2007 shakes nation's sense of trust The Yomiuri Shimbun
Events this year have made it difficult to know who or what we can trust.
The top 10 domestic news stories as selected by Yomiuri Shimbun readers have highlighted the public's anxiety and its distrust of those in positions of responsibility.
This year's list contrasts markedly to last year's, which saw three "good news stories" top the list, led by Princess Kiko giving birth to a son, Prince Hisahito.
The Kanji character chosen by the Japan kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation for this year was "nise", or false, a word that has undoubtedly passed through many readers' minds this year.
The suspension of sales at confectioner Fujiya Co., and the mislabeling scandal at long-established Akafuku Co., led readers to decide this year's food scandals were the second-biggest domestic story of the year.
Ishiya Co., a confectioner in Sapporo that produces and sells "Shiroi Koibito" chocolate cookies, a speciality of Hokkaido, and Senba Kitcho, an Osaka restaurant of upscale restaurant operator Kitcho Group, saw trust in their brands dissipate despite long track records and a proud tradition.
But dubious record-keeping was not confined to the nation's foodstuffs.
The admission that 50 million pension records could not be identified, an incident that placed third on the readers' list, resulted from the Social Insurance Agency's sloppy record keeping.
As things stand, the agency is not able to tell who these records belong to, even though it is in possession of them. Some agency employees compounded the public's distrust when it was revealed they had embezzled pension premiums.
Pension debacle
The pension fiasco is one of the major reasons behind the Liberal Democratic Party's crushing defeat in July's House of Councillors election, which allowed the Democratic Party of Japan to become the largest party in the upper house (ranked fourth).
The Diet is now divided, with the ruling coalition parties maintaining a majority in the House of Representatives, while the opposition parties control the upper house.
The divided Diet led to the resignation as prime minister of Shinzo Abe, who was succeeded by Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda (ranked first).
Abe's resignation shocked many, as he announced it two days after delivering a policy speech in the Diet, and just before he was due to face interpellation by opposition party leaders.
Another factor behind the LDP's humiliating defeat, and Abe's subsequent resignation, was the problem of the relationship between politics and money.
Former Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka, who had been grilled over his fund-managing organization's dubious use of office expenses, committed suicide without properly accounting for his actions. The incident ranked seventh on the readers' list.
Matsuoka's successors also were driven to resign. Norihiko Akagi was dismissed over the dubious use of office expenses, while Takehiko Endo resigned over subsidies illegally received by a farmers' mutual aid association that he headed.
Akagi even refused to tell reporters why he had a bandage on his face when responding to questions at a press conference. To many observers, Akagi's attitude was the final straw that broke the back of the LDP's electoral prospects.
The victory of former TV personality Sonomanma Higashi (Hideo Higashikokubaru) in the Miyazaki gubernatorial race--number eight on the list--followed the resignation of his predecessor shortly before his arrest over alleged involvement in bid-rigging and bribery cases.
This year's top 10 list is unusual because it contains four politics-related stories.
But it was not only politicians who did not fulfill their responsibilities, or who provided false explanations to the public.
Former Administrative Vice Defense Minister Takemasa Moriya was arrested over allegations of bribery as he accepted entertainment in the form of golf outings from a defense trader on numerous occasions (ranked fifth).
During sworn testimony in the Diet, Moriya said he paid 10,000 yen toward the cost of the entertainment on each occasion, but this was later found to be untrue.
In the sporting world, yokozuna Asashoryu was banned from two sumo tournaments after it was revealed that he had played in a charity soccer game in his native Mongolia despite having filed for withdrawal from a local summer sumo training tour (ranked ninth).
In late June, 17-year-old sumo wrestler Tokitaizan died after being beaten and kicked by several other wrestlers. Stablemaster Tokitsukaze initially said that the young wrestler and the stablemates involved in the incident were in "regular training."
