Google Alert - japan

Honda Shows Japan Automakers to Wait for Crisis-Free Year Bloomberg Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) President Akio Toyoda said seven months ago that his biggest wish at the time was for a year free of disasters. He's not going to get it. Analysts have scaled back full-year earnings estimates for Toyota, Nissan Motor Co ... See all stories on this topic » Japan PM signals election can wait, defies opposition Reuters TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda made clear on Monday he was in no rush to go to the polls, speaking of the risk of a "political vacuum" in a speech likely to anger an opposition that has urged him to keep a promise to call an ... See all stories on this topic » Japan finance minister urges BOJ to seek bold easing versus deflation Reuters TOKYO (Reuters) - Finance Minister Koriki Jojima said he wants the Bank of Japan to take bold policy steps while closely working with the government to beat deflation, piling pressure on the central bank to act on the eve of its rate review. Jojima ... See all stories on this topic » Small should have been beautiful; how Toyota misread China market Reuters T) blames its China underperformance on the widespread anti-Japan protests triggered by a territorial row. Some company insiders and dealers, though, say the world's biggest car maker misread the world's largest market. They say Toyota's launch of the ... See all stories on this topic » Japan's Retail Sales Rise Less Than Expected in September Bloomberg Japan's retail sales rose less than forecast in September as the expiry of government subsidies for car purchases sapped consumer demand. Retail sales rose 0.4 percent from a year earlier, the Trade Ministry said in Tokyo today, after a revised 1.7 ... See all stories on this topic » Japan Exchange Aims to Combine Equities Systems by July Businessweek Japan Exchange Group, the company to be formed by the merger of the country's two largest bourses, aims to unify its trading systems for cash equities by July, Tokyo Stock Exchange Group Inc. said in a statement today. The new bourse, which plans to ... See all stories on this topic » Japan Stock Futures, Australian Equities Rise Before US Data Businessweek (blog) American Depositary Receipts of Komatsu Ltd. (6301), a Japanese construction-machinery company that gets more than 80 percent of sales abroad, advanced 0.6 percent. ADRs of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., Japan's second-biggest bank by ... See all stories on this topic » Japan's Renesas posts smaller than expected Q2 loss Reuters TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Renesas Electronics Corp (6723.T), the world's fifth largest chipmaker, posted a smaller-than-expected operating loss for the July-September quarter on Monday, down 44 percent from a year ago. For the July-September quarter, ... See all stories on this topic » Japan Stocks Swing From Gains, Losses on Honda Outlook Businessweek Japan's two main stock indexes fell, reversing morning gains, as Honda (7267) Motor Co. plunged after cutting its annual profit forecast. The declines were limited on expectations the Bank of Japanwill add stimulus at a policy meeting tomorrow. Honda ... See all stories on this topic » Japan Bond Risk Decreases, Credit-Default Swap Prices Show Bloomberg The Markit iTraxx Japan index dropped 1.5 basis point to 206.5 basis points as of 9:32 a.m. in Tokyo, Deutsche Bank AG prices show. The gauge, which has ranged from 136.2 to 229.5 this year, is on track for its lowest close since Oct. 25, according to CMA. See all stories on this topic » Fish Off Japan's Coast Said to Contain Elevated Levels of Cesium New York Times TOKYO — Elevated levels of cesium still detected in fish off the Fukushima coast of Japan suggest that radioactive particles from last year's nuclear disaster have accumulated on the seafloor and could contaminate sea life for decades, according to ... See all stories on this topic » Japan Car Makers Cut Back Production Wall Street Journal TOKYO—Japanese car makers cut back production sharply in Japan and China in September, as the end of government incentives slowed domestic sales and a territorial spat sparked anti-Japanese sentiment in Asia's largest economy, denting local output ... See all stories on this topic » Japan Stocks Fall on Rising Yen, Disappointing Earnings Businessweek Japan stocks fell, with the Nikkei 225 Stock Average paring a three-month advance, after the yen strengthened from a four-month low and companies including Canon Inc. and Fanuc Corp. (6954) reported disappointing earnings. Canon, the world's biggest ... See all stories on this topic » Japan approves new stimulus for ailing economy Businessweek TOKYO (AP) — Japan's Cabinet approved a 423 billion yen ($5.3 billion) economic stimulus package on Friday, moving to fend off recession as the recovery in the world's third biggest economy falters. The emergency spending package, which is double the ... See all stories on this topic » Japan CPI falls, keeps pressure on BOJ to ease policy Reuters TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's core consumer prices fell for the fifth straight month in the year to September, showing the economy remained mired in deflation and keeping the pressure on the central bank to do more to achieve its inflation target. Friday's ... See all stories on this topic » Japan govt aims to list Japan Post in three years Reuters TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan unveiled plans on Friday to list shares of state-owned Japan Post Holdings Co, which runs the country's biggest savings institution, within three years to raise money to rebuild areas devastated by last year's quake, tsunami and ... See all stories on this topic » Japan Politics in Flux as Tokyo Mayor Ishihara Resigns to Head New Party in ... Forbes Over that past two months, as the governing Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) have elected leaders for the coming election, PM Noda Yoshihiko, and former PM Abe Shinzo, respectively, attention has ... See all stories on this topic » Forbes Japan Removes 5-Percent Takeover Trigger for PTS Venues Businessweek Trades on SBI Japannext and Chi-X Japan, the only two venues where the public can buy and sell shares away from a traditional exchange, will be exempt from a rule forcing investors to make a takeover bid if they acquire more than five percent of a ... See all stories on this topic » Japan Adds Stimulus Amid Threat of Bond-Sale Disruption Businessweek Japan announced 750 billion yen ($9.4 billion) of fiscal stimulus to shore up growth as bond investors told the government they're worried about delays in financing more spending. With lawmakers in the Diet blocking financing legislation, some of the ... See all stories on this topic » AP interview: Japan nuclear plant water worries on rise LubbockOnline.com FILE - In this March 15, 2011 file photo released by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), smoke rises from the badly damaged Unit 3 reactor, left, next to the Unit 4 reactor covered by an outer wall at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex in Okuma town, ... See all stories on this topic » Japan, China diplomats meet over island dispute that sparked violent protests NBCNews.com (blog) TOKYO - Senior Japanese and Chinese diplomats have met to discuss a dispute over East China Sea islets hat both countries claim, the Japanese government said on Wednesday, underscoring willingness to talk despite a sharp deterioration in ties. See all stories on this topic »

