More than 60% of major new entrants to the electric power industry object to the government’s plan for them to…
TOKYO —
More than 60% of major new entrants to the electric power industry object to the government’s plan for them to shoulder some of the compensation costs stemming from the Fukushima nuclear crisis, a Kyodo News survey shows.
Of the 44 utilities surveyed, 29 said the plan by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry could have a negative impact on their businesses or prevent liberalization of the retail electricity market.
Last April, Japan freed up the retail electricity market, ending the decades-long monopoly of Japanese regional power companies. The new entrants are those that joined the industry after the liberalization of the market and are expected to promote competition, paving the way for lower electricity bills and new services.
But the ministry decided in November last year on a plan to let the utilities share the burden of the aftermath of the nuclear crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, devastated by meltdowns triggered by the 2011 earthquake-tsunami disaster.
Meanwhile, 70% of the new entrants said they were able to win customers as planned or even more. The survey shows that while the liberalization of the market has proceeded relatively smoothly, systematic problems remain.
A total of 266 companies were registered as new electricity retailers as of March last year. The newcomers include gas suppliers such as Tokyo Gas Co and Osaka Gas Co, major oil refiner JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp, telecommunications service provider KDDI Corp and railway company Tokyu Corp.
Kyodo News sent questionnaires to 50 major new retailers of which 44 responded.
About the ministry’s plan, 13 retailers said that it will have negative effects on their business, while 16 said the plan will have certain effect on the business. Only one company said that it did not expect any effects.
The ministry has deemed users should shoulder their share of the burden as they have widely benefitted from nuclear power before the crisis but 18 companies said they did not agree with the ministry.
A total of 30 companies said that the number of customers they have acquired so far reached or topped initial goals while 11 said that they were not able to win customers as expected.
The survey found that 41 companies were satisfied that they had entered the electricity retail market because they were able to connect well with customers which contributed not only in boosting profitability but also in enhancing the recognition of the companies. No company said it regretted entering the market.
On future management, 18 said they will expand their business operations while 8 companies said they will maintain the status quo. No companies said they will pull out of the market or consider scaling down operations.
Meanwhile, Japan’s energy sector saw more deregulation with the city gas market freed up Saturday, allowing major utilities to enter the market and enhance competition with gas company rivals in the industry.
Utilities including Chubu Electric Power Co and Kansai Electric Power Co have launched special websites introducing their lower gas price plans.
But compared with the liberalization of the retail electricity market, the gas retail market has attracted fewer entrants.
© KYODO

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Haruki Murakami, the Japanese author perennially pegged as a contender for the Nobel literature prize, has called for a fight…
TOKYO —
Haruki Murakami, the Japanese author perennially pegged as a contender for the Nobel literature prize, has called for a fight against historical revisionism in a rare interview with Japanese media published on Sunday.
His comments came after a successful Japanese hotel chain operator triggered an angry backlash from China earlier this year for his book claiming the 1937 Nanjing massacre committed by Japanese troops a “fabrication”.
Critics say that revisionists have grown bolder under nationalist Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who says Japan must shake off past constraints, including altering its war-renouncing constitution imposed by American occupiers after World War II.
Toshio Motoya not only penned a book calling the Nanjing massacre a lie but proudly displays it in guest rooms of his nationwide chain of APA hotels.
China says 300,000 people died in a six-week spree of killing, rape and destruction by the Japanese military that began in December 1937.
Some respected academics estimate a lower number of victims, but mainstream scholarship does not question that the incident, known as the “Rape of Nanking,” took place.
Published in February, Murakami’s latest book “Killing Commendatore” references the Holocaust and the Nanjing massacre.
Asked about why he addressed the issues, he told the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper: “Because history is the collective memory of a nation, I think it is a grave mistake to forget about the past or to replace memory with something else.”
“We must fight” against historical revisionism, he added.
“Novelists are limited in what we can do, but it is possible for us to fight such forces in the form of storytelling.”
Murakami has often criticised his country for shirking responsibility for its World War II aggression.
In 2015, he said Japan must repeatedly say sorry to China, Korea and the other countries it invaded in the 20th century until its former victims have heard the apology enough.
Murakami became a global sensation with the publication of “Norwegian Wood” in 1987 and has written several bestsellers including “1Q84” and “Kafka on the Shore”.
© 2017 AFP