But the stablemaster was dismissed by the Japan Sumo Association after it was revealed that he had hit Tokitaizan with a beer bottle, and required him to spar for 30 minutes before the young wrestler collapsed (ranked 17th).
Troubling year
Meanwhile, this year also saw a series of terrible natural disasters.
In March, the Noto Peninsula Earthquake registered an intensity of upper 6 on the Japanese scale of 7, and left one person dead (ranked 15th). In July, the Niigata Prefecture Chuetsu Offshore Earthquake also with an intensity of upper 6 claimed 15 lives (ranked sixth).
In August, the whole country suffered under a heat wave. The mercury hit 40.9 C in Tajimi, Gifu Prefecture, and Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, breaking a record that had stood for 74 years (ranked 13th).
Having already witnessed a series of depressing incidents, the year unfortunately ended with the shooting rampage at a fitness club in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, on Dec. 14. This story was included as a late addition to the top 10 domestic news stories.
But gloomy stories were not the only ones to grab headlines.
The Chunichi Dragons won their first Japan Series title in 53 years (ranked 12th). Meanwhile, the Yomiuri Giants grabbed their 31st Central League title and their first pennant in five years (ranked 18th).
Boston Red Sox pitchers Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima contributed to their team's World Series victory (ranked 19th).
Hoping for gold in Beijing
Baseball remains persistently popular in this country, as shown by the fact that news of the national baseball team's qualification for the Beijing Olympics next year ranked 50th in our survey, even though this story broke after we started compiling the top stories in our readers' poll.
The national baseball team has never captured the Olympic gold, although it did win at the Los Angeles Olympics, back when baseball was only an Olympic demonstration sport.
"I'm determined to keep providing our fans with dreams and excitement," national team manager Senichi Hoshino said after the team clinched a berth in the Beijing Olympics by beating Taiwan.
The sport of baseball, along with softball, will be excluded from the 2012 London Olympics, and it is unclear if it will feature in future Olympic Games. Therefore, it is to be hoped that "Hoshino Japan" will be able to realize the long-cherished dream of taking Olympic gold.
Japan earned a record-tying 16 gold medals in the 2004 Athens Olympics.
It is encouraging to see our Olympians perform better than their more burly foreign rivals. If Japanese athletes can get as many medals as expected next year, that would really give the whole country a boost.
The New Year will come soon, and everyone is looking forward to receiving New Year's greeting cards from friends. It is to be hoped that delivery of the cards will go smoothly despite the privatization of Japan Post (ranked 10th).
And it is sincerely hoped that next year will be full of bright and encouraging news.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Dec. 25, 2007)
(Dec. 25, 2007)
Retrieved from http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/editorial/20071225TDY04310.htm Dec. 28, 2007
A strenuous year for world news The Yomiuri Shimbun
Strenuous events emerged across the globe in 2007, a year that can be seen as one dominated by gloomy uncertainty. Many of these events were included in the top 10 international news stories chosen by Yomiuri Shimbun readers.
It can be said that two problems considerably affecting the global economy have stemmed from a money glut--which can be seen as a kind of strain.
Crude oil prices hit a record high of 99 dollars per barrel in November (ranked 2nd on the list of top international news stories).
Against this backdrop is the increasing demand for energy by China and other rapidly growing emerging economies. But the top factor contributing to the skyrocketing oil prices is believed to be the influx of speculative funds, such as investment funds, that have been pumped into the oil market.
Surging crude oil prices pushed the prices of gasoline and kerosene as well as corn, which is used in making bioethanol. This, in turn, had a ripple effect on the prices of grains such as wheat and soy beans, prompting price hikes of such food items as bread and instant noodles.
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Subprime woes, China safety
One of the main culprits that shifted surplus money into the crude oil and commodity markets is the problem of subprime housing loans in the United States for low-income earners (ranked 4th).
As anxiety over a possible U.S. economic slowdown spread, world stock markets took major hits, sending anxious funds into the oil and other markets.
