TOKYO — Toyota Motor Corp. says it is recalling another 543,000 vehicles in the U. S. for defective front passenger air bag inflators made by Japan’s Takata Corp.
Takata is at the center of a massive recall of inflators that can explode in a crash, spewing metal shrapnel inside vehicles.
Toyota said Friday that the recall includes various models of sedans and SUVs made between 2006-2012. Among those recalled are the 2008-2009 Scion xB; 2009 and 2012 Corolla and Corolla Matrix, 2007-2009 and 2012 Toyota Yaris, 2012 4Runner and Sienna and various versions of Lexus made between 2006-2012.
Takata uses the chemical ammonium nitrate to cause a small explosion designed to inflate the air bags in a crash. At least 16 people have been killed worldwide and about 180 have been injured. Eleven of the deaths were in the U. S., the latest of which was a 50-year-old grandmother, in September .
More than 100 million vehicles involving 17 automakers have been recalled worldwide, including 69 million in the U. S. alone, underscoring the scale of the crisis. Because of the scope of the recalls, the replacements are going to take years.
Earlier in the week, Honda Motor Co.  announced the recall of 772,000 additional Honda and Acura vehicles in the U. S. for defective front passenger  seat air bag inflators  made Takata.

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Elise Hu
Renho Murata, the leader of Japan’s main opposition Democratic Party.
Bloomberg via Getty Images
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Renho Murata, the leader of Japan’s main opposition Democratic Party.
For the first time in Japanese history three women of different political persuasions are in positions that could be stepping stones to the prime minister’s office.
It’s especially notable in Japan, where women’s labor force participation remains among the lowest among developed nations, and gender roles are traditionally-defined.
« Women have not really been coached or mentored or encouraged to take on leadership roles, » Kyoto University diplomacy professor Nancy Snow explains. « Also, women aren’t allowed [culturally] to often show ambition, to sort of telegraph that.  »
Lack of childcare options in Japan — and the cultural pressure for women to take on household duties — means it’s the moms here who drop out of work.
Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada.
The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Imag
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Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada.
In official registries, married women to this day are listed, along with children, as part of a man’s household. If they’re single, part of their parents’ household.
« I think it really goes back to the social hierarchy, the way that [Japan has] been for decades, » Snow says.
Women make up 43 percent of the labor force in Japan — with more than half of them in part-time jobs. That’s far below the 57 percent of working women in the U. S. Their roles in leadership are scant.
But in the political realm, signs point to change. Tokyo is now led by its first-ever female governor — Yuriko Koike. Japan’s new defense minister, Tomomi Inada, is only the second woman to ever hold the role. And the opposition Democratic Party in Tokyo is for the first time led by a woman. She’s a former journalist named Renho Murata.
« Twenty-three years ago when I was a newscaster, » Renho tells NPR, « I interviewed an important member of the ruling party. He said to me, frankly, that he doesn’t think wives should even speak about politics.  »
More than two decades have passed since that conversation, but today women still represent fewer than 15 percent of all seats in Japan’s parliament, lower than the U. S., where women make up 20 percent of Congress. Renho says she’s hoping to use her position to help get more women elected.
« We don’t have enough women to raise their hands, » she says. When asked what led her to raise her hand, she said she wanted to make change.
« It all began for me when I was raising two children. In a society that complains about not having enough children, the government wasn’t offering any support. That made me want to become a politician, » Renho says.
She made it and was a longtime member of parliament before her party elected her its leader last summer. But cultural biases persist. Renho’s bra size was listed on her Wikipedia page. Mayor Koike was criticized during her race for wearing too much makeup. And top-down efforts to increase participation of women in higher levels of power have fallen short.
The government conceded last year that it wouldn’t reach its goal of getting women in 30 percent of management roles by 2020.
Women are so outnumbered in business that the fact they’re working at all is a story. It’s dismaying, says Nancy Snow.
« I look forward in this century, and it may take awhile, for it to be just the case that a woman is in power in government here or in industry and she just happens to be a woman, » Snow says.
For now the few women in power are proving to be rather fearless.
In a notable exchange with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last month, Renho stood up against casino legislation that was rushed through Japan’s parliament.
Facing the prime minister on the floor, Renho said, « You appear to lie as easily as you breathe.  »
Abe seemed to chuckle, but didn’t respond.
Mari Yamamoto and Jake Adelstein contributed to this story.

