Over two-thirds of Japan’s biggest coral reef has died, according to a survey released Tuesday by the Japanese environment ministry.
The survey was conducted at 35 points along the Sekiseishoko coral reef, an area set between the remote Ishigaki and Iriomote islands, about 1,200 miles (1,900km) southwest of Tokyo.
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A Japan Times report on the survey quoted a ministry official as saying that a phenomenon called bleaching was responsible for the drastic reduction in coral, likely as a result of warming sea temperatures due to climate change.
Bleaching occurs when unusually warm water causes coral to expel the algae living in their tissues, causing the coral to turn completely white. Unless water temperatures quickly return to normal, the coral eventually dies from lack of nutrition.
2016 saw a worsening of bleaching on the reef due to ocean temperatures occurring that were one to 2ºC higher than normal between the months of June and September. Some even reached the unusually high temperature of 30ºC, the local daily reported.
According to the survey, more than 91 percent of the reef’s coral is at least partly bleached.
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This comes after scientists confirmed the largest die-off of corals ever recorded on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef last year with the worst affected area, a 700km swath of reefs in the northern region of the Great Barrier Reef, losing an average of 67 percent of its shallow-water corals over an eight month period.
As global temperatures continue to rise as a result of manmade climate change, The Reef Studies Centre warns that similar events will be the new normal, occurring every two years by the mid-2030s.

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TOKYO: Armed with fact sheets on jobs created and investments made in America, Japan aims to give Donald Trump a crash course on its contribution to the U. S. economy in hopes of persuading him that Tokyo is different from Trump’s favourite trade target, China.
Tokyo wants Trump, who will become president next week, to see the merits of global trade, rethink his threats to impose a “border tax” on imports, and to stick to international trade deals on which Japan Inc bases its investment strategies.
And while Japan’s economy still relies heavily on exports for growth, its officials also want to alter any lingering image Trump may have formed based on trade wars fought with the United States decades ago.
“Japan is preparing so that soon after the change in administration, we can … explain our points in a format persuasive to the American side,” Masahiko Shibayama, an advisor to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, told Reuters.
“Japan is a country that lives by diplomacy and trade. “
To make their case with hard numbers, Japan’s government has prepared a briefing paper its officials are using in talks with U. S. counterparts. The document, seen by Reuters, has not been released, and sources would not say if it had been shown to Trump or senior members of his team.
– 839,000 jobs created by Japanese companies jobs in the United States, second only to Britain and above the 38,000 employed by Chinese businesses.
– Japan’s shrinking share of the U. S. trade deficit to 9 percent from more than half in the early 1990s versus China’s opposite trend.
Trump last week added Toyota Motor Corp to the list of multinational corporations he’s threatened with a “big border tax” if they expand factories abroad to export into the United States.
Trump repeated that threat on Wednesday in his first news conference since winning the Nov. 8 election.
He also lumped Japan with China and Mexico as big contributors to America’s trade deficit – a perception that Japanese officials are desperate to correct.
“We need to start pointing out very clearly the difference with China,” a senior Japanese diplomat with trade negotiating experience told Reuters.
Officials in Tokyo also stressed that what Trump says before taking office next Friday and what he does after that may be different.
They also hope some members of his economic team, such as his choice for commerce secretary, billionaire investor Wilbur Ross, who has done business in Japan, will temper his harsher views on trade.
Tokyo is keen to erase any lingering legacy of U. S.-Japan trade wars fought in autos, steel and semiconductors in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Trump’s pick for U. S. trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, was deputy U. S. trade representative under Ronald Reagan and took part in some of those trade disputes.
Japanese companies, like other multinationals, are also getting into the public relations act.
Toyota’s North America Chief Executive Jim Lentz said on Monday that Toyota would invest US$10 billion in the United States over the next five years, but said the decision was not a response to Trump’s criticism of the automaker’s plans to shift some production to Mexico from Canada.
Japanese officials hope lobbying members of U. S. Congress and other politicians in regions where Japanese firms employ large numbers of Americans will help temper Trump’s policies.
On Tuesday, Toyota President Akio Toyoda met U. S. Vice President-elect Mike Pence, the former governor of Indiana, a state where – according to the fact sheet – Japanese firms employed 47,400 people as of 2014.
Still, some fear the Trump administration will have to learn the hard way by seeing the damage done to the U. S. economy from disruptions to a global supply chain.
“It may take time for them to learn the lesson and it may have to be learned the hard way,” the senior diplomat said.

