Sign of things to come - Ivanka Trump sits in meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

US President-elect Donald Trump's landmark first talks with a foreign leader show the presence of his daughter Ivanka - this is seen by some as a sign of things to come and the family's influence as he readies to take power.
The meeting between Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US President-elect Donald Trump was held at the mogul's Trump Plaza residence and Ivanka, who is a model-turned-business executive, was in the group as it conversed in the opulent reception room.
This has been reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 19 November 2016.

While the media were shut-out of the gathering in Manhattan, images released by the Japanese government showed Ivanka and her husband, real estate developer and publisher Jared Kushner, in conversation with Abe. The pair of Ivanka and Kushner has emerged as key advisers to Trump who won the elections by beating Democrat Hillary Clinton in the November 8 election.
Also seen was former general Michael Flynn - he has reportedly been offered the post of national security adviser. However, the presence of Ivanka drew attention in protocol-conscious Japan because of rumors that Trump planned to appoint her as US ambassador to Tokyo. He apparently wanted to appoint her as ambassador, replacing current envoy Caroline Kennedy who is the daughter of assassinated US president John F. Kennedy.
Incidentally, Ivanka has already been involved in politics and is considered to be a key player in her father's business empire. She has her own fashion label and jewellery line.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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Prime Minister Modi on his second visit to Japan - hi-speed rail will boost bilateral trade and investment

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on his second visit to Japan and he hopes that the proposed hi-speed rail from Japan will boost bilateral trade and investment. This would be the annual India-Japan bilateral summit.
As he indicated prior to his leaving for Japan, ' ... the high-speed railway cooperation between India and Japan is a shining example of the strength of our cooperation .. it will not only boost our trade and investment ties, but will also create skilled jobs in India, improve our infrastructure and give a boost to our 'Make in India' mission.'
This has been reported in thestatesman.com dated 10 November 2016.

During the visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to India last year, there were talks on a high speed rail link between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Therefore, during his present visit to Japan, PM Modi plans to travel to Kobe on the famed Shinkansen along with Shinzo Abe to see first hand the technology that will be deployed for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed railway.
The plan is to visit the Kawasaki Heavy Industries facility in Kobe, where the high speed railway is manufactured.


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Japanese maglev is the fastest train in the world traveling at 603 Km per hour

Japan has to its credit of creating the Shinkansen high-speed rail line which opened in 1964. It was a perfect timing because it was in that year that Tokyo hosted the Summer Olympics, and Japan took the opportunity to come to the limelight and debut the world's first commercial bullet train.
History would be repeated because in 2020, the Japanese capital will host the Summer Olympics, and the country will once again shatter rail records by launching the new Japanese maglev. It will be the fastest train in the world after traveling at 603 kilometers per hour on a test run near Mount Fuji last year. It has broken its own world record of 590 km per hour that had been set the previous week.
This has been reported in edition.cnn.com dated 4 November 2016.

Maglev trains are already operating at slower speeds in Shanghai and Changsha, in China, and Incheon, in South Korea. They make use of magnetic repulsion both to lift the train up from the ground (this reduces friction), and to propel it forward. Maglev is Japan's boldest rail innovation yet. As per plans, the Chuo Shinkansen maglev line will link Tokyo to the southern city of Nagoya in 40 minutes. This will be faster than flying, given the time it takes to get through an airport. The line would, later, be extended to Osaka. Incidentally, the 16-carriage train can shuttle 1,000 passengers along the 177 mile (286 km) track. Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe is a big fan of this project and he is proposing a route from Washington to New York - it will be at a speed that would be equivalent to that between Tokyo and Nagoya.


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Twin earthquakes in Japan kill at least 29 - death toll likely to increase

Japan suffered the wrath of two powerful earthquakes a day apart and it left at least 29 people dead and trapped many others beneath flattened homes, as a result, thousands of residents fled to seek refuge in gymnasiums and hotel lobbies. Around 1,600 soldiers have joined rescue efforts and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said that the damage from the magnitude-7.3 quake could be extensive. However, the Nuclear Regulation Authority has indicated that there are no abnormalities at Kyushu's Sendai nuclear plant.
This has been reported in ibnlive.com dated 16 April 2016.

