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Japan

How the U.S. War on Taiwanese Semiconductors Might Benefit Japan
China, Japan, USA

How the U.S. War on Taiwanese Semiconductors Might Benefit Japan

BY VIJAY PRASHAD Photograph Source: David Carron – CC BY-SA 3.0 On May 15, 2023, Berkshire Hathaway reported in a Form 13F filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it had completed the sale of its $4 billion stake in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC). This sale completed a process that began in February 2023, when Berkshire Hathaway announced that it sold 86 percent of its holdings in TSMC. In April, Berkshire Hathaway’s leader Warren Buffett told Nikkei that the geopolitical tension between the United States and China was “certainly a consideration” in his decision to divest from TSMC. TSMC told Nikkei, is a “well-managed company” but that Berkshire Hathaway would find other places for its capital. At his May 6 ...
The G7 is an outdated tool of the US neo-empire
Japan, NATO, USA

The G7 is an outdated tool of the US neo-empire

Washington has co-opted both the winners and the losers of World War II into defending Western domination around the globe By Timur Fomenko, a political analyst President Joe Biden, left, shakes hands with Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida prior to a bilateral meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, Thursday, May 18, 2023, ahead of the start of the G-7 Summit. ©  AP Photo/Susan Walsh The summit of G7 nations took place in Hiroshima, Japan over the last weekend. Hiroshima is significant for a few reasons. First of all, it is known to the world as the location that the United States nuked, along with Nagasaki, at the end of World War II, which led to the surrender of the Empire of Japan and that country’s transformation into a US client state. Secondly, Japan ...
The Hiroshima/Nagasaki Survivor Studies: Discrepancies Between Results and General Perception
Health, Japan

The Hiroshima/Nagasaki Survivor Studies: Discrepancies Between Results and General Perception

by Bertrand R. Jordan  Christopher Busby Genetics, Volume 204, Issue 4, 1 December 2016, Pages 1627–1629, https://doi.org/10.1534/genetics.116.195339 In his recent article Jordan (2016) addresses the public’s “unreasonable” fears of radiation. He claims that the lifespan study (LSS) of Japanese A-bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki has given definitive information on the relation between exposure and genetic damage, expressed as cancer and heritable effects in offspring of those exposed. He presents the LSS as the gold standard in radiation epidemiology, and he is not alone in this (Kamiya et al. 2015). The LSS results are the basis of legal limits for exposure and are employed to dismiss evidence showing that health effects from Chernobyl (Yablokov&n...
US planning North Korea ‘countermeasures’ with Asian allies
Japan, North Korea, USA

US planning North Korea ‘countermeasures’ with Asian allies

Washington, Seoul, and Tokyo will meet to consider ways to respond to alleged “provocations” by the DPRK FILE PHOTO: A TV screen shows an image of a North Korean missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, March 28, 2023. ©  AP / Ahn Young-joon Top nuclear envoys from the US, South Korea, and Japan will hold a round of talks later this week on North Korea’s nuclear arsenal and rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula, including potential “countermeasures” against Pyongyang.  The South Korean Foreign Ministry announced the upcoming talks during a Tuesday press briefing, noting that its chief nuclear negotiator, Kim Gunn, would join his US and Japanese counterparts for discussions in Seoul on Ap...
Japan bans exports of kids’ toys to Russia
Japan

Japan bans exports of kids’ toys to Russia

The restrictions are intended to prevent “the strengthening of Russia’s industrial base” FILE PHOTO: Pokemon's 'Pikachu' stuffed toys. ©  James Matsumoto / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images Japan has introduced new restrictions against Russia on Friday, adding children’s toys to a new list of goods subject to an export ban. Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has revised its trade restrictions on “goods that contribute to the strengthening of Russia’s industrial base,” according to an official statement issued on Friday. The updated list includes goods such as steel, aluminum, construction machinery, electrical equipment, radio equipment for navigation, aircraft, and spacecraft. The list also features goods for children, such a...
A Dozen Years after Fukushima, Nuclear Power is Still a Death Wish
Environment, Japan

