<div>* * * * * * * * * T E R R I E 'S T A K E * * * * * * *</div><div>A weekly roundup of news & information from Terrie Lloyd.</div><div>(<a href="http://www.terrie.com">http://www.terrie.com</a>)</div><div><br></div>
<div>General Edition Sunday, Nov 04, 2012, Issue No. 685</div><div><br></div><div>+++ INDEX</div><div><br></div><div>- What's New -- Bureaucrats -- Enough is Enough</div><div>- News -- Missile-killing drone planned</div>
<div>- Upcoming Events</div><div>- Corrections/Feedback</div><div>- Travel Picks -- Osaka Seaweed Icecream, Akita Colors</div><div>- News Credits</div><div><br></div><div>SUBSCRIBE to, UNSUBSCRIBE from Terrie's Take at:</div>
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Communications</div><div>-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-</div><div><br></div><div>+++ WHAT'S NEW</div><div><br></div><div>Reading the newspapers over the last few weeks, one could </div><div>
be forgiven for thinking that Japan is suffering a plague </div><div>of corruption and insider dealing, especially by its </div><div>bureaucrats -- the very people who are entrusted with </div><div>minding the public's interest. The situation is especially </div>
<div>depressing when one realizes that the rest of us are </div><div>hunkering down and preparing for huge increases in taxes. </div><div><br></div><div>Most of these revelations are well publicized, and so we </div><div>
won't dwell on them, but put together they present a </div><div>picture of relentless selfishness and conniving to ensure </div><div>that the paper pushers and their friends are the recipients</div><div>of any legislation and dispersements made. Perhaps this is </div>
<div>the same the world over, but some of the worst examples are</div><div>so blatant that one wonders if Japan really is a first </div><div>world country.</div><div><br></div><div>Here we pick up four representative cases that have hit the</div>
<div>press in the last two months:</div><div>* 25% of the JPY12trn budget for Tohoku disaster relief was</div><div>misspent and only 25% has actually gone to the </div><div>reconstruction effort (50% still not allocated)</div>
<div>* 4 of the 6 experts forming the new Nuclear Regulation </div><div>Authority (NRA) panel are or have been in the payroll of </div><div>the nuclear industry</div><div>* The Board of Audit has found that government entities in </div>
<div>FY2011 misused JPY529.67bn, the second highest figure on </div><div>record</div><div>* 10 of a 15-person advisory council responsible for </div><div>recommending approvals of new universities and reporting to </div><div>
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<div><br></div><div>Tohoku funds misallocation.</div><div>The revelation of misappropriation of Tohoku disaster </div><div>relief funds is particularly troubling. We wonder how the </div><div>architects of an JPY800m appropriation to support whaling </div>
<div>or JPY30m to advertise the Tokyo SkyTree are able to sleep </div><div>at night while they know that 325,000 of the 340,000 </div><div>evacuees in Tohoku are still either homeless or in </div><div>temporary housing? It's really sickening. As the scandal </div>
<div>has hit the media, the consensus has been that it's the </div><div>fault of an inexperienced, overwhelmed, and now undermanned</div><div>DPJ government. However, if we remember correctly, wasn't </div><div>it the opposition parties that insisted on watering down </div>
<div>the specificity of the Tohoku relief package, leading to </div><div>the current diversion of funds? Either way, the lack of</div><div>funds for Tohoku itself is shameful.</div><div><br></div><div>NRA panel stacking</div>
<div>Equally worrying is that our nuclear future is being </div><div>decided by "experts" financially connected to the very </div><div>nuclear power companies and agencies found so lacking in </div><div>the Fukushima disaster last year. Disclosures show that 4 </div>
<div>of the 6 panelists have received funds of between JPY3m and</div><div>JPY27m from nuclear entities for research and other work. </div><div>Perhaps this isn't surprising, considering that there are </div><div>not that many jobs for nuclear experts in Japan that aren't</div>
<div>tied to the industry. But the fact remains that these </div><div>people have a clear conflict of interest, especially since </div><div>the decisions of the NRA could mean life or death in the </div><div>future.</div>
