JAPAN TRIPLED DEPARTURE TAX TO FUND TOURISM BUT IS USINGMONEY ON CHERRY BLOSSOMS AND BEARS - TOKYO JAPAN

JAPAN TRIPLED DEPARTURE TAX TO FUND TOURISM BUT IS USINGMONEY ON CHERRY BLOSSOMS AND BEARS - TOKYO JAPAN  

@Jr_Paku Midin Channel

On 1 July, Japan increased its departure tax for everyone flying out of the country, raising it from 1,000 yen to 3,000 yen per departure, with the cost included in the price of the airfare. While the threefold increase applies to both foreign tourists and Japanese citizens, the government acknowledged that most of the additional revenue would be collected from overseas visitors, estimating they would contribute around 646 billion yen this year, compared to roughly 164 billion yen from Japanese citizens.

To soften the blow, the government told the public that the extra revenue would go back into travel-related initiatives, like lowering passport fees for Japanese citizens, and funding programs to combat overtourism, including the promotion of lesser-known parts of Japan.

However, it was revealed this week that the 2026 fiscal budget, which was approved in April before the higher departure tax came into effect, also allocated departure tax revenue to cover the costs of bear control and pest prevention for cherry blossom trees – measures that are largely aimed at protecting the lives and environment of people living in Japan rather than improving the experience of foreign visitors.

According to Japanese media reports, the government allocated 6.2 billion yen for bear-related countermeasures in the 2026 fiscal year, with 6 billion yen of that amount coming from departure tax revenue. A newly created 600 million-yen budget for pest control of sakura trees is reportedly being funded entirely by the departure tax.

The Environment Ministry has justified the spending, saying that foreign visitors could benefit from countermeasures against bears, and many people from abroad come to Japan specifically to see the cherry blossoms.

Bear encounters have become an increasingly serious issue in Japan, with both local residents and foreign tourists sustaining injuries from the animals, including at tourist spots. However, after news of the allocations came to light this week, questions have been raised over whether the heavy funding of bear and sakura pest control aligns with the original intention of the increased tax, which was introduced to fund tourism-related initiatives.

It’s also important to note that bear control and cherry blossom tree pest prevention measures had traditionally been funded from the government’s general budget, which draws on taxes such as income and corporate tax without being restricted to a particular use. Those defending the new funding argue that money from the general budget can now be used to cover other costs, but it’s unclear where the resulting funds will be redirected.

In light of these revelations, and amid growing concerns from the public, Japan’s Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Yasushi Kaneko, announced on Tuesday that the government would consider reviewing how the money is allocated. He said the government would examine the spending carefully and work to ensure the money is directed towards projects with greater effectiveness and without raising concerns.

With tourism-related initiatives covering such a broad spectrum of issues that affect everyday life in Japan, it’s quite possible for the government to justify any use of funds if it has the slightest connection to tourism. As the government aims to increase the number of annual foreign visitors from over 40 million in 2025 to 60 million by 2030, the revenue collected from the departure tax is set to rise with it, making responsible use of funds even more vital to ensuring that the problems of overtourism don’t get lost amid concerns over sakura pests and bears.

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JAPAN TO REUSE FUKUSHIMA CLEANUP SOIL IN MIYAGI, SAITAMA PREFECTURES - TOKYO JAPAN

JAPAN TO REUSE FUKUSHIMA CLEANUP SOIL IN MIYAGI, SAITAMA PREFECTURES - TOKYO JAPAN

@Jr_Paku Midin Channel

TOKYO

Japan's Environment Ministry says it plans to reuse soil collected in decontamination work near the disaster-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex at national government branch offices in Miyagi and Saitama prefectures.

The government has already reused the soil at 12 sites in Tokyo since July last year, including the prime minister's office and other buildings in the Kasumigaseki district. Excluding demonstration projects in Fukushima Prefecture, the expansion to the cities of Sendai and Saitama will mark the first reuse of the soil outside Tokyo.

The government aims to further expand the soil's reuse to other branch offices in Japan to reduce the total amount of soil that eventually needs to be dealt with.

As of the end of July, about 14.46 million cubic meters of removed soil and other waste had been placed at an interim storage facility near the nuclear complex.

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, hit by a powerful earthquake and tsunami in 2011, suffered fuel meltdowns at three of its nuclear reactors, releasing radiation into the atmosphere.

The government aims to recycle 75 percent of the soil with relatively low levels of radioactivity for use in public works, but the outlook for achieving that target remains uncertain, with only 2 cubic meters to be used in the two cities.

