A number of blunders were recently found in the government’s Japanese translation of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) documents. Shinzo Abe’s administration and ruling parties wish to search for an early solution to the problem by submitting a list of mistranslations for the TPP documents to the Diet so that the deliberation can be resumed to gain the Diet approval for the TPP free trade pact as early as possible. Meanwhile, opposite parties urge that deliberations at the latest ordinary session of the Diet on the basis of the mistranslated text of TPP agreement should be regarded invalid. They demand that the TPP free trade pact and related bills should be submitted … Continue reading →

In shady transactions of intentionally mispriced rice imported under the state-controlled “simultaneous buy and sell” (SBS) system, it was revealed on September 22, one of rice wholesalers in western Japan had been paid by trading houses a maximum of around 60 yen per kilogram of rice under the context of what they call “adjustment money.” The amount of the “adjustment money” is converted to some 3600 yen per “hyo,” 60-kilogram sack of rice. With the “adjustment money” paid by trading firms, the wholesaler sold the SBS imported rice to users of the food service industry at prices lower than successful bid prices announced by the Government. The shady deals of … Continue reading →