Kumamoto Prefectural official has revealed that the death toll was continuously rising and it stood at 19 from Saturday's magnitude-7.3 quake that shook the Kumamoto region on the southwestern island of Kyushu and another 19 when the second quake of magnitude 6.5 struck Kyushu - it left another 800 injured.
The epicenters of the quakes have been relatively shallow about 10 kilometers and close to the surface, resulting in more severe shaking and damage. As per local media reports, nearly 200,000 homes were without electricity and drinking water systems had also failed in the area.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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India cozies up to Japan and ignores China - realignment of world forces

#NarendraModi #ShinzoAbe #bullettrain #ModiAbeInKashi By agreeing to Japan's participation in the bullet train project, India has sent a clear signal to China that it does not feature in India's scheme of things. In fact, India has indicated that it would partner Japan, America and Australia in their efforts to achieve a "balanced" regional architecture in the Asia Pacific.
This is seen as a clear message to its neighbor China and is the first time that Delhi has so clearly defined its role in partnering Beijing's rivals in its neighborhood.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 12 December 2015.

The two Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Shinzo Abe oversaw the inking of two key strategic pacts by virtue of which Tokyo will undertake manufacture of military equipment in India and also share defense secrets. Till now, Japan had such agreements with its traditional allies namely, the US, Australia and the UK.
As prime minister Modi has said - the two countries will work together in (the) East Asia Summit to promote an inclusive, balanced and open regional architecture and maritime security in the region. Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has reciprocated by saying that 'a strong India is good for Japan, and a strong Japan is good for India.

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Japan to give India her first Bullet Train from Mumbai to Ahmedabad

Japan has landed the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train project. The proposal of China was not accepted because of the bullet train accident in China four years ago in the south-eastern city of Wenzhou in which 40 people died and close to 200 were injured. Japan has offered low-cost finance and a promise to have a substantial 'Make in India' component and transfer of technology. These ensured that Japan get the contract.
The first high-speed Bullet Train would run initially between Mumbai and Ahmedabad and, in future, could be extended to Delhi.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 10 December 2015.

The Rs 98,000 crore project was cleared by the cabinet and is set to be announced during the visit of Japanese premier Shinzo Abe's later this week.
Incidentally, the Shinkansen System had the best safety record with no fatalities in addition to the fact that delays on a trip did not exceed a minute.
Nearly 70-80% of the components could be manufactured in India and the Japanese government has offered technical support and was willing to drive the local manufacturing and technology transfer initiative within a specified period.

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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to perform Ganga Arati in Varanasi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has his hands full - if not visiting a country with messages from India, he has to entertain foreign guests who drop on him. Latest guest would be Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who is scheduled to visit Varanasi on December 12 after arriving in India on December 11.
This has been reported in zeenews.india.com dated 24 November 2015.

Both the leaders have apparently discussed about deepening of the Varanasi-Kyoto partnership on the sidelines of 13th ASEAN-India Summit here in the Malaysian capital of Kaula Lumpur. The two cities have already been declared as twin cities.
Obviously, there is a sense of urgency among the administration because Varanasi happens to be the adopted city of Narendra Modi.
Varanasi District Magistrate Rajmani Yadav has indicated that an initial intimation regarding the proposed one-day visit of Japanese PM Shinzo Abe and PM Narendra Modi on December 12 has been received by the district administration. However, the detailed protocol for their proposed visit is still awaited, but all preparations has already began to host the duo in the temple city.
The visiting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to visit the Buddhist site Sarnath and also attend the Aarti on the banks of river Ganga along with Modi.

