Japan, bowing to pressure from Washington, pulls out of Azadegan oil project in Iran

The article from asahi.com explains the issue of Japan’s oil drilling in Iran, and how the U.S. involvement with Iran and its plans for sanctions are causing issues for the Japanese. Because Japan has little to no natural resources, they must either purchase their oil from other countries or drill their own offshore. Today, the Japanese company Inpex Corp. currently drills in Iran’s Azadegan field, one of the most prominent reserves in the world. The Japanese government, however, has agreed to pull out of their successful oil project. With Iran’s new nuclear facilities quickly approaching reality, the United States plans to put sanctions on the country, with the suspicions that Iran would have the power to produce nuclear weapons; something they don’t want. The United States government has warned Japan and urged them to stop the drilling in Iran, because their company, Inpex Corp., would be put on the list of sanctions. This would very negatively affect the Japanese economy by not allowing them to trade in the oil sector with other prominent nations such as America and other European countries. While Japan has agreed to the United States’ terms, they are in the process of a negotiation aimed to allow Inpex Corp to be an exception to the list of products and services mentioned on the sanction. While the oil sanctions played a large part in Japan leaving Iran’s oil fields, the danger of the oil field also played a part. Being surrounded by minefields, the Japanese can’t work to their maximum efficiency. None of the oil has gone to Japan either, meaning that they must export it to other countries; which they wouldn’t be able to do with the sanctions. This story is significant because of two main reasons. One, it’s greatly impacting Japan in a negative way. Japan will no longer be able to drill for oil in the oil field they’re currently in, bringing their overall export of good down. Second, this story displays how issues between only two countries can affect the entire world. The Japanese aren’t that involved in conflicts with Iran, while the United States is. Because of these two nations being in a dispute, Japan will suffer from being put on the list of sanctions if they continue their drilling in the area. This just goes to show how when an important country in involved in a serious conflict, most likely other countries will be dragged into it as well.

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201009300244.html

Okinawa Weighs in on China-Japan Spat

The article, Okinawa Weighs in on China-Japan Spat, by Yoree Koh gives further information about the current dispute between perhaps the two most powerful Asian nations on Earth, China and Japan. While the issue might not have been receiving much publicity on American news sources, it is without a doubt a very large issue in Japan. Even though the Japanese government has recently released the Chinese fishing boat captain from detainment, the concern of who the rightful owner is of the islands is far from over. What makes the story so critically important to current issues is the fact that it has the possibility of escalating to a tremendous intensity. Both countries lay claim to the group of small islands, and the Japanese Coast Guard currently controls them. That being said the Chinese government is beginning to up their coastal patrols, only inviting more conflict to arrive. Should China go to the extreme and attack the nation of Japan, the United States, as a strong ally of the Japanese, could be forced to send in troops for aid. The article, however, talks specifically about the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly and its demand that the “central government [of Japan] lay claim to the Senkaku islands.” The assembly, other than asking China to take the issue carefully, desires local Japanese fishermen to be permitted and protected to fish at the location of the chain of islands. The article continues to point out specifics of the conflict, such as China standing by its claim to the islands by sending more coastal guards. Once again, this conflict is such a large issue in Japan. Not only are the Chinese increasing the presence of their defense at the islands, but they are also in the process of developing awfully powerful underwater missiles. These missiles would possess the capability of destroying military equipment, which proves as a great source of intimidation to the Japanese. Overall the conflict between China and Japan concerning the Senkaku islands represents an even larger issue of territorial control between the two nations.
http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2010/09/28/okinawa-ever-helpful-weighs-in-on-china-japan-spat/?KEYWORDS=japan

Video: China and Japan Relations

This video clip is a continuation of the video in the blog post before this one. The Japanese has recently allowed the crew members of the Chinese fishing boat to be released and allowed to return to China. However, the judging of the Captain of the boat was extended and he is currently being kept in Japan. The Chinese take great offense to this action of the Japanese, and is increasing the tension between the two countries by a greater degree. While many don't think China will go the the extent of using it's military powers, it's easy to see that the Chinese government doesn't consider this situation a small one.

Japan and China

Japan Seeks to Weaken Yen

On Wednesday, the 15th of September 2010, the Japanese government intervened in the international currency markets for the first time since 2004. Because Japan is an export-led economy, they moved to weaken their growing yen, while also raising the value of the dollar. The officials who are in charge of managing the Japanese economy have recently purchased United States dollars and sold Japanese yen. An intervention in the economy is a surprise to some, since Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who on Tuesday won a party-wide race, hasn’t talked much of intervening in the economy. The article points out that it’s also a surprise to some because of the recent trends of countries and their economies. Countries have of late been trying to stay out of market intervention, and rather are attempting to allow the markets to sort out themselves. However, the Japanese have felt the need to intervene since the yen had reached a 15-year high, which hurts its export-based economy. While this move as helped weaken the yen since other investors are selling their yen, keeping the yen from eventually moving back up will be difficult. Other countries also want to keep their currency on the weak side to boost up their exports, so they won’t want to buy Japanese currency. That said, other leading countries are supportive of Japan, because a weaker Yen helps them out too. For example, a strong yen will end up making overseas exports much more expensive, and lowers the value of overseas earnings when they return to the Japanese economy. For an economy based on its exports, a weaker currency is a must.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/16/business/global/16yen.html

