月: 2021年10月

1.Japnasese cellist Ueno Michiaki has won first place in the cello division at the 75th Geneva International Music Competition. This is the first time that a Japanese person has been awarded the top prize in the category. The competition is considered a gateway to success for aspiring musicians. The 25-year-old competed with two other contestants in the category’s final round on Thursday. His performance of “Cello Concerto” by Witold Lutoslawski drew huge applause from the audience.
2.Major League Baseball two-way star Ohtani Shohei has been named Player of the Year in a vote by his peers. The Los Angeles Angels player is the first Japanese to be awarded the prize. Ohtani marked his best performance of his career this season, his fourth in the MLB. As a pitcher, he recorded nine wins and 156 strikeouts. On offense, he racked up 46 homers, 100 runs batted in and 26 stolen bases.
3.The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has wrapped up three days of meetings without Myanmar. But the crisis there continues to be a major issue for ASEAN. The top diplomat of Cambodia, next year’s chair country, indicated the solution is in the hands of the military.

1.The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has called on Myanmar to accept the group’s special envoy to mediate dialogue between the military and the pro-democracy force. ASEAN held a summit online on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Brunei and issued a chairman’s statement.
2.Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen has confirmed in a U.S. TV interview that U.S. troops have been deployed in Taiwan to train its military. CNN says the interview was conducted on Tuesday. It comes as China is ramping up military pressure over Taiwan.
3.The Bank of Japan has decided to press on with its massive monetary easing program. The decision came at a two-day policy meeting during which the Bank also scaled back its outlook for the country’s growth rate.

1.The U.S. State Department says Secretary of State Antony Blinken has talked with Sudan’s Abdalla Hamdok by phone after the prime minister was released from detention. Sudan’s military seized power and detained Hamdok and several Cabinet ministers in a coup on Monday. The coup ended a period of joint military rule with pro-democracy forces since the collapse of an autocratic government in 2019.
2.An expert committee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has voted to recommend the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for children aged five to 11.
3.Chinese authorities are stepping up measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus ahead of the Beijing Olympics that will start in 100 days. The Games will be held for 17 days from February 4 in the capital Beijing and the city of Zhangjiakou in Hebei Province. The upcoming event is the first winter Olympics to be held in China. Beijing hosted the 2008 summer Games, and is set to become the first city in history to host both summer and winter Games.

1.The eldest daughter of Japan’s Crown Prince has officially left the Imperial household, becoming a commoner. Komuro Mako and her husband spoke publicly on Tuesday after getting married. Komuro Mako said, “I have been helped, watched and supported by many people for the past thirty years. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to those who have worked with me.”
2.The Japanese government says over 70 percent of the country’s population has been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. Officials said on Tuesday that nearly 88.8 million people in Japan have received two doses. They said about 97.2 million people have received at least one vaccine shot.
3.An expert panel advising Japan’s health ministry on coronavirus measures says new cases hit their lowest level since summer of last year but urges maintaining anti-infection measures. The daily count in Tokyo has been below 30 for three straight days. The panel also said numbers of people going out at night are rising in many areas. They expressed concern that the pace of decline in new infections could slow.

1.Japan’s main ruling Liberal Democratic Party has lost one of two Upper-House by-elections. But it won the other and will retain that seat.
2.The Tokyo Metropolitan Government says it confirmed 19 new cases of the coronavirus in the capital on Sunday.
3.Russia’s first and second largest cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg will impose major restrictions on economic activities as coronavirus infections are surging again. The country’s daily count of new cases has exceeded 30,000 since mid-October, reaching a new high of about 37,000 on Saturday.

1.The Japanese government has approved a new plan to combat global warming, ahead of the forthcoming U.N. summit on climate change. The plan sets out a roadmap for the entire country. One goal is to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. A new goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 46 percent by fiscal 2030, compared to fiscal 2013. It also defines measures aimed at attaining the targets, including using renewable energy as much as possible.
2.The Japanese Cabinet has approved a basic energy plan after the first revision in three years. It calls for the share of renewable power sources to be doubled by fiscal 2030 to bring carbon output down. Solar and other renewables will be the main sources in the next mix, accounting for 36 to 38 percent of the total. Nuclear power will keep its ratio of 20 to 22 percent.
3.Western and developing nations have issued two opposing joint statements related to human rights in China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region at a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly’s human rights committee.

1.The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized booster shots of coronavirus vaccines from Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. The FDA also said on Wednesday that the booster shot can be of a different vaccine from the original inoculation.
2.Japanese pianists have been awarded the second and fourth prizes in the 18th Chopin international piano competition, one of the world’s most prestigious classical music contests. The competition is held every five years in the Polish capital, Warsaw. The auditions of the 12 finalists ended on Wednesday. The jury announced on Thursday that the first prize had been awarded to Canada’s Bruce Liu. Japan’s Sorita Kyohei and Aleander Gadjiev from Italy took the second prize. Japan’s Kobayashi Aimi and Jakub Kuszlik from Poland came in fourth.
3.North Korea’s foreign ministry has accused the United States of “abnormal reactions” to Pyongyang’s recent test-firing of a submarine-launched ballistic missile. In a comment issued through the state-run Korean Central News Agency on Thursday, a ministry spokesperson described Tuesday’s SLBM test as the country’s exercise of its right to self-defense as a sovereign state, and claimed it was not directed at any particular country or power.

1.Mount Aso in the western Japanese prefecture of Kumamoto has erupted. Authorities have raised the alert level. They are asking everyone nearby to be vigilant. Mount Aso is one of the country’s most active volcanos.
2.North Korea says it has successfully test-fired a new type of submarine-launched ballistic missile, or SLBM. Analysts say the missile could be the mini-SLBM that was recently showcased at an arms exhibition in Pyongyang.
3.The United Nations Security Council has decided to hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss North Korea’s most recent missile launch. This comes after North Korea announced that it successfully test-launched a new type of submarine-launched ballistic missile on Tuesday.

1.Japan’s government says North Korea fired two ballistic missiles on Tuesday morning. It marks the latest in a series of launches in recent months. Japan’s Defense Ministry says North Korea launched the missiles at 10:15 a.m. and 10:16 a.m. from the east side of North Korea. The ministry says both probably dropped into the Sea of Japan on the east side of the Korean Peninsula.
2.It’s a busy day for hundreds of candidates vying for seats in Japan’s Lower House. Tuesday marks the official start of the election campaign. Voters will choose their government at the end of this month. The ruling coalition wants to maintain its majority in the chamber and stay in power. But in an attempt to block it opposition parties are fielding a united candidate in many constituencies.
3.Defense officials in Japan say Chinese and Russian naval vessels have jointly passed through the Tsugaru Strait located between Japan’s main island of Honshu and Hokkaido. It is the first time that Japan’s defense ministry confirmed Chinese and Russian warships going through the strait simultaneously.

1.The Tokyo Metropolitan Government confirmed 29 new cases of the coronavirus on Monday. That is the lowest single-day figure in the capital this year. It is the first time since June 22 last year that the daily tally has dropped below 30.
2. The Japanese government says 67 percent of the country’s population have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. Government officials say nearly 85 million people have gotten two doses of the vaccines as of Monday.
3. The boyfriend of Japan’s Princess Mako is visiting her parents, Crown Prince and Princess Akishino, at the Akasaka Estate. He is set to wed Princess Mako later this month. Princess Mako is the eldest daughter of Crown Prince and Princess Akishino. She is going to marry Komuro Kei on October 26. The two were university classmates.