Japanese Stocks Decline on Earnings Amid Global Slowdown Businessweek “More Japanese companies are likely to cut earnings forecasts, dragged down by overseas demand as the U.S. and Chinese economies slow,” said Tomomi Yamashita, a senior fund manager at Shinkin Asset Management Co. in Tokyo, which oversees $6.5 ... See all stories on this topic »

APNewsBreak: US Navy Reviews Rules on Japan... ABC News Weary of rules limiting the freedom of their "overwhelmingly outstanding" sailors, the top commanders of the U.S. Navy in Japan eased after-hours restrictions this month. Just four days later, two sailors were accused of rape on Okinawa, a small island ... See all stories on this topic »

Benchmark JGBs inch up but superlong underperform on fiscal fear Reuters Superlongs underperform, with 30-yr yield up 1 bps. * Shorter-dated notes supported by BOJ easing expectations. By Dominic Lau and Lisa Twaronite. TOKYO, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Benchmark Japanese government bonds edged higher on Wednesday, ... See all stories on this topic »

Japanese system stuck in the 1950s - Jones Chicago Tribune TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan coach Eddie Jones blasted the country's rugby infrastructure for being stuck in a "time warp" as he named his squad for next month's tour of Europe. The Australian typically pulled no punches on Wednesday, explaining why he had ... See all stories on this topic »

Japan's Croesus Retail Trust Plans Singapore IPO Wall Street Journal Croesus Retail Trust, in which Japan's Marubeni Corp. and Daiwa House Industry Co. are strategic partners, is testing investor appetite for a planned 800 million Singapore dollar (US$650 million) initial public offering, people with knowledge of the ... See all stories on this topic »

Japan to Restrict Some Rice Shipments in Fukushima on Radiation Businessweek Japan will restrict rice shipments from an area in Fukushima prefecture after a sample exceeded a new government safety standard for the first time since a stricter level was imposed, rekindling food-safety concerns. The restriction will be imposed on ... See all stories on this topic »

Japanese Firms Chase Growth in India Wall Street Journal (blog) Japanese companies are increasingly turning toward India for investments, as they look for growth and alternatives to China, where tensions are still running high. Japan has been the single-largest foreign direct investor in India this year, with ... See all stories on this topic » Wall Street Journal (blog)

Nintendo Cuts Forecast on Lower Demand for 3DS, Strong Yen Bloomberg Net income may be 6 billion yen ($75 million) for the year ending March 31, compared with Nintendo's previous estimate of a 20 billion yen profit, the Kyoto, Japan-based company said in a statement today. The outlook compares with the 10.6 billion-yen ... See all stories on this topic »

Most Japan Stocks Fall, Led by Utilities; Yen Spurs Nikon Businessweek Most Japanese stocks fell, led by nuclear-power generators. The declines were limited as exporters climbed after the yen touched a three-month low amid speculation the central bank will add to stimulus programs. Kansai Electric Power Co. (9503), Japan ... See all stories on this topic »

