Page 2 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
ASIA / PACIFIC
January 18, 2016
Japan’s Abe seeks to burnish legacy ahead of election
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is shifting his focus to a
sputtering economy as he seeks to burnish his legacy and shore up support
ahead of an election in the summer. Abe said he expects to make progress on
sweeping reforms he has promised but not yet delivered. He likens himself to the
18th-century “Abarenbo Shogun,” or “Rogue General” Tokugawa Yoshimune, a
national leader renowned for his efforts to reduce waste, clean up corruption,
and instill samurai values of discipline and leadership. Abe’s focus is bound to be
on ensuring victory in the election for the upper house of parliament in July.
Japan’s slow economic recovery is prompting him to highlight more obvious
progress on the diplomatic front.
Malaysia bans bauxite mining in Pahang for three months
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s government says it has
begun to ban the mining of bauxite in Pahang state for three months —
beginning January 15 — to regulate the industry after its unfettered growth last
year caused sea and air pollution. Bauxite mining in the central state was
bolstered from mid-2014 amid strong demand from China after Indonesia
banned bauxite exports and India raised ore tariffs. The mining sparked a public
furor after it was blamed for contaminating part of the sea and some rivers in
Pahang’s capital of Kuantan, turning the waters red again after heavy rains.
The water pollution first occurred in May last year. Natural resources minister
Wan Junaidi Jaafar said all mining is being halted under a three-month
moratorium to clear stockpiles and build proper facilities.
Chinese parents protest to get second children registered
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese parents who bore children outside the country’s
one-child policy protested outside the family-planning commission in a bid to
have their fines cancelled. Starting this year, all Chinese couples are allowed to
have two children. For decades, China’s family-planning policy limited most
urban couples to one child, and couples who broke the policy were ordered to pay
a social compensation fee. To pressure them into paying, some local authorities
refused to register the child if the parents didn’t pay up. About 20 people stood in
a line outside the gates of the national family-planning offices saying they
wanted their fines cancelled. Protester Wan Changru said all children should be
treated equally, “no matter whether they were born before or after the policy
change.”
Airport apologizes for snake found on luggage cart
BANGKOK (AP) — Bangkok’s main international airport issued an apology
after a snake slithered into the arrival hall and wrapped itself around the base of
a luggage cart. Suvarnabhumi (pronounced “Suwanapoom”) International
Airport, which was built on land previously known as “Cobra Swamp,” said it
would like to “apologize for the incident that frightened passengers.” A female
passenger spotted the snake after placing luggage on the cart as she prepared to
leave the arrival hall, the statement said. “After being alerted, security officers
captured the snake right away and no passengers were injured,” Airports of
Thailand said in a statement that described the reptile as “a small baby snake,”
but did not identify the species. Snake expert Thanaphong Tawan at a Bangkok
snake farm run by the Thai Red Cross Society said the snake appeared to be a
Malayan Bridle snake, a non-venomous variety, based on a picture taken at the
airport and published by Thai media. The statement sought to “reassure that
clear and strict measures have been imposed to prevent all poisonous animals
from slipping into the airport’s buildings” and it was believed “the baby snake
managed to slip into the airport because it was very small.” Meanwhile, on the
resort island of Phuket, a Chinese tourist was bitten on the nose by a python
while leaning in to kiss it on the head while visiting a snake show, The Bangkok
Post reported. A video of the incident was widely shared on social media,
showing the snake striking at the woman’s face as a loud scream is heard. Thai
media reported that the woman received eight stitches and then flew home.
FINAL FILLETS. An employee of Kiyomura Co. shows a fillet of a bluefin tuna the company bought at the celebratory
first auction of the year as it is sliced for customers at his sushi restaurant near Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo. The 440-pound
glistening tuna was auctioned for about 14 million Japanese yen ($118,000) during the last auction at Tokyo’s 80-year-old
market, which is due to move in November to a massive complex further south in Tokyo Bay, making way for redevelop-
ment of the prime slice of downtown real estate. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
80-year-old Tokyo fish market
holds final New Year auction
By Elaine Kurtenbach
AP Business Writer
OKYO — It’s among the biggest of
Japan’s many New Year holiday
rituals: A huge, glistening tuna was
auctioned for about 14 million Japanese yen
($118,000) at Tokyo’s 80-year-old Tsukiji
market. Next year, if all goes as planned, the
tradition won’t be quite the same.