<div><br></div><div>For example, over the last few days, there has been a </div><div>kerfuffle over the discovery of an apparently active fault </div><div>directly under reactors 3 and 4 of Oi nuclear power </div><div>station. You'll recall that after all of Japan's nuclear </div>
<div>facilities were taken offline earlier this year, only Oi </div><div>was put back online again. Now it has emerged that Oi, like</div><div>other nuclear power stations was sited based on politics</div><div>rather than upon consideration of the geology. TEPCO's </div>
<div>humungous Kashiwazaki Kariwa plant is another egregious </div><div>example. The Oi fault has to be worrying for the quarter of</div><div>million Fukui City residents who are only 55km away. </div><div><br></div><div>
So, will the Oi reactors, the only two in the country to be</div><div>operating, be turned off or not? This decision will be a </div><div>rather pivotal one that will possibly derail the </div><div>rehabilitation efforts of the nuclear industry if the </div>
<div>answer is to turn them off. Just WHO is in charge of </div><div>deciding? Why, the 6 gentlemen at the NRA, whose future </div><div>sources of funding will also be at stake. What do you think</div><div>they will decide?</div>
<div><br></div><div>Misappropriation of Government funds</div><div>Every year the Board of Audit, which was originally part of</div><div>the Ministry of Finance, but which is now semi-autonomous </div><div>and somewhat trustworthy, has run an audit on how </div>
<div>government funds are misused. This last week it issued a </div><div>report stating that it had uncovered 513 cases of misuse, </div><div>causing estimated losses of JPY529.67bn. This rather </div><div>staggering amount represents actual wastage, versus </div>
<div>politically suspect usage (such as the Tohoku money going </div><div>to fund road repairs in Okinawa -- which is at least </div><div>something useful). </div><div><br></div><div>Among the misuse of funds was a case of JPY93.6bn of </div>
<div>land held by the Urban Renaissance Agency and unsold for 7 </div><div>years after originally purchasing it for various housing </div><div>projects. Then there was JPY74.3bn paid out by the Ministry </div><div>of Internal Affairs and Communications to the Management </div>
<div>Organization for Posting Savings and Postal Life Insurance,</div><div>but which was held as surplus (perhaps also read as </div><div>"slush") funds. Hmmm, even the name of the recipient sounds</div><div>suspicious.</div>
<div><br></div><div>The revelations have led to fingerpointing at the DPJ and </div><div>charges of ineptitude. Well, it is true that under the DPJ,</div><div>bureaucratic misspending has surged more than 100%, </div><div>
suggesting that the situation is out of control. Recently </div><div>declared political candidate (ex-Tokyo Mayor) Shintaro </div><div>Ishihara is really making hay out of this. </div><div><br></div><div>What we can't understand, is why, if the problem for the </div>
<div>DPJ is that it is being overwhelmed and outflanked by the</div><div>bureaucrats working for it, the government doesn't just </div><div>simply pass legislation to make it illegal to misspend and</div><div>misappropriate more than a certain amount of money, with</div>
<div>jail time based on a formula? This would be a simple and </div><div>effective deterrent for a scheming group who otherwise</div><div>hate the glare of publicity.</div><div><br></div><div>Education Ministry council insiders</div>
<div>Lastly, we come to Makiko Tanaka, the daughter of 70's </div><div>strongman and former PM Kakuei Tanaka, who takes after her </div><div>dad personality-wise. In the last 10 years, Tanaka has made</div><div>a career out of fighting bureaucrats. Last time it was at </div>
<div>the foreign ministry, and she got fired for her efforts. </div><div>This time it's the Education Ministry. In the last couple </div><div>of days she has shaken the ministry to its core by refusing</div><div>to allow three new universities to be inaugurated next </div>
<div>year. She was apparently advised by ministry officials to </div><div>let the applications to go ahead, but Tanaka had her own</div><div>ideas and and said that she would not approve them, at </div><div>least until there is a review inside the ministry of what </div>