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President Rodrigo Duterte and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe affirmed to pursue a peaceful resolution over the longstanding maritime dispute over the South China Sea.
“The issue of the South China Sea is linked directly to regional peace and stability and is of concern to the entire international community,” Abe said during his joint statement with Duterte in Malacañang on Wednesday.
Abe lauded Duterte’s efforts to improve the Philippines’ strained relations with China due to our maritime dispute.
“I welcome the fact that President Duterte is making efforts to improve China-Philippine relations in light of the arbitral award,” he said.
In July 2016, the Philippines won a historic decision by the international arbitral tribunal on the maritime dispute case against China.
Duterte has said he would set aside for now the ruling and would talk to China for a peaceful resolution of the dispute.
Abe said mentioned the significance of the rule of law but also cited peaceful resolution of the dispute.
“The significance of the rule of law, peaceful resolution of disputes and non-militarization has been confirmed at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)-related meeting last year. Keeping in mind this year’s Asean affiliated meetings, we affirmed the importance of these,” he said.
The Prime Minister vowed that Japan would support the Philippines in its maritime capability.
“Both countries being maritime nations, Japan will enhance support for capacity building in the field of maritime security,” he said.
“We also had a frank exchange of views on the regional landscape and agreed to elevate cooperative relations to a higher level to adress not only bilateral issues but also to work for the resolution of regional challenges,” he added.
Abe arrived in the Philippines on Thursday noon for a two-day official visit. He thanked Duterte for the “heartwarming invitation” to the country. RAM

© Source: https://globalnation.inquirer.net/151484/duterte-abe-vow-peaceful-resolution-south-china-sea-dispute
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MANILA — The first visit of a head of state during his term was a “welcome and much awaited reunion,” President Duterte said as he feted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Malacañang, barely three months after his own state visit to Tokyo.
At the state banquet for the Prime Minister on Thursday (Jan. 12), Mr. Duterte underscored the close relations between the Philippines and Japan, and said his discussions with Abe moved their countries closer to their common goals of ensuring a stable and more secure environment for their nations and their people to grow.
“Prime Minister Abe’s presence in Manila today is proof positive that Japan and the Philippines are fully committed to bring this long standing friendship and tried and tested partnership to even greater heights,” Mr. Duterte said.
They resolved to strengthen maritime and security cooperation, advance the cause of peace and development in Mindanao, intensify economic and trade cooperation, and address the illegal drugs scourge in a comprehensive manner, he noted.
The Philippines and Japan are friends that treat each other with mutual respect and trust, and share a common resolve to uphold democracy, adhere to the rule of law and the peaceful settlement of disputes, he said.
Mr. Duterte’s partner Honeylet Avancena joined the state banquet, along with Abe’s wife Akie.
Several prominent businessmen were also spotted at the affair, including Manny Pangilinan, Manny Villar, Ramon Ang, and Jaime Zobel de Ayala. SFM
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DAVAO CITY – Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived here Thursday  night for a visit.
Abe and his party arrived on board the Japanese Air force One at the Davao City International Airport around 9:45 p.m.. They were welcomed by local officials.
From the airport, Abe and his party, which included his wife, Akie, proceeded to the Marco Polo Hotel where they would spend the night.
On Friday morning, Abe would meet with President Rodrigo Duterte at the latter’s house in Doña Luisa Subdivision where they would also have breakfast, sources said.
The Japanese prime minister was expected to later meet businessmen here, visit a Japanese-language college and participate in a few more activities before flying out on Friday noon. SFM

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McDonald’s Corp. is inviting bids for a significant stake in its Japan unit, according to people familiar with the situation, days after it reached a deal to sell its China and Hong Kong franchises.
The Oak Brook, Ill.-based fast-food giant owns through subsidiaries just under 50% of the unit, which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and has a market capitalization of around $3.5 billion. McDonald’s is looking to sell up to 33% of the unit, with bids due next week, the people said. A number of private-equity firms are…

© Source: http://www.wsj.com/articles/mcdonalds-looks-to-sell-part-of-stake-in-japan-business-1484219630?mod=pls_whats_news_us_business_f
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TOKYO: A North Korean cargo vessel carrying rice sank off the west coast of Japan’s westernmost major island of Kyushu on Thursday after springing a leak, but all 26 crew members were rescued without sustaining injuries, Japan’s coastguard said.
It has not been decided how to send the crew, all of them North Koreans, to their home country, a coastguard official said, adding that they were in good condition.
Japan’s ties with North Korea have long been strained due to the abduction of Japanese citizens by North Korean agents decades ago and Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear programmes.
The Japanese coastguard is treating the incident as a straightforward shipwreck case and there were no signs of abnormalities, the official said.
The cargo ship was carrying 5,720 tonnes of rice from North Korea’s west coast city of Nampo to Wonsan on the east coast, the Japanese coastguard said.

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