Japan government piles pressure on BOJ ahead of October 30 meeting Reuters TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's government piled fresh pressure on the central bank to expand monetary stimulus on Tuesday, as the economics minister said he wanted to attend a rate review meeting next week to reiterate a call for bolder action to bolster an ... See all stories on this topic »

Japanese Justice Minister Quits After Past Ties to Mobsters Surface New York Times Published: October 23, 2012. TOKYO — Japan's justice minister resigned on Tuesday following an uproar over his past ties to members of organized crime, putting further pressure on Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to call national elections. World Twitter ... See all stories on this topic »

Living through de-globalization: James Saft Reuters Japanese exports to China fell by 14.1 percent, accelerating a fall of 9.9 percent in August. While Japanese imports of Chinese goods increased by 3.8 percent, exports of cars to China fell 45 percent and motorcycles 31 percent. Chinese tourist traffic ... See all stories on this topic »

Japan Stock Futures Gain on Weaker Yen, Export Earnings Outlook Businessweek Futures on Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average expiring in December closed at 9,080 in Chicago yesterday, up from 9,020 in Osaka, Japan. They were bid in the pre-market at 9,050 in Osaka at 8:05 a.m. local time. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 0.2 ... See all stories on this topic »

Japan Display taps banks with eye to 2014 IPO: sources Reuters TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan Display Inc, created in a three-way merger of the small liquid crystal display operations of Sony Corp (6758.T), Hitachi Ltd (6501.T) and Toshiba Corp (6502.T), has chosen investment banks to take it public as early as the first ... See all stories on this topic »

Japan Needs Nuclear Power to Offset High Gas Costs, Tanaka Says Businessweek Japan, which pledged this year to scrap nuclear power by 2040, needs to keep atomic fuel in its electricity mix to offset rising energy costs and a possible military conflict in Iran, according to the former executive director of the International ... See all stories on this topic »

Japan LNG demand has likely peaked: government official Reuters Japan, the world's top LNG consumer, boosted purchases further following the shutdown of atomic reactors after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, even as the jump in imports widened its trade deficit to ... See all stories on this topic »

World stock markets fall as US earnings underwhelm while weaker yen supports ... Washington Post BANGKOK — World stock markets stalled Tuesday after disappointing U.S. corporate earnings dimmed optimism about the world's No. 1 economy ahead of key data later in the week. European shares fell in early trading and Wall Street appeared headed for ... See all stories on this topic »

South Korea parliamentarians visit islands claimed by Japan Chicago Tribune SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean members of parliament visited a set of remote islands also claimed by Japan on Tuesday, a move likely to further fray ties between two of the most important U.S. allies in Asia. The tour followed a visit by South Korean ... See all stories on this topic »

Japan Exports Fall at Fastest Pace Since Post-Earthquake Slump Bloomberg “There's a high chance that Japan's economy will have two consecutive quarters of contraction through December,” said Yoshimasa Maruyama, chief economist at Itochu Corp. in Tokyo. “The slump in advanced nations is spreading to emerging economies.” ... See all stories on this topic »

Japan justice minister "mob ties" scandal new headache for Noda Chicago Tribune TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is waiting for a doctor's report before deciding the fate of his justice minister who has admitted contacts with members of the Yakuza crime syndicate, a senior official was quoted as saying on ... See all stories on this topic »

Japan Court Rejects Suit Challenging Outdated Remarriage Law Wall Street Journal (blog) A Japanese court recently struck down a lawsuit contesting a century-old Civil Code provision that prohibits women from remarrying until at least six months after getting a divorce, in a setback for those hoping that the gender equality marker in the ... See all stories on this topic » Wall Street Journal (blog)

Sharp's Malaise Risks Bad-Loan Surge at Megabanks: Japan Credit Businessweek Japanese electronics makers including Sharp and Panasonic Corp. are reeling from increased global competition, slowing economic growth and a yen rate that's 5 percent from a postwar high against the dollar. The government has downgraded its view of ... See all stories on this topic »

Japan: Pack Heavy, Travel Light Huffington Post For our recent trip to Japan, Jackie and I packed what seemed like a thousand pounds of clothes: We were stopping in London on the way (because we used some of our British Airways miles to fly in almost unbelievable first-class luxury and also to get ... See all stories on this topic »

METALS-Copper hits 1-month low after weak Japan export data Reuters Copper hits lowest level since September * Japan exports down 10.3 pct year on year * China copper output at 2nd-highest level this year By Susan Thomas LONDON, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Copper hit a one-month low on Monday, following other financial ... See all stories on this topic »