<div>it should do about the nation's other 800 struggling </div><div>institutions. </div><div><br></div><div>She is right, of course, that the education system is </div><div>chronically sick and just as Japan had to force mergers on </div>
<div>its banks 15 years ago, probably it needs to undertake the </div><div>same actions with the nation's universities now. Tanaka </div><div>tellingly said that out of the 15 members of the advisory </div><div>panel, 10 of them were serving academics, and so they are </div>
<div>highly unlikely to disappoint their colleagues with a </div><div>refusal, which is why the nation has had a 50% increase in </div><div>universities in the last 19 years, even as the student </div><div>population has fallen over the same period.</div>
<div><br></div><div>You would think that the media would begrudgingly admire </div><div>Tanaka for drawing a line in the sand and trying to root </div><div>out wasteful approvals. Instead, though, her </div><div>confrontational style has drawn huge criticism and she </div>
<div>will be lucky to last until the end of the year. Meanwhile,</div><div>the management teams behind the three applying universities</div><div>are bitterly disappointed, and now there is talk of a </div><div>lawsuit against the Ministry. An expert in public </div>
<div>litigation, Mr. Yasutaka Abe, said, "The council gave its </div><div>approval of the universities based on the Standards for </div><div>Establishment of Universities, guidelines that the </div><div>ministry created. Minister Tanaka's judgment runs counter </div>
<div>to the standards that her own ministry issued. It's not a </div><div>credible decision, as it's outside the realm of the </div><div>authority of an education minister." </div><div><br></div><div>Yup, he's right, the bureaucrats made the rules 20 years </div>
<div>ago, and because no one has had the guts to rip them up, </div><div>the building madness continues. </div><div><br></div><div>Do you see a recurring theme here? Status quo, lack of </div><div>strong, principled leaders, and money, are causing Japan a</div>
<div>lot more pain than she deserves. With a falling population</div><div>and loss of industry, times will be tough enough over the </div><div>next 10-20 years, without the extra hurdles of special </div><div>interest groups getting in the way. Instead, just like </div>
<div>Makiko Tanaka, the nation's top leadership needs to say </div><div>"enough is enough".</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>...The information janitors/</div><div><br></div><div>***------------------------****-------------------------***</div>
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<div><br></div><div>+++ NEWS</div><div><br></div><div>- Bank phishing scams get worse</div><div>- Missile-killing drone planned</div><div>- UBS cuts 30 FI jobs in Tokyo</div><div>- Tokyo office rents really going up?</div>
<div>- Cash registers being replaced by smartphones</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>=> Bank phishing scams get worse</div><div><br></div><div>The Police have announced that for the first time two bank </div>
<div>customers of Mizuho were duped into giving account details </div><div>to a high-quality phishing site. The details were then used</div><div>to move the customers' money to other accounts and the </div><div>received cash withdrawn. Police said that a 53-year old </div>
<div>Japanese national in Aichi was arrested for </div><div>providing the account that the stolen funds were </div><div>transferred to. The suspect reckoned he gave his account </div><div>details to a Chinese friend who has since fled Japan. </div>
<div>***Ed: Stupid criminals? You have to wonder why the funds </div><div>weren't simply sent off-shore, rather than to a traceable </div><div>account in Japan?** (Source: TT commentary from </div><div><a href="http://japantimes.co.jp">japantimes.co.jp</a>, Nov 4, 2012)</div>
<div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20121104a9.html">http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20121104a9.html</a></div><div><br></div><div>=> Missile-killing drone planned</div><div><br></div><div>
Those who think that Japan is on the path to rearmament </div><div>will see an announcement this week of a new missile-killing</div><div>drone as a major step forward in military hardware </div><div>development. The Defense Ministry will secure up to JPY3bn </div>