While the timing has yet to be decided, the soil will be used in plantings at a government building in Sendai's Aoba Ward, and in flower beds at a government building in Saitama's Chuo Ward.

Sendai Mayor Kazuko Kori noted at a press conference Tuesday that as the soil is also being used at the prime minister's office, "I don't think it will be a problem."

Meanwhile, Saitama Gov Motohiro Ono and Saitama Mayor Hayato Shimizu have asked the government to disclose information such as monitoring test results and proceed only after obtaining residents' understanding.

Okuma Mayor Jun Yoshida and Futaba Mayor Shiro Izawa, whose towns host the interim storage facility, separately expressed hope that the move will contribute to progress toward final disposal outside the prefecture.

The expansion beyond Tokyo is "a new step, and I want to help people in regional areas further understand its safety," Environment Minister Hirotaka Ishihara said at a press conference.

The soil waste currently at an interim storage facility near the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant must by law be moved outside the prefecture by March 2045.

But with the search for final disposal sites making little progress, the government hopes that expanding soil reuse to regional branch offices will help win public understanding.

According to a roadmap for final disposal outside Fukushima Prefecture drawn up in August last year, the government will begin selecting candidate disposal sites around 2030 and make the selection around 2035.

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JAPAN REVEALS PLAN TO ENHANCE ENERGY SUPPLY STRUCTURE - TOKYO JAPAN

JAPAN REVEALS PLAN TO ENHANCE ENERGY SUPPLY STRUCTURE - TOKYO JAPAN

@Jr_Paku Midin Channel

TOKYO

Japan's government on Wednesday revealed a comprehensive plan to strengthen its energy supply structure, focusing on diversifying oil procurement sources and supporting pipeline construction in crude-producing nations amid the conflict in the Middle East.

The package of policies, which also seeks to promote decarbonization and enhance Japan's energy self-sufficiency through renewable and nuclear power, was presented at a government meeting on green transformation held at Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's office in Tokyo.

Takaichi said the government will confront changes in the global energy landscape head-on and "protect the lives of our people and their economic activities." The meeting was partly open to the media.

The move came after Takaichi expressed her intention in June to craft a plan for a more solid energy structure by the end of August and instructed industry minister Ryosei Akazawa, who doubles as minister in charge of green transformation, to advance preparation.

Highly reliant on Middle Eastern crude imports, Japan has taken a heavy blow from the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil-shipping route for the resource-poor Asian nation, in the wake of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran since late February.

As part of efforts to promote supply diversification, the government will introduce a system for oil wholesalers and trading firms to share the extra costs of importing crude from regions other than the Middle East, according to the new plan.

A levy collected from the wholesalers and trading companies will be used to fund subsidies for businesses that import oil that does not pass the Strait of Hormuz.

To reduce the dependence on transportation routes through the strait, Tokyo will also cooperate with Middle Eastern countries in laying pipelines via the government-backed Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security.

Among other measures specified in the plan is the stockpiling of oil-derived naphtha, commonly used as a raw material in the production of plastics, packaging materials and printing ink solvent. A shortage of naphtha has recently disrupted the business activities of many Japanese firms.

Given naphtha's high volatility and the difficulty of long-term storage, this will likely involve securing extra reserves of crude oil to be allocated for naphtha refining needs during a shortage or storing it in the form of solid petrochemical derivatives.

Although the Japanese government has said that crude oil supplies are expected to be stable for the time being, reviewing a supply chain heavily dependent on the Middle East and higher costs of alternative procurements remain key challenges.

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SPECIAL HEAVY RAIN WARNING ISSUED FOR AREAS IN ISHIKAWA, TOYAMA PREFECTURES - KANAZAWA JAPAN

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KANAZAWA

Japan's weather agency issued a special heavy rain warning on Thursday for some areas in Ishikawa and Toyama prefectures in central Japan, with roads flooded, a river in danger of overflowing and residents warned to evacuate or take immediate steps to ensure their safety amid life-threatening conditions.

The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a Level 5 warning, the highest warning for heavy rain, indicating that a disaster has likely occurred or is imminent, for municipalities including Himi in Toyama Prefecture and Hakui, Shika, Hodatsushimizu, and Nakanoto in Ishikawa Prefecture.

The residents were urged to heed local authorities' evacuation advisories and remain vigilant against landslides. Around 180,000 people in five municipalities in the two prefectures were urged to take the safety measures.

With a high possibility that Oyabe River was flooded, residents had been urged to evacuate.

