Kyodo News

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Bankruptcy procedures for AUM Shinrikyo have effectively ended, but victims of the 1995 sarin gas attacks on Tokyo’s subway system and other crimes by cult members have received only 40 percent of the compensation that they should have been paid, the receiver said Nov. 26.

The victims will also receive up to 30 million yen each from the central government depending on their degree of suffering under a relief law set to take effect Dec. 18.

SAPPORO (Kyodo) — A private high school in Hokkaido has suspended 21 students from school for five days for shoplifting at duty free shops in Los Angeles International Airport on the way back from a school trip, school officials said Nov. 26.

Hokkaido Sakae High School, based in the town of Shiraoi, southern Hokkaido, took a group of second-year students including the 21 on a six-day trip from Nov. 7 and toured the Grand Canyon National Park and other sites, according to the officials.

NAGASAKI (Kyodo) — The Roman Catholic Church held its first-ever beatification ceremony in Japan on Nov. 24 for 188 people who were executed because of their religion centuries ago.

At the ceremony in Nagasaki, southwestern Japan, attended by some 30,000 people, Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins delivered blessings on behalf of Pope Benedict XVI on those killed between 1603 and 1639.

Beatification is a stage that comes before sainthood in Catholicism.

NEW YORK (Kyodo) — Nissan Motor Co. said Nov. 24 it will not take part in auto shows to be held in Detroit in January and Chicago in February.

Nissan may be trying to cut down on expenses amid the worsening business environment in the U.S. by skipping the two high-profile events, industry watchers say.

Nissan is showcasing new models of its Fairlady Z sports car and other vehicles at the Los Angeles Auto Show, which opened Nov. 19.

NEW YORK (Kyodo) — Rena ''Rusty'' Kanokogi, the highest-ranking American woman in
judo, was decorated Nov. 24 with a prestigious civilian honor bestowed by the Japanese government for her work in creating female U.S. national and Olympic judo competitions.

Kanokogi, a seventh degree black-belt often referred to as the ''mother of women's judo,'' was given the Emperor's Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette in a ceremony at the official residence of the Japanese consul general in New York, Motoatsu Sakurai.

FUKUOKA (Kyodo) — Mongolian grand champion Hakuho overpowered countryman Ama in a playoff to win his third consecutive title at the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament on Nov. 23.

Wrapping up the final tournament of the year with a bang, Hakuho expended every ounce of energy as he sent the sekiwake sprawling to the dirt with an unstoppable overarm technique at Fukuoka Kokusai Center to win his career ninth Emperor’s Cup.

FUKUOKA (Kyodo) — This year’s Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament was held without troubled grand champion Asashoryu, and injury-prone ozeki Kaio withdrew shortly after the tournament started.

Asashoryu, who returned to Japan on Nov. 5 after staying in Mongolia from Oct. 6 for treatment, submitted a doctor’s certificate Nov. 7 to the Japan Sumo Association that says his injured left elbow will require some three weeks to recover, according to sumo sources.

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Japan plans to hold a national security council meeting and issue an order on Nov. 28 to withdraw the Air Self-Defense Force from its airlift mission in Iraq by the end of the year, government sources said Nov. 22.

The pullout would mark a complete end to the Self-Defense Forces activities in Iraq, which began in 2004 in support of U.S.-led coalition forces. The ASDF continued airlift activities even after Ground Self-Defense Force troops were withdrawn in 2006.

NAGOYA (Kyodo) —  Toyota Motor Corp. will add two more days to its year-end operational suspension period at all North American factories to counteract flagging automobile sales, Toyota officials said.

In addition, it will slow down the speed of production lines at a plant in Kentucky and halve the number of the plant’s part-time workers from the current 500 by next March 31, they said.

The carmaker’s sales woes in North America are assuming greater proportion against the backdrop of the credit-market turmoil.

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Land prices declined at 85 percent of 150 survey points in major Japanese cities and leveled off at the remainder in the three months to Oct. 1, demonstrating a recession, the land ministry said Nov. 21.

None of the commercial and residential points posted any rise, said the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
The dominant land price declines reflect not only a recession but also sluggish sales of new condominiums and a land demand drop on deterioration of fund-raising conditions amid the global financial crisis, the ministry said.