<div>to develop a drone that can stay airborne for long periods </div><div>and detect and shoot down missiles before they reach </div><div>Japanese territory. The development of the drone is being </div><div>defended as necessary because of the short detection time </div>
<div>available to Japan currently for missiles launched from </div><div>North Korea. The newly planned drones will detect a launch </div><div>immediately, rather than 10-15 minutes after the fact. </div><div>***Ed: Of course drones don't have to fly in/over Japan and</div>
<div>can easily be exported. This is proving to be a major </div><div>market globally and we expect that the Japanese will try to</div><div>corner the high-reliability, moderate-cost layer of the </div><div>sector. Will be interesting to see where they get their </div>
<div>software developed.** (Source: TT commentary from afp on </div><div><a href="http://google.com">google.com</a>, Oct 4, 2012)</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://bit.ly/VKThFb">http://bit.ly/VKThFb</a></div><div>
<br></div><div>=> UBS cuts 30 FI jobs in Tokyo</div><div><br></div><div>In just the latest round of relentless head cutting in </div><div>Tokyo by foreign banks, UBS has apparently cut 30 </div><div>fixed-income (FI) jobs, including traders and sales staff, </div>
<div>because of a Headquarters plan to cut 10,000 jobs worldwide</div><div>as it shrinks its investment banking operations. </div><div>Bloomberg.com said that there may be more cuts in the </div><div>wings. ***Ed: UBS has been quite active on getting on top </div>
<div>of the currently depressed banking market, reducing its </div><div>head count from 868 to 768 people in the 12 months. </div><div>Although difficult for the employees involved, the trimming</div><div>has resulted in Tokyo moving from a JPY2.1bn loss in FY2010 </div>
<div>to a JPY2.8bn profit for FY2011.** (Source: TT commentary </div><div>from <a href="http://bloomberg.com">bloomberg.com</a>, Oct 31, 2012)</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://bloom.bg/UsD3Q7">http://bloom.bg/UsD3Q7</a></div>
<div><br></div><div>=> Tokyo office rents really going up?</div><div><br></div><div>A Nikkei survey done in October has it that Tokyo's office </div><div>rents have jumped 10% in the last 12 months, based on </div>
<div>responses from real estate agents. According to the survey,</div><div>although overall demand remains weak, especially for older </div><div>buildings, the availability and demand for new buildings </div><div>is especially strong in places like Akasaka and Aoyama. </div>
<div>***Ed: The caveat with these surveys is that since there is</div><div>a glut of new office space coming on to the market, it's </div><div>only natural that most of the market movement has been to </div><div>fill the newer digs while they are available at lower </div>
<div>prices than ever before. However, the reality is that the </div><div>market is still as depressed as ever, and for every company</div><div>expanding, there are several more contracting. We see no </div><div>overall rent rise trend for older buildings, which make up </div>
<div>the bulk of the market inventory, for another couple of </div><div>years yet.** (Source: <a href="http://e.nikkei.co.jp">e.nikkei.co.jp</a>, Nov 3, 2012)</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://e.nikkei.com/e/ac/tnks/Nni20121103D03JFF02.htm">http://e.nikkei.com/e/ac/tnks/Nni20121103D03JFF02.htm</a></div>
<div><br></div><div>=> Cash registers being replaced by smartphones</div><div><br></div><div>We first noticed a Japanese store using a US-based software</div><div>app and iPad about 12 months ago in Omotesando, but now the</div>
<div>Nikkei says that the trend is fast catching on with </div><div>mainstream store owners as well. POS software from Plugram </div><div>is apparently popular, while credit cards are read with </div><div>small devices attaching to a smartphone. Apparently a </div>
<div>smartphone setup costs around JPY200,000, including </div><div>installation, compared to JPY1m-JPY2m for a traditional </div><div>cash register. ***Ed: No indication of sales numbers yet, </div><div>but if this is a real trend, then it will hit Sharp and </div>