More Specific Focus on Japan

Many of the large issues that are currently talked about in Japan have to do with their relations with other countries and what it means for Japan. Just recently, the country lost its rank as the second largest economy in the world to China, and is now in the place of the third largest economy in the world. This is because the economy in China is obviously growing larger, but also because the economy in Japan is being hurt by the economic recession in the United States. Japan is worried about deflation, as their yen value increases and the overseas markets slow down. Because Japan has very little natural resources, they are one of the world largest importers of goods. With overseas markets heading downhill, Japan’s importations are affected and so is their economy. To counter this, the Japanese are considering passing a Stimulus program although there are many economists who are advising against it.
In more recent news, the Japanese have just revealed what their execution chambers look like to the public. Of the industrialized nations, only Japan and the United States currently have capital punishment, and the Japanese are generally in support of it. The United Nations have tried to sway Japan into dropping their capital punishments because of “the large number of crimes that entail the death sentence, the lack of pardoning, the solitary confinement of inmates, and executions at advanced ages and despite signs of mental illness.” Some also claim that some on death row might be innocent. Japan has a 99 percent conviction rate, and is assumed to be because of the “widespread use of forced confessions.” People who believe this use the case of Toshikazu Sugaya, who was convicted of the murder of a 4 year old and had served 17 years until he was recently found innocent, as their defense.
Some more interesting facts about Japan’s capital punishment:
- Inmates on death row don’t know when they will be executed until late minute.
- All executions are carried out by hanging.
- The executions sites are kept in secret locations, so journalists have to arrive in a bus with closed curtains.
- Before the execution, inmates are allowed to read their last rites with either a Buddha, an altar of the Shinto religion, or a wooden cross for Christians.
- Sentences aren’t carried out on weekends, national holidays, and around New Year.

CIA World FactBook

For many centuries, Japan (known in Japanese as Nihon or Nippon) was isolated from the rest of the world until they signed a treaty with the United States of America in 1854. After their role in World War II, Japan become an ally with the U.S. and is currently one of the top economic powers. Their current form of government is classified as a parliamentary government with a constitutional monarchy. While there is still an emperor to this day to show national unity, only the elected politicians have the power to make decisions affecting the country. They have a judicial, legislative, and an executive branch of government, and suffrage is granted to all citizens at 20 years of age.
Japan has a population of 127,078,679 people, and currently has a growth rate of -0.191%. Because of the long isolation in Japan’s past, 98.5% of the population is of a Japanese ethnicity, and 83.9% of the population practice Shintoism. The main industries of Japan include motor vehicles, electronic equipment, machine tools, steel and metals, ships, chemicals, and processed food. The currency of Japan is called the Yen, and has a value of 94.5 Yen per US dollar.
In current Japan, Emperor Akihito holds the title of emperor, and the prime minister is Naoto Kan. Naoto Kan is a member of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), but other political parties that tend to be popular in Japan include the Japan Communist Party, Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito Party, People’s New Party, Social Democratic Party, and the Your Party.

The Greatest Threat The World Faces Today

In the world that we live in today there are many threats, some larger than others, which could cause a global catastrophe. While I feel that among the leading world powers the greatest threat would be terrorism, one threat that the entire world faces, leading powers included, is disease; more specifically, bacterial resistance. With the ever-growing population that the world is facing, people are living closer and closer to each other. This allows certain organisms and particles to spread from person to person much more easily. With all of these hand-to-hand encounters, disease is sure to spread among countless populations. However, with our modern medical technology, we are able to treat sicknesses such as the cold or flu at home with simple medicine. Appendicitis, which back in the days would have been a death sentence, can now simply be cured and the patient can return to their normal lives in a matter of days.
Much is this is able to happen because of antibiotics. Before the discovery of antibiotics, a small cut could kill you if it were to get infected. Infection was one of the leading causes of death. Wounded soldiers would die in the hospital from infections, and even today, in diseases such as AIDS, the virus itself doesn’t kill you, but the infections and small colds do, since the body’s immune system can’t fight off the bacteria. It’s easy to say that bacteria are very deadly, but we just have the resources to combat them. All of this could change if bacteria become resistant to antibiotics.
In one specific occurrence certain prisons in Russia, to people that are sentenced to serve time there, are the same as a death sentence. The bacteria that causes Tuberculosis is very common in the prison cells, so prisoners receive antibiotics to combat the disease. However, some bacteria are able to survive the first level of treatments and if the patient isn’t further treated, those bacteria with the gene of resistance to the antibiotic multiply. When they multiply enough for the symptoms of Tuberculosis to return, antibiotics will no longer do any good and the person will ultimately die.
I believe that this is the world’s largest threat, since so many people use antibiotics when they catch a cold or get an infection. With bacteria that are resistant to the antibiotics on the rise in population, unless we discover a new way to fight the bacteria, this could become a huge problem.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/261677/problems_posed_by_antibioticresistant.html?cat=58