Japan Trade Suffers Amid China Dispute Wall Street Journal The data released Monday by Japan's Finance Ministry showed Japanese exports of goods to China down 14% from a year earlier in September to ¥953.8 billion ($12 billion), the biggest decline since January (when they fell 20.2%) and worse than a 9.9% ... See all stories on this topic »

Japan exports tumble, gloom spreads before BOJ meeting Reuters TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's exports tumbled by 10.3 percent in the year to September, their sharpest decline since the aftermath of last year's earthquake, and the Bank of Japan cut its outlook for local regional economies due to a row with China and ... See all stories on this topic »

WORLD FOREX: Dismal Japan Trade Data Weighs on Yen; Euro Steady NASDAQ Japan, which has historically been reliant on export-led growth, posted a 558.6 billion yen ($7.04 billion) trade gap in September, its third straight monthly deficit and slightly more than economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires had expected ... See all stories on this topic »

奈良・東大寺の不空羂索観音立像の宝冠

無断転載・複製を禁じます。

不空羂索観音立像の宝冠。修理のため、像の頭部から外されている＝奈良市の東大寺ミュージアム
記事「宝冠、飾りが年代物　東大寺の観音像に古墳期？ガラス玉」より

 

宝冠、飾りが年代物　東大寺の観音像に古墳期？ガラス玉

宝冠の一部。アルカリガラスと見られる青いガラス玉が各所にちりばめられている＝奈良市の東大寺ミュージアム

宝冠の部分。勾玉（まがたま）も多く、弥生～古墳時代の特色を残すと指摘されてきた＝奈良市の東大寺ミュージアム

不空羂索観音立像の宝冠。修理のため、像の頭部から外されている＝奈良市の東大寺ミュージアム

　【編集委員・小滝ちひろ】奈良時代（８世紀）の工芸の最高傑作といわれる、奈良・東大寺の不空羂索（ふくうけんさく）観音立像（国宝、高さ３．６２メー トル）の宝冠（同、高さ８８センチ）にちりばめられた青いガラス玉が、より時代をさかのぼる弥生～古墳時代に輸入されたものである可能性が高いことが２７ 日、東大寺であった講演会で明らかにされた。東大寺を開いた聖武（しょうむ）天皇（７０１～７５６）が天皇家に伝わる宝物を仏に捧げたのではないかとの見 方も出ている。
　ガラスを分析したのは東京理科大の中井泉教授（分析化学）と日本ガラス工芸学会の井上暁子会長（ガラス工芸史）。古墳時代以前のガラスが遺跡の出土品以外に科学的に確認された例は、過去にないという。
　宝冠は、唐草文様を透かし彫りした銀製の本体に高さ２４センチの化仏（けぶつ）がつき、翡翠（ひすい）や琥珀（こはく）、真珠、ガラスなど１万数千点の宝玉で飾られている。

 

A declining Japan loses its once-hopeful champions

Yuriko Nakao/Reuters - A woman passes a restaurant in Tokyo's Harajuku shopping district on Oct. 26, 2012. Japan remains mired in deflation, price data showed on Friday, piling pressure on the central bank to deliver more stimulus next week to keep the world's third-largest economy from sliding into recession.

By Chico Harlan,

TOKYO — Jesper Koll, an economist who’s lived in Japan for 26 years, says it’s not easy for him to keep faith in a country that’s shrinking, aging, stuck in protracted economic gloom and losing fast ground to China as the region’s dominant power.
“I am the last Japan optimist,” Koll said in a recent speech in Tokyo.

Indeed, the once-common species has been virtually wiped out. It was only two decades ago that Japan’s boosters — mainly foreign diplomats and authors, economists and entrepreneurs — touted the tiny nation as a global model for how to attain prosperity and power.
But the group has turned gradually into non­believers, with several of the last hold­outs losing faith only recently, as Japan has failed to carry out meaningful reforms after the March 2011 triple disaster.
The mass turnabout has helped launch an alternative — and increasingly accepted — school of thought about Japan: The country is not just in a prolonged slump but also in an inescapable decline.
There’s frequent evidence for that in economic data, and in the country’s destiny to become ever-smaller, doomed by demographics that will shrink the population from about 127 million today to 47 million in 2100, according to government data.
The current doom is a sharp reversal from several decades ago, when Japanese companies bought up Columbia Pictures and Rockefeller Center, and Americans argued whether Japan was to be feared or envied.
Like a separate but related group, known as “Japan bashers,” the optimists were bullish about Japan’s future as an economic powerhouse. But unlike the bashers, who viewed Japan as a dangerous challenger to the United States, the optimists saw Japan as a benevolent superpower — rich but peaceful, with a diligence worth emulating.
Now, when Japan is discussed, it’s instead for its unenviable fiscal problems — debt, rising social security costs, flagging trade with China because of an ongoing territorial dispute.
China, not Japan, is mentioned in U.S. presidential debates and described as the next threat to American supremacy. Japan’s government has announced record quarterly trade deficits while some of its iconic companies — Sony and Sharp — have announced staggering losses.
By 2050, Japan “will be the oldest society ever known,” with a median age of 52, according to the recent book “Megachange,” published by the Economist magazine. Even over the next decade, Japan’s aging population will drag down the gross domestic product by about 1 percent every year. That will further strain Japan’s economy, which in 2010 lost its status as the world’s second-largest, a position now claimed by China.
“If you speak optimistically about Japan, nobody even believes it,” Koll said. “They say, ‘Oh, in 600 years there will be 480 Japanese people left. The Japanese are dying out and debt is piling up for future generations.’ Japan is an easy whipping boy.”