Over a 24-hour period through 6 a.m. Friday, the agency is expecting up to 180 millimeters of rain in the Hokuriku region on the Sea of Japan coast, up to 150 mm for the Kanto-Koshin and Tokai regions.

Heavy rain has also hit Niigata Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo. Authorities have issued a Level 4 landslide warning for Itoigawa, cautioning residents in areas under alert to find safety in case of a possible landslide.

Earlier this month, a Level 5 warning was issued in some municipalities in Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo, due to heavy rain, which resulted in flooding, leaving 13 people dead. Cars on roads across the prefecture were subsequently immobilized by the flood, with around 2,500 vehicles abandoned at one point.

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GERMAN WOMAN RESCUED FROM MOUNT FUJI AFTER SUFFERING ALTITUDE SICKNESS SYMPTOMS, HIKING TO PEAK ANYWAY - TOKYO JAPAN

GERMAN WOMAN RESCUED FROM MOUNT FUJI AFTER SUFFERING ALTITUDE SICKNESS SYMPTOMS, HIKING TO PEAK ANYWAY - TOKYO JAPAN 

@Jr_Paku Midin Channel

TOKYO

August 20 was a bad day for good judgement on Mount Fuji. We already looked at the story of a 7-year-old Japanese boy whose dad left him to fend for himself on the side of Japan’s tallest mountain, and it turns out that on the same morning, a German woman had to be transported down from Mount Fuji by rescue workers.

The 33-year-old woman began hiking the Fujinomiya Trail on the morning of August 19, beginning at the trail’s fifth station. In the afternoon, the woman, along with a traveling companion, reached the eighth station, representing a rise in elevation from 2,400 meters to 3,250 meters. However, by this time the woman was suffering from altitude sickness symptoms, which typically include dizziness, fatigue, and nausea. After undergoing a medical examination at the eighth station’s medical center, the woman secured accommodations in a mountain hut and rested through the night.

The next morning, before dawn, the woman got back on the trail and pressed on to the summit, an ascent of a further 526 meters that, according to the official Mount Fuji climbing website, takes around two hours under ordinary conditions. She eventually made it to the peak, but she would not be able to make it home under her own power.

It’s not clear whether it started happening during her climb to the summit or on her way back down, but at some point, the woman began to once again suffer from altitude sickness symptoms. She was able to make her way back down to the eighth station, but felt so unwell that she again visited the medical center, where it was deemed too dangerous for her to continue the descent on her own. A doctor called for members of the Shizuoka Prefectural Police’s mountain rescue team, who were posted near the ninth station, to come and assist the woman, which they did by transporting her in a bulldozer back down to the fifth station, where the trail meets up with the road network, after which she was transferred into the custody of paramedics who took her to the hospital for examination and treatment.

Following the German woman’s rescue, the Shizuoka Prefectural Police issued a statement reminding hikers, and not for the first time, that if they feel any concern about their physical condition while on the trail, they should call of their ascent.

The details of the woman’s first examination at the eighth station haven’t been made publicly available at the time of this writing, so it can’t be said whether or not her pre-dawn hike to the summit on August 20 was in defiance of the medical staff’s recommendations. However, much like with the incident involving a 99-year-old Japanese woman who needed to be rescued on the mountain last month, should you suffer from injuries or symptoms that require you to rest overnight in a mountain hut, it might be best to take that as a sign that your body isn’t currently up for a hike all the way to the top of Mount Fuji, and that once you’re able to move under your own power again, down, not up, should probably be the direction you’re walking.

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FOREIGN TOURIST ATTACKED BY BEAR NEAR LAKE TOWADA IN AOMORI - AOMORI TOKYO JAPAN

FOREIGN TOURIST ATTACKED BY BEAR NEAR LAKE TOWADA IN AOMORI - AOMORI TOKYO JAPAN

@Jr_Paku Midin Channel

AOMORI

A male foreign tourist was attacked by a bear near an observation deck overlooking Lake Towada, a popular tourist spot, in the northeastern prefecture of Aomori, local authorities said Saturday.

The man, whose right arm was bitten by the bear, was airlifted to a hospital but was able to communicate, according to the city of Towada and the local fire department.

At around 10:10 a.m., the man aged around 30 was taking a walk when he encountered the bear. He fled to a nearby accommodation facility from which an emergency call was made.

It is not immediately clear how big the bear was or if there were multiple bears.

Surrounded by mountains, the lake is known for its beautiful scenery and visitors can participate in a number of outdoor activities such as hiking and canoeing.

A sharp increase in bear encounters has alarmed authorities in various parts of Japan.

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