A Dozen Years after Fukushima, Nuclear Power is Still a Death Wish

BY HARVEY WASSERMAN A dozen years after four atomic reactors exploded at Fukushima, the plant STILL daily irradiates 150 tons of water which must be treated and stored forever. Thousands of tons more of such lethal liquid are still held in rotting tanks. The Japanese government wants to dump them in the Pacific, but local resistance is fierce. The build-up will continue for countless years to come, with gargantuan quantities of deadly liquid ever-readier to destroy our oceans….and perhaps, eventually, human life, whose irrational addiction to atomic power has yet to abate. As of March 10, 2011, the official industry line was that no US-designed commercial reactor could explode. Chornobyl blew up on April 26, 1986, sending deadly radioactive clouds throughout the Earth. But...
Russia comments on prospects of peace treaty with Japan
Japan, Russia

Russia comments on prospects of peace treaty with Japan

The issue of ending a decades-old war dispute with Japan is “closed” for Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry said FILE PHOTO. A view of Russia's Kunashir Island. ©  Sputnik / Andrey Zima Any plans to strike a peace treaty with Japan are off the table for Moscow, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson has said, citing Tokyo's hostility towards Russia. “As for the subject of a peace treaty, as you know, it has been closed for us,” Maria Zakharova said during a regular media briefing on Friday. The spokeswoman noted that the Foreign Ministry clearly articulated its position on the issue last March, stating that the “unfriendly” stance of Japan makes any further negotiations impossible. The remarks came shortly after Japanese Prime Minister Fumi...
Fukushima’s Toxic Dumping Flashpoint
Japan

Fukushima’s Toxic Dumping Flashpoint

BY ROBERT HUNZIKER Photograph Source: MIKI Yoshihito – CC BY 2.0 “We must remind Japan that if the radioactive nuclear wastewater is safe, just dump it in Tokyo, test it in Paris and store it in Washington, but keep our Pacific nuclear-free.” (Vanuatu’s celebrated former ‘Turaga Chief’ Motarilavoa Hilda Lini) In the face of considerable worldwide criticism, TEPCO is moving ahead with its well-advertised plans to dump contaminated water from storage tanks at the Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster zone into the Pacific Ocean. They are running out of storage space and the Pacific Ocean is conveniently right next door. The Japanese government is courting trouble, as a contracting party to: (1) the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (2) the Convent...
American Japs Imprisoned
Japan, USA

American Japs Imprisoned

https://www.youtube.com/embed/fSQUWZ7JOvA?version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en&autohide=2&wmode=transparent Tales of the American Empire A famous tale from World War II are the heroic deeds of the US Army’s 442nd Infantry Regiment that was manned by nearly all second-generation Japanese Americans. These men served a government that had arrested them and their families for the crime of being Japanese descendants, imprisoned them, and looted their property. The US government then drafted young men in these camps and demanded they fight in its foreign war. Approximately 300 men at various camps refused to join the military were sent to a harsh prison at Tule Lake California. Many stated they would serve if their fa...
On This Day In 1941, The Japanese Attached Pearl Harbor Changing America Forever
Japan, USA

On This Day In 1941, The Japanese Attached Pearl Harbor Changing America Forever

At 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time, a Japanese dive bomber bearing the red symbol of the Rising Sun of Japan on its wings appears out of the clouds above the island of Oahu. A swarm of 360 Japanese warplanes followed, descending on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in a ferocious assault. The surprise attack struck a critical blow against the U.S. Pacific fleet and drew the United States irrevocably into World War II. With diplomatic negotiations with Japan breaking down, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his advisers knew that an imminent Japanese attack was probable, but nothing had been done to increase security at the important naval base at Pearl Harbor. It was Sunday morning, and many military personnel had been given passes to attend religious ser...