<div>other POS terminal makers hard.** (Source: TT commentary </div><div>from <a href="http://e.nikkei.com">e.nikkei.com</a>, Nov 2, 2012)</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://e.nikkei.com/e/ac/tnks/Nni20121102D02EE807.htm">http://e.nikkei.com/e/ac/tnks/Nni20121102D02EE807.htm</a></div>
<div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>NOTE: Broken links</div><div>Many online news sources remove their articles after just a</div><div>few days of posting them, thus breaking our links -- we</div><div>apologize for the inconvenience.</div>
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<div><br></div><div>***------------------------****-------------------------***</div><div><br></div><div>+++ CORRECTIONS/FEEDBACK</div><div><br></div><div>In this section we run comments and corrections submitted</div><div>
by readers. We encourage you to spot our mistakes and</div><div>amplify our points, by email, to <a href="mailto:editors@terrie.com">editors@terrie.com</a>.</div><div><br></div><div>=> No comments or corrections this week</div>
<div><br></div><div>***------------------------****-------------------------***</div><div><br></div><div>+++ TRAVEL DESTINATIONS PICKS</div><div><br></div><div>=> Kansou Seaweed Ice Cream, Osaka</div><div>Surprisingly delicious kelp ice cream! </div>
<div> </div><div>Kombu Sofuto. Yes, kelp-ice-cream, you read that correctly.</div><div>One hot afternoon, after our stroll in Nakanoshima park, my</div><div>friend Kyoko said to me, “Let’s have some ice cream, Kombu </div>
<div>sofuto!” My first reaction was, “Kombu sofuto? You mean </div><div>kombu, the seaweed? Kelp?”</div><div><br></div><div>“Yes, yes, kelp soft-serve cream, it’s really good!!” Kyoko</div><div>was very persistent so I doubtfully followed her to Kansou </div>
<div>in Yodoyabashi.</div><div><br></div><div>After walking for about 15 minutes, we arrived at the shop.</div><div>Kansou was far from what I imagined. The shop is well </div><div>hidden on the first floor of the beautiful Yodoyabashi </div>
<div>Centre Building. Kansou has been specializing in kombu for </div><div>about two centuries. Kombu, being a vital ingredient in </div><div>Japanese cuisine, is used in stews and broths giving them </div><div>the delicious “umami” taste. We could see the shop from </div>
<div>inside the glass walls, easily recognized with the noren </div><div>(Japanese curtain) with the words Kansou.</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://japantourist.jp/view/kansou">http://japantourist.jp/view/kansou</a></div>
<div><br></div><div>=> Juniko Lakes, Akita</div><div>Crystal Clear Water in a Beautiful Forest</div><div><br></div><div>In 1704 a large earthquake in northern Akita (where </div><div>earthquakes are quite rare) was so powerful that it changed</div>
<div>part of the local geography in nearby Aomori prefecture. </div><div>Parts of mountains crumbled, the soil began to liquefy, and</div><div>streams and rivers realigned. Years later after Mother </div><div>Nature ran her course, the people that visited were able to</div>
<div>enjoy her beautiful creation of crystal clear lakes and </div><div>ponds. Specifically this area is located in Fukaura town at</div><div>the corner of the culturally significant Shirakami-sanchi </div><div>nature park. This tourist destination and natural treasure </div>
<div>is “Juniko” or “twelve lakes.”</div><div><br></div><div>Although the area is called “twelve lakes” there are </div><div>actually 33 lakes and ponds. It is said that from on top of </div><div>the nearby Mt. Okuzure you can see twelve lakes, the others </div>
<div>are obscured by Shirakami-sanchi’s mysterious and plentiful </div><div>trees. Lakes and ponds vary in size and depth; the </div><div>shallowest being just shy of two meters while giants like </div><div>“Oike” surpass 27 meters. All share the common trait of </div>
<div>having incredibly clear water. At several ponds you can </div><div>see all the way to the bottom. The rain and groundwater in </div><div>the area that keeps the lakes at a near constant level and</div><div>the water is naturally filtered by the area’s densely </div>
<div>packed beech trees.</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://japantourist.jp/view/juniko-lakes">http://japantourist.jp/view/juniko-lakes</a></div><div><br></div><div>***------------------------****-------------------------***</div>
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