As the country’s population declines and religious disaffection grows, religious sites are increasingly targeted for the tax breaks they provide. Out of 180,000 registered religious sites, as many as 4,400 have been inactive in the last year. For Benmou Suzuki, a monk in Sanbagawa, “Temples are places for local people to gather and forge connections” and must be protected. For its part, Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs has intensified controls.
A ban was imposed a year ago when Japan began to release Fukushima's waters. After months of negotiations, a deal was reached on monitoring, in addition to that by the IAEA (while no one can monitor the discharges of Chinese nuclear power plants). The turning point comes in the aftermath of a deadly attack against a 10-year-old Japanese boy in Shenzhen, tragic proof of the danger posed by anti-Japanese nationalist propaganda.
On the anniversary of the 1931 Munken Incident, a 10-year-old boy was attacked by a man 200 metres from his school in the high-tech city. In June, a Chinese woman was killed trying to stop a similar attack. Japanese government spokesman Hiroshi Moriya says that Japan wants to work with Chinese authorities to "protect Japanese citizens”.
Voting will be held on 27 September. Seven people are currently in the run, for the first time, without the backing of party factions, in the wake of the bribery fundraising scandal involving a group of Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers. A runoff will almost certainly be necessary. The main opposition party is also reorganising itself ahead of the next general election.
Today's news: About 8,000 Rohingya have left Myanmar in recent months and taken refuge in Bangladesh; Thai king approved new government presented by PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra; Former governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon Riad Salameh arrested; Fumio Kishida in Seoul Nov. 6-7 to revive alliance with South Korea.
Today's news: Kuki drone attack on security forces in Manipur; The UN launched the anti-polio vaccination campaign in Gaza; The Japanese Defence Minister aims at a record allocation of funds for the next fiscal year; China's strengthens relations with Turkmenistan over gas deliveries.