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Japanese carmaker Subaru celebrated its new company name at its factory in Gunma Prefecture, eastern Japan, on Sunday.
Japanese carmaker Subaru celebrated its new company name at its factory in Gunma Prefecture, eastern Japan, on Sunday.
Fuji Heavy Industries decided on the change at a shareholders’ meeting last June with the aim of enhancing its brand value.
The company name was officially changed on Saturday to Subaru, the name of the cars it makes.
A plate bearing the company’s new name was unveiled at Sunday’s ceremony, which was held at the firm’s only domestic plant.
富士重工業は４月１日、社名を「ＳＵＢＡＲＵ（スバル）」に変更する。創業１００周年を機に国内外で親しみのある自動車名に統一し、ブランド力の向上を図る。吉永泰之（よしなが・やすゆき）社長は３１日に東京都内の本社で開いた式典で、約６００人の従業員を前に「社名変更は新たなステップを始める決意表明だ」と強調した。

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The Japanese government and private-sector firms have developed a system using the Suica smart card to make it easier for visitors to Japan to check in hotels and purchase tax-free goods.
The Japanese government and private-sector firms have developed a system using the Suica smart card to make it easier for visitors to Japan to check in hotels and purchase tax-free goods.
The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry hopes to put the system it developed with NEC Corp. and others into practical use ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, officials said.
According to the ministry, foreign visitors with East Japan Railway Co.’s Suica cards can check in hotels and shop at tax-free stores without presenting passports, if they register their individual data, such as names, nationalities and passport numbers, with the system through smartphones and link the data with their cards’ identification numbers.

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Thousands of people are enjoying the cherry blossoms in Tokyo as weather officials in the capital announced on Sunday they are in full bloom.
Thousands of people are enjoying the cherry blossoms in Tokyo as weather officials in the capital announced on Sunday they are in full bloom.
The announcement came after meteorologists confirmed more than 80 percent of flowers at the standard tree in Yasukuni Shrine are blossoming.
Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden is a popular site for cherry-blossom viewing. It boasts more than 1,000 of the trees.
東京では、全国で最も早くソメイヨシノが満開となりましたが、各地で大気が不安定な状態が続いています。

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Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday it is working to sign an agreement with Japan governing scientific research in disputed waters…
TAIPEI —
Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday it is working to sign an agreement with Japan governing scientific research in disputed waters of the East China Sea.
In a statement, the ministry said Taiwan and Japan agreed last year to establish a working group to discuss scientific research in overlapping exclusive economic zones.
Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry was responding to a report published Sunday by the Sankei Shimbun, a right-wing Japanese daily, quoting the Japan Coast Guard as saying that last year, Taiwan conducted the most unauthorized maritime research activities in Japan’s EEZ in a decade.
The newspaper also pointedly noted that the “unauthorized activities” took place particularly in waters surrounding Yonaguni Island in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture, as well as the Senkaku Islands which Taiwan and China both claim. The Senkakus are known as the Tiaoyutai in Taiwan and the Diaoyu in China.
The ministry said the government of Taiwan asserts the right to conduct scientific research in what it considers its EEZ.
But it further noted that Taiwanese and Japanese officials met in Tokyo last Oct. 31 to discuss establishing a mechanism for maritime cooperation.
It is meant to address maritime problems that have developed over the years between Taiwan and Japan, and to cover issues including emergency rescue, scientific research and fishing near Okinotori, which Japan regards as its southernmost territory.
“We hope both sides can reach a reasonable arrangement that both sides find acceptable,” the ministry statement said.
At the Oct. 31 meeting, the two sides agreed to meet at least once a year and to establish two working groups—one on fishery cooperation and another regarding cooperation in scientific research.
A diplomatic insider told Kyodo News that the two working groups had been established and negotiations are on-going. The official also said hopefully the first official meeting of the two working groups will be held as soon as possible because the fishing season has already begun.
In April 2013, Taiwan and Japan did sign a fisheries agreement to address a decades-long dispute over fishing in contested waters in the East China Sea.
Under it, Taiwanese fishing trawlers are allowed to operate in what Japan regards as its EEZ near the Senkaku Islands, but the pact does not include what Japan claims as its 12-nautical-mile territorial waters around the contested islands.
As the 2013 deal addresses only the issue of fishing off the Senkakus, other maritime matters are to be dealt with under the dialogue mechanism for cooperation.
© KYODO

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