Now a pessimist
Japan optimism became a mainstream movement with the 1979 publication of “Japan As No. 1,” an international bestseller that described the way a country the size of Montana had come to make cars as well as the Germans, watches as well as the Swiss and steel as well as the Americans — in more efficient plants. Japan’s people worked hard, its government guided the economy, and its streets were clean and crime-free.
 “Japan has dealt more successfully with more of the basic problems of post­industrial society than any other country,” wrote author Ezra Vogel, a sociologist at Harvard.
But Vogel, who has lived for several periods in Japan, and has traveled here at least once a year since 1958, says he, too, has become a pessimist. Most Japanese still have a comfortable life, he says, but the political system is “an absolute mess,” juggling prime ministers almost every year. The youngest generation, its expectations sapped by years of deflation, “doesn’t have the excitement about doing things better.”

Even the promise of lifetime employment and tight cooperation between government and corporations has backfired, leaving a bureaucracy-enforced status quo that makes it hard for established companies to reform and for smaller, more creative companies to emerge.
“What I did not foresee is that the slowdown would be such a challenge — that many of the things that worked so well on the way up . . . would be so difficult on the way down,” Vogel said.
Vogel, still a professor emeritus at Harvard, says he has switched his focus in the past five years to China.
A disturbing trend
For more than a decade after Vogel’s book was published, his predictions seemed prescient. Between 1980 and 1990, Japan’s national wealth nearly tripled. Real estate prices in downtown Tokyo skyrocketed so high that analysts said the land under the Imperial Palace was worth more than the state of California. Japanese companies bought up American landmarks, and some policymakers feared Japan was challenging U.S. supremacy, particularly by using protectionist trade policies that blocked American products.
Vogel credited Japan’s success in part to its willingness to study others. He described a nation obsessed with overseas travel: Students went to American universities, national sports coaches studied the training programs in other countries, trade ministry bureaucrats went on missions to Europe to hone policies. Japan even had programs in five foreign languages available on its national television networks.
But today, former Japan optimists see a disturbing trend. Fewer Japanese, they say, want to interact with the rest of the world, and undergraduate enrollment of Japanese students at U.S. universities has fallen more than 50 percent since 2000. The generation now entering Japan’s job market is described by older workers here as risk-averse and unambitious, with security and comfort their top priorities.
“They have just given up trying to be number one” said Yoichi Funabashi, former editor in chief of the Asahi Shimbun newspaper and chairman of the Rebuild Japan Initiative. “People think you just cannot beat China, so don’t even try. But that’s bad, because if you don’t train yourself on the international scene, you don’t . . . sharpen your edge. And you become more inward-looking. There’s a sense in Japan that we are unprepared to be a tough, competitive player in this global world.”
Japan is famous among historians for its sudden transformations, re-engaging with the world in the mid-19th century after two centuries of isolation, later moving toward the militarism that helped launch World War II. After the mega-disaster last year, Japanese hoped for another transformation, with the reconstruction of a tsunami-battered region prompting a broader political and economic overhaul.

 But Japanese increasingly feel that hasn’t happened, according to a recent Pew Research Center poll. Just 39 percent now say that last year’s disaster has made Japan a stronger country, compared with 58 percent in a similar survey taken right after the earthquake and tsunami. (According to the same survey, released in June, 93 percent of the Japanese public describe the current state of the economy as bad.)

Global sentiment has swung so far against Japan, the last few optimists now relish the chance to make a case on Japan’s behalf.

Although Japan is commonly thought to be a “Detroit-like zone” with little chance for economic growth, former Sony chief executive Nobuyuki Idei said in an interview, the country still has a chance to prosper if it can tap into Asia’s booming economies as a trade partner or investor. Tokyo-based venture capitalist Yoshito Hori said that Japan’s many strengths are often overlooked, because Japanese prefer self-criticism to self-promotion.