Subprime loans can be paid back only when housing prices go up. Is making light of the risk of an imminent burst in the housing bubble tantamount to creating a strain that made the financial sector lose its way?
There can be no denying that the Chinese economy has served as an engine for growth in the global economy. But one phenomenon that symbolized a strain in China's expanding economy became prevalent--worldwide worries over the safety of Chinese products (3rd).
Animals died after eating Chinese-made pet food, and harmful substances were found in vegetables, sea food, cosmetics and toys from China. There are now "China free" labels in the United States to indicate the product does not contain ingredients or materials from China.
Is China seeing a freewheeling rise of profiteering amid sharp economic growth? We wonder if China will be able to nurture among its people an awareness in product and food safety.
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Regimes show teeth
Strains also can become evident in juntas and other heavy-handed regimes or states on the verge of collapse.
In September, Myanmar's military regime used force to crush anti-government demonstrations in its main city of Yangon and other locations (1st). Kenji Nagai, a Japanese videojournalist who was in Yangon to cover protests, was among more than 30 people killed in the armed crackdown.
Many Japanese were shocked to see a video grab that showed Nagai being shot at point-blank range by a soldier.
In Afghanistan--a country where reconstruction efforts have been stymied, the Taliban abducted in July a group of South Korean church volunteers who were engaged in medical support and other activities (10th). The hostages were later released except for two men in the group killed by the once-ruling Taliban.
The incident stirred renewed debates about how aid to such a region should be provided.
In Iraq, there was a spate of terrorist attacks across the nation, although security in limited areas, including Baghdad, improved (12th).
In Pakistan, Islamic religious school students and others were holed up in a mosque in Islamabad in July, provoking raids by special military units (17th). Many people were killed in the armed raids.
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2 Koreas continue dance
When talking about strained autocratic states, we cannot forget North Korea.
In October, negotiators of six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear development program adopted a joint document spelling out their agreements that three North Korean nuclear facilities would be disabled and all of Pyongyang's nuclear development programs would be declared (6th). It is said the work to disable the facilities is under way, but North Korea is not likely meet the deadline for declaring all its nuclear programs by the end of this year, as stipulated in the joint document.
In the South Korean presidential race held earlier this month, Lee Myung Bak was elected, and he has called for taking a harder line toward North Korea than the administration of outgoing President Roh Moo-hyun.
How will Lee review the large-scale aid to North Korea pledged during a summit meeting in October between the heads of South and North Korea (13th), which was held for the first time in seven years? We would like to see how tactfully Lee can deal with North Korea.
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Leaders changing
Britain and France--major powers in the European Union--saw the emergence of new leaders.
Nicolas Sarkozy was elected president of France in May, defeating a female Socialist candidate (8th). Gordon Brown succeeded Tony Blair as British prime minister (14th), and experienced foiled terrorist attacks in his first week (16th).
This year's Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (9th). Gore has been critical of steps taken by the United States and China to counter global warming.
The awarding of the prize to them helped boost global interests in environmental issues. But an imbroglio at the meeting this month of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bali, Indonesia, showed how difficult it is to find common ground over global warming.
This year also saw a series of startling incidents.
In April, a South Korean student went on a shooting rampage at Virginia Tech university in the United States, killing 32 people (5th). An interstate bridge in Minnesota collapsed in August, killing a score of people (15th).
Strong earthquakes hit Indonesia's Sumatra Island, where a major quake claimed the lives of more than 100,000 people in 2004, this time killing more than 80 people (7th).
The U.S. presidential race effectively started (18th), with voting to happen next November. It remains to be seen who will eventually be victorious.
The president of the superpower that is the United States wields the greatest influence to clear the fog of uncertainty that is expected to linger for some time. We would like to carefully observe how this election will unfold.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Dec. 28, 2007)
(Dec. 28, 2007)
Retrieved from http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/editorial/20071228TDY04304.htm December 28, 2007