The world’s biggest and most famous fish
and seafood market — also a major tourist
attraction in Tokyo — is due to move in
November to a massive complex further south
in
Tokyo
Bay,
making
way
for
redevelopment of the prime slice of downtown
real estate.
The closure of the Tsukiji market will
punctuate the end of the post-war era for many
of the mom-and-pop shops just outside the
main market that peddle a cornucopia of
sea-related products, from dried squid and
seaweed to whale bacon and caviar.
The auction is typical of Japan’s penchant
for fresh starts at the beginning of the year —
the first visit of the year to a shrine and the
first dream of the year are other important
firsts — and it’s meant to set an auspicious
precedent for the 12 months to come.
Sushi restaurateur Kiyoshi Kimura has
prevailed in most of the recent new year
auctions, and he did so again this year in the
bidding for a 440-pound tuna.
In 2013, a bidding war drove his record
winning bid to 154.4 million yen (at the
current exchange rates: about $1.3 million) for
a 490-pound fish.
That drew complaints that prices had soared
T
way out of line, and the winning price in 2014
was dramatically lower. Last year, a
380-pound tuna caught off Japan’s northern
region of Aomori fetched a winning bid of 4.51
million yen ($37,480).
Japanese eat about 80 percent of all bluefin
tuna caught worldwide, and stocks of all three
bluefin species — the Pacific, Southern, and
Atlantic — have fallen over the past 15 years
amid overfishing.
But while the new year and daily tuna
auctions are Tsukiji’s best-known events, the
market is about much more than just tuna.
On a recent year-end day, shop owners in
rubber boots and aprons rushed to clean up
and sell off the last of their inventory, as the
last few hundred shoppers milled around
hunting for bargains.
Already, some shops outside the market
have been razed and a new building that will
house a smaller “outer market” is under
construction. Conceptual drawings from the
Tokyo city government show the nearly
57-acre market site that fronts the Sumida
River’s outlet into Tokyo Bay being
transformed into an open waterfront park
surrounded by greenery, with a wide shopping
plaza and a passenger terminal for tourist
ferries traversing the bay and river.
“We are contributing with all our efforts to
the revitalization of our historic Tsukiji,” said
a banner emblazoned with the logos of the
architect and other contractors hanging from
scaffolding of the new building.
Tsukiji’s predawn auctions are a fixture on
the tourist circuit, and since it was not set up to
accommodate large crowds, the market’s
Continued on page 3
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Indian police say U.S. tourist died after falling into paddy
PANAJI, India (AP) — Indian police say an American tourist died after a mob
of villagers mistook him for a thief and chased him until he fell into a swampy
rice paddy, where he choked on muddy water. The tourist, identified by his
passport as 30-year-old Caitanya Holt, was eventually pulled out of the mud by
police using ropes, but he was declared dead on arrival at a local hospital in the
western state of Goa, police officer Umesh Gaonkar said. The Press Trust of
India reported that Holt drowned in a rice paddy, citing the state’s highest
elected official, chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar. American officials have
asked Indian authorities for details about his death and are in contact with
Holt’s family in the U.S., said Heidi Hattenbach, a consular information officer.
Ai says LEGO policy change is a victory
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese artist Ai Weiwei says a change in policy by LEGO to
allow bulk orders of their toy bricks for projects with a political purpose is a
victory for freedom of expression. The LEGO Group last year refused a bulk
order for the toy bricks for an exhibition of Ai’s in Melbourne, Australia. Ai called
that move “an act of censorship and discrimination,” but LEGO said it had a
decades-old policy of not endorsing the use of its bricks in projects with a
“political agenda.” It announced in mid-January it will no longer ask what the
“thematic purpose” of a project is. Instead, customers who intend to display their
creations in public will be asked to make clear that LEGO does not support or
endorse them.
Units per U.S. dollar as of 1/16
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78.45
4043.3
6.5849
2.145
7.795
67.605
13910
30117
116.98
8153.0
4.3967
108.24
104.92
3.0166
47.78
77.705
3.7489
1.4396
1213.2
143.94
32.66
36.355
22416