Page 2 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
ASIA / PACIFIC
September 15, 2014
Myanmar discovers it has only 51 million people
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar has discovered it has only 51 million
people — far less than the previously estimated 60 million. State-run television
announced the preliminary results from the country’s first census in three
decades. It said complete results would be released next year. The census,
conducted from March 30 to April 10 with help from the U.N. Population Fund,
counted 51.42 million people. The previous estimate of 60 million was based on
extrapolations from the last census, conducted in 1983. The tally went smoothly,
except in some areas of the western state of Rakhine where an estimated
800,000 members of a long-persecuted Muslim minority were denied the right to
identify themselves as “Rohingya.” The government insists they are illegal
migrants from Bangladesh and calls them “Bengalis.” Some isolated parts of
northern Kachin state controlled by ethnic rebels also were not counted.
Five gamblers caned in Indonesia’s Aceh province
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — Authorities in Indonesia’s conservative
Aceh province have caned five men for gambling. Saabaruddin, chief of security
guards in the Pidie district capital of Sigli, said the men were caught playing
dominos for money at a coffee stall in February. He said the men were detained
at a city penitentiary and were convicted by a Shariah court. Saabaruddin, who
uses one name, said hundreds of onlookers watched as the men were caned after
Friday prayer at Sigli’s main mosque. He said one of the men was caned eight
times, while the other four were caned seven times. Indonesia, the world’s most
populous Muslim nation, has a policy of secularism but allows Aceh, located on
Sumatra island, to implement a version of Shariah, or Islamic law.
Japan to resume Antarctic whale hunt next year
TOKYO (AP) — Japan plans to resume Antarctic whaling next year, but with
fewer killings and involving only minke whale, revising a research program that
was rejected by the U.N.’s top court. The Antarctic whale hunt is one of two
research whaling programs that Japan has conducted since a 1986 international
ban on commercial whaling. In March, the International Court of Justice ruled
the Antarctic program wasn’t scientific as Japan claimed and must stop. Japan’s
Fisheries Agency said officials were working on a new program for fiscal year
2015, for submission to the International Whaling Commission’s scientific
committee around November. The agency did not give details. Japan will go to
the Antarctic later this year, but only for nonlethal research. Opponents say
Japan’s research hunt is a cover for commercial whaling.
U.S. investment fund signs on to build Myanmar solar plants
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — A U.S investment fund has signed a $480 million
deal to build two solar energy plants in central Myanmar, one of the largest
investments by an American firm since the easing of U.S. sanctions. The
agreement, inked by the ACO Investment Group and the Ministry of Energy, is
aimed at easing electricity shortages in the country of 60 million, which only
recently emerged from a half-century of military rule and self-imposed isolation.
The U.S. Embassy said the two 150-megawatt solar energy plants in the
Mandalay region could account for 10 percent to 12 percent of Myanmar’s power
generation when completed in 2016. It said the project would create 400
construction jobs in the two Mandalay districts where the plants will be located
as well as 100 permanent jobs.
Japan Rakuten to buy cash-back site Ebates for $1B
TOKYO (AP) — Rakuten Inc. has announced its plans to buy U.S.-based cash-
back site Ebates for $1 billion, part of a series of overseas acquisitions aimed at
building what the Japanese e-commerce company says will be the “world’s
largest product lineup.” With goods ranging from toys and cat beds to luxury
watches and golf clubs, Rakuten is the top internet retailer in Japan. It has
made numerous overseas acquisitions, including Cyprus-based internet phone
application Viber Media, and led a $100-million investment in online scrapbook
Pinterest. Rakuten and Ebates, which is based in San Francisco, California,
both have membership-based online shopping platforms. Retailers pay Ebates
to advertise their products and Ebates then gives rebates for eligible online
purchases. Rakuten plans to buy all of Ebates’ 32.852 million shares, financing
the deal through cash, bank loans, bonds, and commercial paper. Ebates was
founded by two lawyers in 1998. Rakuten founder and president Hiroshi
Mikitani has led his company through a rapid expansion in the past several
years, while also gaining influence as a government adviser. The company
recently announced it had outgrown its offices in Tokyo’s high-tech zone of
eastern Shinagawa and plans to move into a new office tower in the suburb of
Futako-Tamagawa.
