Japan's military may cancel its largest annual naval exercise for the first time in half a century because of soaring energy prices, an official said yesterday.
The Maritime Self-Defense Force's maneuvers — with 90 warships and 170 jets — has not been called off since it started in 1954, even during the oil crisis of the 1970s.
This year’s drill was planned for November, although official dates had not been announced.
“In order to secure enough fuel for emergency relief activities, we’ve cut down on the scope of our exercises, but there is a limit,” a Maritime Self-Defense Force official said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.
“Now we are considering canceling the upcoming large-scale naval drill, which would consume large amounts of fuel,” the official said.
In a bid to offset the impact of the rise on the economy, the Japanese government announced on Tuesday it would provide ¥74.5 billion (US$690 million) in emergency aid to the ailing fishing industry, after Japanese fishermen staged their largest-ever national strike this month.
Higher fuel prices have also affected the emperor’s official duties, and summer holiday plans for many Japanese.
When Emperor Akihito attends an annual sea convention in northern Niigata in September, there will be no sea parade, Niigata spokesman Minoru Natsukawa said.
Many Japanese are planning to stay home to minimize gasoline use, a survey released yesterday by the private think tank Dentsu Research Inc showed.
In the sweltering streets of Jakarta, buskers carry towering, hollow puppets and pass around a bucket for donations. Now, they fear becoming outlaws. City authorities said they would crack down on use of the sacred ondel-ondel puppets, which can stand as tall as a truck, and they are drafting legislation to remove what they view as a street nuisance. Performances featuring the puppets — originally used by Jakarta’s Betawi people to ward off evil spirits — would be allowed only at set events. The ban could leave many ondel-ondel buskers in Jakarta jobless. “I am confused and anxious. I fear getting raided or even
Eleven people, including a former minister, were arrested in Serbia on Friday over a train station disaster in which 16 people died. The concrete canopy of the newly renovated station in the northern city of Novi Sad collapsed on Nov. 1, 2024 in a disaster widely blamed on corruption and poor oversight. It sparked a wave of student-led protests and led to the resignation of then-Serbian prime minister Milos Vucevic and the fall of his government. The public prosecutor’s office in Novi Sad opened an investigation into the accident and deaths. In February, the public prosecutor’s office for organized crime opened another probe into
RISING RACISM: A Japanese group called on China to assure safety in the country, while the Chinese embassy in Tokyo urged action against a ‘surge in xenophobia’ A Japanese woman living in China was attacked and injured by a man in a subway station in Suzhou, China, Japanese media said, hours after two Chinese men were seriously injured in violence in Tokyo. The attacks on Thursday raised concern about xenophobic sentiment in China and Japan that have been blamed for assaults in both countries. It was the third attack involving Japanese living in China since last year. In the two previous cases in China, Chinese authorities have insisted they were isolated incidents. Japanese broadcaster NHK did not identify the woman injured in Suzhou by name, but, citing the Japanese
RESTRUCTURE: Myanmar’s military has ended emergency rule and announced plans for elections in December, but critics said the move aims to entrench junta control Myanmar’s military government announced on Thursday that it was ending the state of emergency declared after it seized power in 2021 and would restructure administrative bodies to prepare for the new election at the end of the year. However, the polls planned for an unspecified date in December face serious obstacles, including a civil war raging over most of the country and pledges by opponents of the military rule to derail the election because they believe it can be neither free nor fair. Under the restructuring, Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is giving up two posts, but would stay at the
RSS