Page 2 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
ASIA / PACIFIC
October 2, 2017
Crocodile suspected in death of U.K. reporter in Sri Lanka
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lankan navy divers have found the body of
a British journalist who is believed to have been attacked by a crocodile while
holidaying with friends on a beach. Police said Paul Stewart McClean, a reporter
for the Financial Times, went missing in a lagoon near the city of Panama. They
said McClean, 24, was reported missing after he walked some distance from his
friends. The Financial Times said on its website that officials told his friends he
was believed to have been attacked by a crocodile. The cause of death is yet to be
established. Officials in the British Embassy in Colombo have been informed,
police said. Panama beach, about 190 miles southeast of the capital, Colombo, is
famous for surfing and other beach sports. James Lamont, the managing editor
of the Financial Times, described McClean as “a talented, energetic, and
dedicated young journalist” who had “a great career ahead of him.”
Entire Philippine city’s police sacked over killings, robbery
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Philippine official has ordered the relief of an
entire city police force in metropolitan Manila after some of its members were
suspected in the gruesome killings of three teenagers and were caught by closed
circuit television robbing a house. The 1,200-strong Caloocan city police force
will be relieved in batches and replaced, said metropolitan Manila police chief
Oscar Albayalde. The officers will undergo 45 days of retraining, after which
those facing no charges can be reassigned to other stations. The Department of
Justice has started an investigation based on the murder and torture complaint
against four Caloocan policemen allegedly linked to the killing of 17-year-old
student Kian delos Santos during an anti-drug raid in August. The parents of
two other teenagers have also filed double murder and torture complaints
against two Caloocan policemen. CCTV footage purportedly showed 13
policemen robbing a house during an alleged drug raid. President Rodrigo
Duterte’s crackdown on drugs, which has left thousands of suspects dead, has
come under renewed scrutiny after police gunned down delos Santos. Police
described him as a drug dealer who fired at officers during a raid, but his family
and witnesses said the student was shot as he pleaded for his life.
Japan deploys missile interceptor near recent flight path
TOKYO (AP) — Japan has moved a mobile missile-defense system on the
northern island of Hokkaido to a base near recent North Korean missile flyover
routes. Defense minister Itsunori Onodera said a Patriot Advanced Capability-3
(PAC-3) interceptor unit is being deployed at the Hakodate base on southern
Hokkaido. The relocation came days after a North Korean missile was test-fired
and flew over southern Hokkaido, landing in the Pacific off the island’s east
coast. The PAC-3 was brought from another base on Hokkaido. Four others of
Japan’s 34 PAC-3 units, largely used to defend the capital region, were also
relocated to southwestern Japan after Pyongyang warned of sending missiles
toward the U.S. territory of Guam.
Duterte says he became local millionaire with inheritance
DAVAO, The Philippines (AP) — The president of the Philippines says he
became a local millionaire at a young age due to inheritance, but reiterated he
has no unexplained wealth as alleged by his leading critic. President Rodrigo
Duterte gave some details of his personal assets at a dinner with journalists
where he repeated a pledge to resign if anybody can prove he has hidden wealth
stashed in bank accounts as alleged by an opposition senator. Duterte said,
“Long ago, I was just a student, fourth year. I already had about 3 million
($59,000),” explaining the money came from his share of inherited properties
after his father died in 1968. Senator Antonio Trillanes IV has accused Duterte
of concealing more than 2 billion pesos ($39 million) in undeclared bank
accounts when he was a mayor.
China imposes limit on oil supply to North Korea
BEIJING (AP) — China has announced it will limit energy supplies to North
Korea and stop buying its textiles under U.N. sanctions imposed over its nuclear
and missile development, further reducing support from Pyongyang’s last ally.
Exports of refined petroleum to the North will be limited to 2 million barrels per
year, effective January 1, the Commerce Ministry said. Sales of liquefied
natural gas are banned outright. North Korea depends on China for almost all
its oil and gas, but estimates of its consumption are low, leaving it unclear how
Beijing’s new limit will affect them. The restrictions announced do not apply to
crude oil, which makes up the biggest share of energy exports to the North.