“The value of Japan is, even when we do something good, we rarely say it,” Hori said.

“When the Chinese achieve something, they say, ‘We have done this.’ ” Japanese must learn to do the same, Hori said, “otherwise, we will lose our position globally.”

That’s partly why Koll, a ­JPMorgan Japan manager, decided this summer to give a TED talk — the common name for a series of pop-education ­speeches — in which he described his reasons for being the last optimist.

Japan has the world’s most competent financial regulator, Koll said, and a per capita GDP several times that of China. Real estate prices are back down to 1981 levels — “wealth destruction has been tremendous,” he said — but Japan has weathered this while still retaining its social cohesion and relative quality of life, with an unemployment rate of just 4.2 percent.

But Koll also admitted in his speech that being bullish on Japan is tantamount to saying Elvis is still alive.

“Things have changed,” he said. “When I first got here, I had conversations with people who said, ‘Oh, you’re so lucky to speak Japanese, because we’ll all be working for the Japanese soon.’ You know, those are the things they’re saying about China now.”


Yuki Oda contributed to this report.

平等院鳳凰堂

平等院鳳凰堂すっぽり覆う　丸太５千本、工事木組み完成

【動画】修理中の平等院鳳凰堂が木組みで覆われる＝長野真撮影

修理のため、丸太の木組みで覆われた平等院鳳凰堂＝２５日午前、京都府宇治市、朝日新聞社ヘリから、筋野健太撮影

　６０年ぶりの大規模修理中の世界遺産・平等院鳳凰（ほうおう）堂（京都府宇治市）が２５日、工事用の木組み（高さ１７．５メートル、幅５５メートル、奥行き４２メートル）ですっぽり覆われた。約５千本の丸太が針金で固定されており、壮大な工事風景となっている。
　鳳凰堂（国宝）は、本尊を安置する中堂や翼廊の傷みが進んだため、瓦のふき替えや柱の塗り直しをすることになり、９月から準備工事を進めていた。２６日から１１月上旬にかけ、全体をシートで覆い、本格的な修理作業に入る。工期は２０１４年３月まで。（土岐直彦）

日报, 地图人生

2004 年出版1万日元上的凤凰象有什么故事呢？在日本的平等院设有一个凤凰堂，内置奉五十一尊菩萨象，分成三堂。中堂供奉阿弥陀如来象、而中堂脊沿上就置放了两 尊展翅高飞的金铜制凤凰象。没错！此金铜凤凰象乃是钞票背面上的凤凰象。这寺院是日本建筑史上最杰出的建筑物之一。

平等院
鳳凰堂（国宝）
所在地	京都府宇治市宇治蓮華116
位置	北緯34度53分21.45秒 東経135度48分27.69秒
山号	朝日山
宗派	単立
本尊	阿弥陀如来
創建年	永承7年（1052年）
開基	藤原頼通、明尊（開山）
文化財	鳳凰堂、阿弥陀如来坐像ほか（国宝） 世界遺産

Shigeru Yoshida 吉田 茂 Ken WatanabeＮＨＫテレビ・ドラマ「負けて、勝つ 〜戦後を創った男・吉田茂」より. NHK総合テレビで2012年9月8日より放送の土曜ドラマスペシャル『負けて、勝つ ~戦後を創った男・吉田 ...

Makete katsu - sengo wo tsukutta otoko Yoshida Shigeru
ＮＨＫテレビ・ドラマ「負けて、勝つ 〜戦後を創った男・吉田茂」より. NHK総合テレビで2012年9月8日より放送の土曜ドラマスペシャル『負けて、勝つ ~戦後を創った男・吉田 ...

 

中日非友亦非敵

納斯里娜·阿齊米 2012年10月09日

廣島——吉田茂(Shigeru Yoshida)這位溫文爾雅，愛抽雪茄煙的外交家，同時也是日本二戰後最傑出的首相之一，再次流行起來，這得益於在日本國家電視台播出的一部歷史電視劇，以及演員渡邊謙(Ken Watanabe)的精湛演技。

劇中有這樣一個鏡頭，吉田茂指向字母“GHQ”——駐日本盟軍總司令部(General Headquarters of the Allied Occupation of Japan)的縮寫——並把這幾個字母解讀為“快回家”(Go Home, Quickly)。