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(NEWSER) – U. S. salmon lovers feeling bad for those overseas infected with a pesky parasite can start worrying about themselves.
The Japanese broad tapeworm, aka  Diphyllobothrium nihonkaiense , is usually only found in fish from Asia’s Pacific coasts,  CNN  reports, but per a study in the CDC’s  Emerging Infectious Diseases  journal, wild salmon netted in Alaska were also plagued by the parasite.
Researchers now say that could mean salmon caught anywhere off North America’s Pacific coasts could be affected, though the health effects aren’t generally serious. The scientists, however, warn the problem could spread if not remedied: Because salmon is often packed and transported on ice (but not frozen), the tapeworm’s larvae may be able to survive the trip, possibly infecting consumers in Europe, New Zealand, China, and other parts of the US.
The researchers cut open 64 wild Alaskan salmon in 2013 to find the larvae (some up to 15 mm long), and gene sequencing identified it as the Japanese tapeworm. Four species are known to carry it: chum salmon, masu salmon, pink salmon, and sockeye salmon.
Per  Food Safety Magazine , infection risk is increased when consuming raw or undercooked fish. A preventive medicine professor at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine tells CNN most infected humans remain asymptomatic — some may feel slight abdominal discomfort or nausea — though there are rare cases in which the infection can turn serious. The  CDC  notes that freezing or cooking the fish will annihilate Diphyllobothrium parasites.
(A Canadian man bit into a piece of salmon and  fell into a coma .)
This story originally appeared on Newser:
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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, right, and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte walk together for their meeting at the Malacanang Palace grounds, Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017, in Manila, Philippines. Abe arrived Thursday for a two-day official visit that includes a visit to Duterte’s hometown of Davao city in southern Philippines.(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
(The Associated Press)
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, left, and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte toast during a state banquet at the Malacanang Palace Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017 in Manila, Philippines. Abe arrived Thursday for a two-day official visit that includes a visit to Duterte’s hometown of Davao city in southern Philippines.(AP Photo/Francis Malasig, Pool)
(The Associated Press)
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reviews the troops during a welcoming ceremony at the Malacanang Palace grounds, Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017, in Manila, Philippines. Abe arrived Thursday for a two-day official visit that includes a visit to President Rodrigo Duterte’s hometown of Davao city in southern Philippines. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
(The Associated Press)
MANILA, Philippines –   Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is on his way to Australia after a two-day visit to the Philippines, during which he pledged $8.7 billion worth of business opportunities and private investments along with speedboats and other counterterrorism equipment.
He left for Sydney Friday from southern Davao city, President Rodrigo Duterte’s hometown. The two leaders shared breakfast of mung soup and rice cakes in Duterte’s home.
They posed for pictures with businesspeople in a hotel and attended a ceremony to name an endangered Philippine eagle Sakura, or cherry blossom, in Abe’s honor. They ate durian fruit at the hotel’s garden as dancers performed to the beat of brass gong before sitting down for lunch.