China kills nearly 5,000 dogs to control rabies
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities killed almost 5,000 dogs in one city after
blaming five human deaths on rabies, according to the official Xinhua News
Agency. The city of Baoshan in southwestern Yunnan province killed 4,900 dogs
and vaccinated another 100,000 in its anti-rabies campaign, Xinhua said. The
city issued an urgent order calling for authorities to tightly regulate dogs and
kill stray ones. Chinese governments often order such widespread dog culls or
ban dog ownership to control the spread of rabies. That has sparked an outcry
from some dog owners and animal-rights activists who call for sterilizing and
vaccinating dogs rather than killing them. In 2009, authorities in the northern
city of Hanzhong reportedly killed about 37,000 dogs after a rabies outbreak,
including clubbing some of the animals to death.
WOMENOMICS PROPONENT. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s wife, Akie Abe, speaks during an interview
with The Associated Press at the prime minister’s official residence in Tokyo. Akie says her husband gives her time for a
wide range of activities, from raising organic rice to appearing in a gay pride parade. Despite her husband’s conservative
image, she says he does chores when he can. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Japan’s first lady says
husband helps with chores
By Mari Yamaguchi
The Associated Press
OKYO — Japan’s first lady says she
has such a busy schedule that some-
times it’s up to the prime minister to do
the dishes or take out the garbage.
It’s the kind of flexibility Akie Abe says is
needed for the advancement of women in
Japan.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pushing
companies and the government to hire and
promote more women to allow Japan’s
economy to grow and create a society where
“women can shine.” He appointed five women
to his 18-member cabinet this month.
Even though Akie Abe, 52, openly refers to
herself as a member of the “opposition in the
household” on some issues her husband favors,
such as nuclear energy, she told The Associ-
ated Press she is a big supporter of his “wom-
enomics” policy of promoting women’s ad-
vancement.
In Japan, women are underrepresented in
senior-level positions in companies, govern-
ment, and universities. They have long been
discriminated against in salary and promotion
in corporate Japan, and often face obstacles to
pursuing their careers due to a lack of help
from spouses.
Abe, the daughter of the former president of
a leading Japanese confectioner, Morinaga &
Co., said it’s important for society to allow
women enough flexibility to work again after
child-rearing or other life events that inter-
rupt their professional careers.
Her husband’s ruling Liberal Democratic
Party has conservative views on gender equal-
ity, but the first lady is a businesswoman,
T
owns a bar in downtown Tokyo, and supports
local artists and craftsmen. She is active in
organic farming and grows rice herself in
Yamaguchi, her husband’s hometown in
western Japan, and campaigns against AIDS
and discrimination against minorities.
She spoke at “The World Assembly for Wom-
en in Tokyo,” an international symposium at
which her goal was to show that Japanese
women are also serious about making a society
that is friendlier to them.
Such activities, along with her differences
with some of her husband’s views, have con-
tributed to her image as a new breed of first
lady.
“My husband’s conservative supporters
think the wife of a prime minister should keep
quiet and support him, so for them my
speaking up is unthinkable, but those on the
other side of the spectrum say I should speak
up even more,” she said in an interview at the
prime minister’s official residence.
The first lady said people tend to categorize
others, like right and left, west versus east, “or
men should be this way and women that way,”
creating walls and differences. “I want to tear
them down,” she said.
Abe is often out all day, leaving herself little
time for housecleaning. She said she some-
times hears her husband mumbling about the
house, but that he is never a bossy husband
telling her to do things for him.
She said he does chores when he can,
including sometimes washing the clothes.
“Sometimes he tries to move things out of
the way, but I end up scolding him for putting
things in the wrong place. Poor thing,” she
said.
Continued on page 7
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77.375
4090.9
6.1351
1.8797
7.7506
60.66
11822
26448
107.34
8067.7
3.1972
97.166
102.56
2.4688
43.95
37.752
3.7507
1.263
1035.3
130.27
30.018
32.245
21198