按圖放大

Horace Bristol/Corbis

日本二戰後最卓越的首相吉田茂，強調經濟發展，幫助了日本的重建。

然而，儘管希望看到外國人離開，吉田茂還是能與道格拉斯·麥克阿瑟將軍(Douglas MacArthur)以及一連串從前的敵人密切合作。“吉田主義”(Yoshida Doctrine)強調經濟增長，在國家安全上則依賴美國，為他戰敗且名譽掃地的祖國，制定了一條現實主義的路徑，並最終取得了成功。他在政界的晚輩，也 可以從他實用主義的治國之道中獲益。
近幾個月來，日本的周邊海域不斷發生領土爭端，首先是與韓國，現在則是與中國和台灣。最新一輪的中日爭端頗為嚴重，讓人不寒而慄，並且還沒有出現停止的跡象。
在日本稱為尖閣諸島，在中國則稱為釣魚島及其附屬島嶼，這些小島的所有權問題複雜，歷史和地理上的依據都並不明確。這兩個國家同處政治交接的敏感時 期，外交智慧要求雙方都保持克制。但在4月，頗具影響力的東京都知事石原慎太郎(Shintaro Ishihara)，威脅要從私人擁有者手中購買這些爭議島嶼。他的挑釁迫使通常較為慎重的首相野田佳彥(Yoshihiko Noda)採取強硬立場，宣布國家政府將購買這些島嶼。
中國各地的抗議者們走上街頭，砸搶日系品牌汽車與財產，並使得北京的日本大使館滿地狼藉。值得慶幸的是，日本人還能夠保持冷靜。然而，這兩個亞洲大 國間的關係卻受到了巨大的傷害。兩國間的貿易，在去年達到了創紀錄的3450億美元，目前也已經受到了影響。學術會議和文化交流被取消。最近，數十家日本 學校已經取消了秋季對中國的考察訪問，兩國間的旅遊業也一落千丈。
日本主要反對黨的所有五名首相候選人，重複着經常聽到的口號，他們在最近的一次電視討論中宣稱，“一個強大的日本”是他們最迫切的目標，並表示決心在日本受到威脅的情況下捍衛國家的領土完整。
日本真的“弱小”嗎？如果是真的，那麼是在哪些方面呢？當政治家們呼籲“更強大的日本”時，指的是軍事、經濟、還是國際關係？抑或這只是為了轉移對日本真正結構性問題的注意力？
許多日本民族主義者最熱衷攻擊的替罪羊是日本的憲法，特別是其中第九條，即永遠放棄以戰爭作為解決國際爭端的工具。我擔心，這一條款即將受到新一輪 的批評，即便和平在過去65年里所帶來的好處，遠遠大於其束縛。就連保守的吉田茂也會極力主張這一點。1947年，出於對共產主義蔓延的恐懼，美國的態度 出現了一次大轉變，企圖迫使日本再次武裝起來；而吉田茂則堅持憲法，讓他的國家專註於戰後重建，免於參與美國的戰爭。
此外，日本自衛隊實在難稱弱小。就軍費開支而言，日本實際上名列世界第六。儘管日本自己稱其在保護偏遠群島方面處於“弱勢”，國際法和外交手段迄今 已為該國帶來了極大好處。實際上，根據1982年的《聯合國海洋法公約》(Law of the Sea)，其專屬經濟區，即一個國家享有特殊勘探和資源權利的地區，遠遠大於中國的相應區域。
日本的弱點源自其本身，作為一個21世紀的後工業社會，它無法以夠快的步伐進行改革。太多的政客們仍舊滔滔不絕地談論富足的20世紀70和80年 代，那時“日本可以說不”。但是那個時代不會回來，日本當時面臨的挑戰也不同於當前的形勢。耀武揚威對於這個迅速老齡化的社會來說意義不大。根據近期的人 口普查，日本有大約3000萬人年齡超過65歲，占日本總人口的24%。
日本有許多十分現實的問題需要解決，包括政治領袖像走馬燈一樣換來換去、社會成本日益提高、能源問題、工作環境僵化、移民政策停滯、基礎設施老化、 農村人口減少。然而日本苛刻、等級森嚴的體製為年輕人、女性和外國人提供的機會卻少之又少，而可能幫助日本的體制改變思維方式的，恰恰就是這些人。
如果日本忘記自己的長處，也同樣相當危險。日本是一個良好運轉的民主國家，有着和諧的社會和強有力的職業道德，更在科學與技術領域取得了巨大成就。2011年日本遭遇地震和海嘯後得到了一致的聲援，這充分證明了日本的國際地位。
中國政府取消了紀念中日邦交正常化40周年的活動，此舉十分令人遺憾。確定兩國之間的關係，讓這兩個國家既存在隔閡又相互聯繫的，不僅僅是過去一個 世紀的慘痛歷史，更不是最近的領土爭端。從7世紀早期採納中國的漢字、佛教和治國之道，到中日兩國1894年爆發戰爭的將近1300年時間裡，這兩個鄰國 一直能融洽相處，相得益彰。兩國可能很快就會恢復這種狀態，我們不能放棄這種希望。
如果吉田茂還活着，肯定會建議，中國和日本不需要相親相愛，只需要為了雙方的共同利益高效合作就夠了。

