suffers huge defeat (Japan Times)
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition was thoroughly trounced in Sunday’s election, losing its majority in the House of Councilors, nearly complete returns showed. The Democratic Party of Japan meanwhile took over as the leading force in the Upper House. Despite the huge setback for his Liberal Democratic Party, Abe said he plans to stay in power. … The LDP, which had 64 contested seats going into the election — appeared certain to fall short of winning 40 — even worse than the 44 mark that in 1998 forced Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto to step down, Kyodo reported. The DPJ meanwhile sharply boosted its strength from the 32 contested seats it had going into the election. … New Komeito chief Akihiro Ota indicated his party will continue to support Abe. … Still, pressure for Abe to take responsibility for the LDP’s defeat was brewing even within his party. “I cannot understand how (Abe) can express his intention to remain in office even before the final results are known. He does not seem to understand public common sense,” said Yoichi Masuzoe …
Yoshio Hachiro, head of the DPJ’s campaign headquarters, said Sunday’s results represent a vote of no confidence against the Abe administration. “It is now the proper course in politics (for Abe) to seek voters’ mandate in the House of Representatives,” Hachiro said … Voter turnout was estimated at 57.71 percent, about 1 point higher than in the previous Upper House election, in July 2004 … With the ruling bloc losing its Upper House majority for the first time since 1998, attention was expected to focus on how Abe contains the damage — or whether he will even stay in power. … It is also the first time for a party other than the LDP to seize most of the seats in the chamber since the LDP was established in 1955. …

More headlines below …

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Top Ten News Stories in Japan as of 11 pm last night (From Kyodo News) …

[Note: I will not be doing top ten news tomorrow as I will be on holiday. Also, the following day I will be reviewing election coverage, so again might not have time to do top ten news. I hope to resume this feature, if possible, Tuesday morning.]

1. World wide simultaneous stock reevaluation feared. At one point Friday Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Nikkei index of 225 stocks was down 500 points breaking the 17,200 level. At closing time it was still down 418.28 points for the day at 17,283.81. The TOPIX was also down 37.47 points. This is following a day of heaving selling and stock decline on Wall Street the previous day due to problems in the US subprime loan market. (English link.)
Japanese story: 東証、一時５００円超下落　世界同時株安の懸念再燃

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Could they DPJ ask for anything more?

Another fund scandal involving Akagi comes to light
Farm minister Norihiko Agaki, who has been under fire over a political fund scandal, doubly allocated some 200,000 yen of mail costs by attaching photocopies of two receipts to funds reports of his two political organizations, electoral council documents showed Friday …

Top Ten News stories in Japan as of 11 pm last night (from Kyodo news)

1. Fault nearly under quake stricken nuclear plant? The Geographical Survey Institute (GPS) of Japan has conducted a survey of the earthquake that struck Niigata on July 16. They have determined that the quake was the result of two reverse faults. One of the faults lies mere kilometers from the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant. If their theory is correct, then this questions the integrity of the previous survey conducted by the Tokyo Electric (TEPCO) prior to building the plants. GPS suggests we need to go back to the surveys taken by the power company and have a fresh look at how they were carried out.
Japanese story: 原発の間近に震源断層か　中越沖地震で国土地理院

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