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Japan’s second nuclear reactor in Sendai restarts

#KyushuElectricPowerCo #sendai #ShinzoAbe #fukushima #nuclearreactor In spite of strong opposition to nuclear power among the public, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has ordered the restart of the Sendai nuclear reactor – his intention is to cut fuel bills and he wants atomic power to account for 20-22 percent of the country's energy mix by 2030.
It is a tough ask because the goal is widely seen as unrealistic, and opposition to nuclear power remains widespread. This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 15 October 2015.

However, Japan has restarted a second reactor at the Sendai nuclear plant on the southwestern island of Kyushu – it had been shut down after the 2011 Fukushima disaster. This restart marks progress for Japan's utilities, which have been hit by huge losses following forced shut down of nuclear plants for safety checks.
Kyushu Electric Power Co had started the No. 1 unit at the Sendai plant in August after getting necessary approval from the country's atomic regulator – it took them two years of reviews and equipment checks. Now, the No. 2 unit is expected to begin power generation on Oct. 21 and is enter commercial operations from around mid-November.
The Fukushima disaster was the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl 25 years earlier and the meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi plant released large quantities of radioactive material and forced 160,000 to flee from their homes – many of them never returned.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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First ever atomic bombing on Hiroshima 70-years ago killed nearly 140,000

#Hiroshima #AtomBomb #Nagasaki #LittleBoy #ShinzoAbe Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan and foreign delegates were among the tens of thousands of people who had gathered in Hiroshima`s Peace Memorial Park to observe a moment of silence at 8:15 am local time – that was the time when the detonation took place as an atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima that turned the western Japanese city into an inferno.
Bells tolled to remember that moment that helped to put an end to World War II but opinions are still divided as to whether the total destruction it caused was really justified.
This has been reported in zeenews.india.com dated 6 August 2015.

Hiroshima has been rebuilt and is now a bustling city and its mayor Kazumi Matsui has said that nuclear weapons were an "absolute evil". He has urged the world to put an end to them forever.
To recall history – it was an American B-29 bomber named Enola Gay that dropped an atomic bomb, dubbed "Little Boy", on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. As a result, nearly everything around it was incinerated as the ground level was hit by a wall of heat up to 4,000 degrees Celsius and, that was hot enough to melt steel.
Approximately 140,000 people perished in the attack – some of them did survive the bombing itself but died in the following days, weeks and months due to exposure to severe radiation.
Subsequently, on August 9, the port city of Nagasaki was also attacked with an atomic bomb and nearly 70,000 people were killed in that.
Japan finally surrendered on August 15, 1945 and WW-II ended. (Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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IS militants take two Japanese as hostage – demand ransom of $200-million

#ShinzoAbe #ISIS #Japan #hostages The IS militants have taken two Japanese as hostages and have demanded a ransom of $200-million from the Japanese government for their release. The captors have released a video of 1min 40sec entitled “A message to the government at the people of Japan”.
It seems the action taken by the IS appears to be in retaliation of a multimillion-dollar Middle Eastern aid package that had been announced just a few days ago by the prime minister, Shinzo Abe.
The hostages are Kenji Goto Jogo and Huruna Yukawa.
Incidentally, Yukawa had been captured in August. He was suffering from a series of misfortunes in his personal life. These included the death of his wife from cancer, and losing his business and home to bankruptcy. It seems he had gone to the Syrian city of Aleppo in spring 2014.
The other hostage is Goto – it is believed that he is a respected freelance journalist. He had gone to Syria last year to report on Syria’s civil war last year and was aware of Yukawa’s detention before his own incarceration.
The Japanese chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, did not elaborate on whether Japan would pay the ransom. Prime minister, Shinzo Abe, speaking in Jerusalem has described the threat to kill the two hostages in 72 hours as unforgivable and demanded that ISIS release them immediately.
It may be recalled that last week, at the beginning of his tour of the Middle East, he had indicated that Japan would be donating $200m in non-military aid to countries fighting Islamic State to help them build “human capacities” and “infrastructure”. It was part of a $2.5bn in humanitarian and development aid for the Middle East.