Japan seeks delay to adjust to Europe's Iran sanctions
News On Japan via Wall Street Journal -- Jun 14
Japan, looking to secure a steady energy supply, is pressing the European Union to loosen pending sanctions that would prohibit European firms from insuring its imports of Iranian oil, according to people familiar with the effort.
After significant reductions of purchases, Japan still gets about 3% of its crude from Iran, and 90% of such tanker voyages are reinsured by companies based in the EU.
Those insurance contracts come to a halt on July 1, when EU sanctions go into effect prohibiting EU-based companies from insuring or reinsuring ships carrying Iranian oil. The sanctions also include a ban on imports of Iranian oil to Europe.
Though the Japanese government has introduced legislation that would allow it to cover tankers carrying Iranian crude in the case of an accident, Japanese officials said such a law probably wouldn't be passed in time to come into effect by July 1.
|
May 19
| Japan's child kidnapping problem |
|  Dozens of American children are abducted to Japan every year-not by strangers, but by parents after messy divorces. (thedailybeast.com  ) |
|
May 18
| China cracks down on over-the-top anti-Japan dramas |
|  China's television regulator has ordered a crackdown on dramas about the country's battles with Japan during and before World War Two and demanded they be more serious, state media said on Friday, following viewer complaints about ludicrous storylines. (Reuters ) |
|
May 17
| Man kills 3 family members, then himself |
|  Police said Friday they have found four dead bodies in an apartment in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, in what is believed to have been a family murder-suicide. (Japan Today ) |
|
May 17
| Chinese tourists a bane for Japanese hookers |
|  Shukan Post (May 24) conveys the difficulties experienced by other parts of the adult-entertainment biz in servicing customers from the communist nation.
A deri heru (“delivery health”) call-girl tells the tabloid that she is often requested to arrive at major hotels in the Shinjuku and Ikebukuro entertainment areas of Tokyo by Chinese visitors. (Tokyo Reporter) |
|
May 17
| 6 dead in freighter fire at Wakkanai |
|  Six sailors were found dead after a fire on a foreign freighter docked at a port in Hokkaido, northern Japan.
The sailors are presumed to be Russians. (NHK ) |
A 5-year-old boy sustained an injury at a shopping mall in Nagoya on Friday after his hand became trapped in an escalator. (Japan Today 
A 24-year-old woman was in a serious condition Friday after being stabbed by a man whom she reported to police for stalking her in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture. (Japan Today 
A 70-year-old woman has been rescued from a toilet in which she had been waiting for help for three days, Hiroshima police said Friday. (Japan Today 
A traditional dance was performed on Friday at an ancient temple in Nikko City, northeast of Tokyo. (NHK 
A bear was shot dead after it wandered into a school in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Thursday. (Japan Today