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TOKYO —
The Nintendo Switch video game console will sell for 29,980 yen (about $260) in Japan, starting March 3, the same date as its global rollout in the U. S. and Europe. The Japanese company promises the device will be packed with fun features of all its past machines and more.
The Kyoto-based maker of Super Mario and Pokemon games announced details of the Switch’s release Friday at the Tokyo Big Sight events hall. It said the console will sell for $299.99 in the U. S. Customers in Europe would need to ask retailers there for prices.
Anticipation has been mounting. In teaser videos, Nintendo Co has shown players using a handheld whose remote controller section detaches from the left and right sides of the main part of the device’s display. Players can use the Switch as a regular handheld, put the display on a table, or use a TV screen as a monitor.
“Nintendo Switch is a brand-new kind of home gaming system that offers a wide variety of play modes,” Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima told reporters.
Nintendo needs the Switch to buttress a turnaround after the disappointing sales of the Wii U and the 3DS handheld. Nintendo has been playing catch-up after consumers dumped older machines in favor of using smartphones and personal computers to play games. The company also faces powerful rival game machine offerings from Microsoft Corp and Sony Corp.
The Switch needs to win over new, younger players, who may not be hard-core game fans and might be daunted by its hefty price tag. Many had hoped it might sell for closer to $200.
Nintendo is promising a more immersive, interactive experience with the Switch, including online playing and using the remote controller in games that don’t require players to be constantly staring at a display.
Nintendo officials demonstrated features such as using the detachable remote controllers, called “Joy-Con,” to play a gun-duel game. Motion sensors enable players to feel virtual water being poured into a virtual cup.
In another game, characters’ arms swirled out during combat when players punched the air while holding the controllers.
“It’s a totally new kind of game,” said Kouichi Kawamoto, who oversaw “1-2-Switch,” a gun-duel game that requires players to look each other in the eye. “It’s about having fun with communication.”
Nintendo said 50 software makers, including Electronic Arts and Sega, are preparing 80 games for the Switch. It also promised in-house games such as a Legend of Zelda game, which will go on sale the same date as the Switch.
The company planned a similar presentation in the U. S. later Friday. It’s also setting up places where people can try the device ahead of its launch, including cities in Europe, to woo buyers.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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With a visit to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s bedroom, having one of the world’s rarest birds named in his honour and guided by a sockless host, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had a morning to remember on Friday. Duterte, a charismatic politician known at home for his folksy charm, dropped many of the formal protocols normally associated with visits by a head of government as he took Abe on a tour of his beloved southern home city of Davao. Abe’s day began with a visit to Duterte’s “simple home” for a breakfast of sticky rice cakes and mung bean soup, a presidential aide said, with the leaders dining at a wooden table before heading for a look around Duterte’s house. “We also showed him how the president enjoys the comfort of his own bed, including his old and favourite mosquito net,” Duterte’s aide, Christopher Go, wrote on Facebook alongside a photo of the leaders smiling while standing next to the bed. The leaders later had a casual meeting at a hotel overlooking the sea, where Duterte was photographed in a checkered shirt and long pants but no socks – a familiar look for the 71-year-old who takes pride in his informal fashion style. Abe’s next activity saw him standing in front of a stuffed Philippine eagle, the national bird and one of the world’s most endangered. A ceremony saw a two-year-old eagle named Sakura after the famous Japanese cherry blossom. Abe was given a photo of the eagle, which is kept at a nearby sanctuary, as well as a fluffy toy version draped in indigenous clothing. Abe, normally blue-suited and politically conservative who nevertheless showed off his fun side last year when he ’ closing ceremony, appeared to enjoy the day. He smiled and laughed throughout the eagle ceremony, and ended his Davao trip at a Japanese-language school where he was greeted by singing and flag-waving children. Abe was the first foreign leader to visit the Philippines since Duterte took office just over six months ago. His two-day trip began on Thursday with a much more formal itinerary in the capital of Manila, where he held meetings with Duterte at the presidential palace. Abe was also the first head of government to visit Davao, the largest city in the southern Philippines that is 1,500km from Manila. Duterte, a long-time mayor of Davao before becoming president, has made developing the southern Philippines a top priority, arguing the region has been neglected by “imperial Manila”. Abe flew from Davao to Australia on Friday afternoon as part of a trip that will include Indonesia and Vietnam.

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MANILA: Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe feasted on bean soup and rice cakes at the humble home of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday, and sampled the down-to-earth living of a volatile new friend who is shaking up the status quo in Asia.
With the backdrop of family photos, cups hanging from kitchen cabinets and clusters of used beer and wine bottles, Abe ate Duterte’s favourite breakfast in Davao City and was given a tour of his creaky, two-storey house, including a bedroom featuring the mosquito net he sleeps under on most weekends.
Duterte’s simple living is part of the man-of-the-people style that endeared him to the millions of Filipino voters who in May favoured an abrasive city mayor over wealthy politicians on a largely Manila-centric ballot.
Abe’s visit comes as the Philippines edges closer to becoming a geostrategic battleground, with China offering billions in loans and investments, as Duterte opts to befriend Beijing and avoid challenging its maritime claims while ramping up hostility towards historic ally Washington.
While Japan’s allies in the West ponder how to deal with the hot-headed new leader, Abe has formed a close bond with Duterte during the four times they have met.
He is the first head of state to visit Duterte and arrived on Thursday offering a 1 trillion yen (US$8.77 billion) aid and investment package aimed at boosting the flagging infrastructure of one of the world’s fastest growing economies, in which Japan is a top investor, donor and trade partner.
The two leaders, both dressed in short-sleeve shirts, did not discuss business on Friday and were photographed mostly eating local delicacies.
Duterte’s top aide, Christopher « Bong » Go posted images of their private breakfast meeting on his Facebook page.
« We also showed him how the President enjoys the comfort of his own bed, including his old and favourite mosquito net, » Go posted.
Abe also became the owner of a Philippine eagle, named « Sakura », which is being treated at a local rehabilitation centre after being shot and wounded by hunters.
He didn’t get to meet Sakura personally, but was given a stuffed eagle toy instead, bearing a medallion engraved with « Sakura is adopted by Mr. Shinzo Abe ».

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