China also is banning textile imports from the North, the ministry said. Textiles
are believed to be the North’s biggest source of foreign revenue following rounds
of U.N. sanctions under which Beijing cut off purchases of coal, iron ore, seafood,
and other goods. China accounts for some 90 percent of the North’s trade,
making its cooperation critical to efforts to derail Pyongyang’s nuclear and
missile development. Chinese leaders were long the North’s diplomatic
protectors but have expressed increasing frustration with the government of
Kim Jong Un. They support the latest U.N. Security Council sanctions but are
reluctant to push Pyongyang too hard for fear Kim’s government might collapse.
They also argue against doing anything that might hurt ordinary North
Koreans. Chinese officials complain their country bears the cost of enforcing
sanctions, which have hurt businesses in its northeast that trade with the
North. The U.N. Security Council voted September 11 to limit fuel supplies and
ban the North’s textile exports. Petroleum exports for use in the North’s ballistic
missile program or other activities banned by U.N. sanctions also are pro-
hibited.
REBOOTED CLASSICS. A visitor tries out a PlayStation VR headgear device at the Tokyo Game Show in Chiba,
near Tokyo. The Japanese videogame industry is back, after suffering years of the doldrums, with decades-old titles being
adapted for revamped technology. The energy was amply evident at the Tokyo Game Show, an annual event showcasing
videogames. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Japanese video gaming adapts
new tech for familiar titles
By Sherry Zheng and Yuri Kageyama
The Associated Press
C
HIBA, Japan — The Japanese video
game industry is finding its way out of
the doldrums by adapting new
technology for decades-old titles. And that
energy was evident at the annual Tokyo Game
Show.
“Our old fans used to play Japanese games,
and those people are excited those games are
coming back and they recognize them as
Japanese-style games,” game creator Koji
Igarashi told The Associated Press at the show
in Makuhari Messe hall in Chiba, a Tokyo
suburb.
“Truly game-like games” is the way Igarashi
described the genres enjoying revival, in-
cluding his side-scrolling role-playing games.
His latest version will come with a 3-D movie
section.
Although smartphones hammered the
videogame market for some years, from about
2010, the companies have adjusted. After the
dust settled, some of the games that stood the
test of time turned out to be Japanese, such as
Monster Hunter and Resident Evil, known as
Biohazard in Japan, both from Capcom Co.;
the Super Mario series from Nintendo; and
Gran Turismo from Sony, to name a few.
Also helping are new consoles from the
Japanese makers, such as the PlayStation 4
from Sony Corp. and the Nintendo Switch.
More than 60 million PlayStation 4, or PS4,
consoles have been sold since they went on sale
last year. Switch sales already total some 4.7
million globally. Switch went on sale in March.
Kyoto-based Nintendo Co. initially scoffed
at the threat from smartphones, but did an
about-face and began offering smartphone
versions of their flagship games like Super
Mario since 2015. Pokémon Go, featuring
Nintendo’s Pokémon characters and played on
smartphones, became a global hit.
Games are also taking on more features,
such as massive online communities, as well as
immersive virtual reality, not only leading to
new kinds of games but also helping revive
interest in old-style genres.
Igarashi compared that to the way Japanese
movie-making has endured along with
Hollywood films.
“We are just offering what we find as fun,” he
said, noting that what he called his “Japanese
idea of fun” can cross borders. “And we must
never lose sight of that — what makes us truly
us.”
In his latest game, Bloodstained: Ritual of
the Night, the player becomes Miriam, an
orphan who awakens from a coma and battles
demons as she tries to end a curse that is
turning her skin to crystal.
Igarashi, known as “Iga” among game fans,
produced the classic Castlevania vampire-
action game series, which started in 1997,
while at major Japanese game software maker
Konami until he left three years ago to be on
his own.
He has raised $5.5 million in pledged
funding, mostly from the U.S., on Kickstarter
for his Gothic-horror Bloodstained: Ritual of
the Night. It is set to be playable on the Switch,
PC, Xbox One, PS4, and Vita, when it launches
in the first half of next year in seven
languages, including Chinese and Italian.
Atsushi Morita, president of Sony Inter-
active Entertainment Japan, Sony’s game
Continued on page 8
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82.291
4035.3
6.6528
2.048
7.811
65.28
13472
65.294
112.51
8293.9
4.2205
104.51
105.39
3.229
50.865
57.554
3.7502
1.3576
1145.4
153.08
30.324
33.314
22691