納斯里娜·阿齊米(Nassrine Azimi)是日本廣島聯合國訓練研究所(United Nations Institute for Training and Research)的高級顧問。
翻譯：林蒙克、王童鶴

Shigeru Yoshida (吉田 茂 Yoshida Shigeru^?) (22 September 1878 – 20 October 1967) was a Japanese diplomat and politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1946 to 1947 and from 1948 to 1954.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Prime ministership 3 Policies 4 Later years 5 Honours 6 Selected works 7 Notes 8 References 8.1 Further reading 9 External links

Early life

Yoshida was born in Yokosuka near Tokyo and educated at Tokyo Imperial University. He entered Japan's diplomatic corps in 1906 just after Japan's victory against Russia in the Russo-Japanese War. He was Japan's ambassador to Italy and the United Kingdom during the 1930s and finally retired from his last appointment as ambassador to London in 1938. Throughout the 1930s and before the war ended in the 1940s, Yoshida continued to participate in Japan's imperialist movement. After several months' imprisonment in 1945, he became one of Japan's key postwar leaders.

Prime ministership

Yoshida became the 45th prime minister on 22 May 1946. His pro-American and pro-British ideals and his knowledge of Western societies, gained through education and political work abroad are what made him the perfect candidate in the eyes of the postwar Allied occupation. He is de facto the last prime minister of the Empire of Japan, before it was abolished following the signing of the constitution.
After being replaced with Tetsu Katayama on 24 May 1947, he returned to the post as the 48th prime minister on 15 October 1948.

Policies

Yoshida's policies, emphasizing Japan's economic recovery and a reliance on United States military protection at the expense of independence in foreign affairs, became known as the Yoshida Doctrine and shaped Japanese foreign policy during the Cold War era and beyond.^[1]
Under Yoshida's leadership, Japan began to rebuild its lost industrial infrastructure and placed a premium on unrestrained economic growth. Many of these concepts still impact Japan's political and economic policies. However, since the 1970s environmental movement, the bursting of Japan's economic bubble, and the end of the Cold War, Japan has been struggling to redefine its national goals. His administration openly encouraged a "3-S" policy—sports, screen, and sex, a change from the strict pre-war censorship of materials labeled obscene or immoral.
He was retained in three succeeding elections (49th: 16 February 1949; 50th: 30 October 1952; and 51st: 21 May 1953). Power slipped away as he was ousted on 10 December 1954, when he was replaced by Ichirō Hatoyama.
Yoshida retired from the Diet of Japan in 1963.

Later years

In 1967, Yoshida was baptized on his deathbed after hiding his Catholicism throughout most of his life. His funeral was held in St. Mary's Cathedral, Tokyo.
Yoshida's grandchildren are Princess Tomohito of Mikasa and Tarō Asō, a Japanese politician who served as the 92nd Prime Minister of Japan from 2008 to 2009.

Honours

From the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia

• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum (29 April 1964)
• Collar of the Order of the Chrysanthemum (20 October 1967; posthumous)

Selected works

Yoshida's published writings encompass 159 works in 307 publications in 6 languages; His work can be found in the collections of 5,754 libraries worldwide (as of 5 June 2001).^[2]
The most widely held works by Yoshida include:

This is an incomplete list, which may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

• The Yoshida Memoirs: the Story of Japan in Crisis; 15 editions published between 1957 and 1983 in English and Japanese and held by 875 libraries worldwide.^[2]
• Japan's Decisive Century, 1867–1967; 1 edition published in 1967 in English and held by 650 libraries worldwide.^[2]
• Yoshida Shigeru: Last Meiji Man; 2 editions published in 2007 in English and held by 286 libraries worldwide.^[2]
• 日本を決定した百年; 7 editions published between 1967 and 2006 in 3 languages and held by 46 libraries worldwide.^[2]
• 大磯隨想; 5 editions published between 1962 and 1991 in Japanese and held by 34 libraries worldwide.^[2]
• 吉田茂書翰; 2 editions published in 1994 in Japanese and held by 31 libraries worldwide.^[2]
• 世界と日本; 3 editions published between 1963 and 1992 in Japanese and held by 26 libraries worldwide.^[2]
• Japan im Wiederaufstieg; die Yoshida Memoiren (German); 1 edition published in 1963 in German and held by 9 libraries worldwide.^[2]

Notes