Mar. 15, 6pm The Latest NEWS

Sunday March 15, this is the the Asahi Shimbun Asia and Japan Watch news briefing.

Japan meant to hold Sakura Viewing event from April 9.

Osaka A Popular Springtime event returns to the Japan Mint Enquete Award here, which

will hold its annual Cherry Blossom Viewing event for 7 days from April 9 to 15.

Researchers can view 331 cherry trees of 140 varieties lining a 560-meter-long pathway

on the grounds, the Japan Mint announced on March 10.

This year, attendance is expected to reach a maximum of about 306,000 people.

The grounds will be open between 10am and 715pm on weekdays and from 9am through 715pm

on Saturday and Sunday.

This reservations are required and will be accepted starting at 9am on March 18 via the dedicated

website, https-colon-slash-slash-sakura-osaka.ment.go.jp-slash.

Reservations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis for each day and time-slot.

Tokyo Campus Building honored for its history of war and peace.

While packing a pedestal for anti-aircraft weaponry on its roof, a history-laden building

on a university campus in Tokyo has been recognized and registered as a national tangible

cultural property.

The main building of International Christian University, ICU, in Mitaka and Western Tokyo

has long been used as a core educational facility for students.

During World War II, it belonged to the famed Nakajima Aircraft Company, a military aircraft

manufacturer.

The recent designation likely took into account not only the structure's classic external

appearance but also that a military industry establishment had been revived as a university

property that places emphasis on peace and reconciliation.

Heavy Machine Gun Pedestals Unroof

While the main building of ICU is today utilized by students and teachers for classes, and

1.7 meter square concrete stand remains on its rooftop that is normally off limits to

the public.

Masahisa de Kainagi, an educator at International Christian University High School, who research

as the history of the area around ICU, said that the pedestal had reportedly been installed

for a heavy anti-aircraft machine gun to guard against a U.S. air raid during a Pacific

war.

The current side of the ICU campus was formerly home to the Mitaka Research Center of Nakajima

Aircraft, which was once considered a top manufacturer of military planes alongside Mitsubishi

Heavy Industries Limited.

Next to the college today is the Tokyo Office of Subaru Corporation, since the automaker

has its roots in Nakajima Aircraft.

The university's main building formerly served specifically as the design headquarters

of Nakajima Aircraft.

The engine of the Long Range Bugaku Heavy Bomber Plan for attacks on the U.S. mainland,

as well as the Tsurugi Aircraft intended for Kamikaze missions, were developed in particular

there.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the research lab took place on December 8, 1941.

Japan time coincidentally, the same day as the Pearl Harbor attack launched by the Imperial

Japanese Navy.

The reinforced concrete building with three floors above ground and one below is said to

have eventually been completed in the spring of 1944, because its construction was delayed

by a severe wartime material shortage.

Don Quixote Store targeting foreign tourists opens in heart of Kyoto.

Kyoto setting its sights on the wallets and pocketbooks of travelers from outside Japan,

the discount shop chain Don Quixote opened a new outlet in the ancient capital here.

The Don Quixote Shihodori Store began operations in Kyoto's Shimoji Award on February 10.

According to the chain operator, the newly introduced outlet is the third specializing

in inbound tourists, following its counterparts in Tokyo and Okinawa and the first in the

Kansai region.

The Shihodori Store aims to not only meet the demand for souvenirs among sightseers on

their way home but also boost overall tourist spending in their visits to Japan.

The area around the Don Quixote Store is famed as an outstanding shopping district for tourists,

drawing hordes of visitors from abroad.

As another Don Quixote outlet, located about a 10 minute walk away, failed to meet the

demands of the rapid increase in overseas travelers to Japan, the Shihodori outlet was

established there.

The Don Quixote Shihodori Store boasts three stories above ground and in a basement.

Its sales space totals 610 square meters.

Offering as many as 11,000 goods, the outlet is targeting 396,000 customers annually.

The new establishment is open until 1am, making it easier for travelers to drop and even

after a day of sightseeing.

Staff members fluent in many languages, including English and Chinese, are on hand.

Tsusumo Abina, manager of the Kansai E3 branch of Pan Pacific International Holdings Corporation,

the Tokyo Headquartered Operator of Don Quixote, noticed that overseas tourists typically

stay in Kyoto longer, while visitors from elsewhere in Japan prefer shorter trips of

just one or two nights.

Our hope is that customers will not only visit our store to pick up some souvenirs at the

end of their trips but come to our location and enjoy shopping during their travels,

Abina said.

One approach to accomplishing the ultimate goal is the development of the Kiyokaya private

fruit brand particularly for the Shihodori outlet.

More than 10 varieties of fruit are available under the brand on skewers and in cups.

Fruits from Japan, like the Amelstra Berry and the Shine Muscat, are extremely popular among

foreign visitors to Japan, Abina said.

He explained that a shop in the neighborhood of the Don Quixote Shihodori store used

to offer onigiri rice balls and sasa-zushi traditional sushi.

Sales of these products were reportedly sluggish, likely as consumers did not desire

to buy them at Don Quixote.

Taking the outcome into account, Don Quixote embarked on the creation of a new brand.

Item sold under Kiyokaya are supposed to be consumed at hotel guest rooms and other

such settings.

Late-sized pieces of fruit are drizzled with melted sugar candy chocolate, mascarpone

and the like, so that they can be served on skewers or in cups for visually striking photosuitable

for social media.

Ministry guidelines seek equal waiting times for toilets.

Relief may finally be on the way for women forced to stand in long lines waiting for

a toilet stall.

The transport ministry on March 13 for the first time compiled guidelines on the number

of toilets at train stations and commercial facilities used by large numbers of people.

One item called for a greater number of toilets for women at facilities where gender

use was about equal.

The document called on operating companies to make the effort so that the waiting time

for toilet use was equal between men and women.

The guideline draft pointed out that at many facilities there were fewer toilets for women

and that there was an increasing gap between the number of toilets and users, given that

more women now work and use public restrooms more often.

The document also touched upon events how that stadiums, arenas and theaters where there

may be large changes in the gender ratio of visitors depending on the event.

It called for greater flexibility from the installation stage by, for example, making

possible the moving of partitions that divide the restrooms for the two sexes or allowing

for a switch in which restrooms are used by men and women.

Having large differences in use depending on the floor of a commercial complex, the

guidelines called for digital signage to allow customers to quickly determine the location

of vacant toilets.

Jumko Kobayashi, an honorary chairperson of the Japan Toilet Association who was involved

in compiling the guidelines, said, by collecting a large amount of data, we were able to get

a clearer picture of the waiting time for toilet use.

Another individual who welcomed the clear call for equality in toilet waiting times was

Minami Momos, 61, who has made it her mission to count the number of toilets and urinals

at various facilities around Japan.

Since starting her study in 2022, Momos has looked into toilets at 1,261 locations and

found there were 1.69 toilets and urinals for men for every one toilet for women.

There were only 89 locations where toilets for women outnumbered those for men.

For many years, most women became resigned to having to wait in line for a toilet, but

I hope these guidelines will lead to the installation of toilets that take into consideration the

waiting times, Momos said.

LDP turns to its numbers to rush budget through lower house.

The ruling liberal democratic party used its overwhelming majority to pass the fiscal

2026 budget through the lower house on March 13 on an expedited timetable.

Which came after only about 59 hours of deliberations in that chamber.

In past years, lower house deliberations usually took about 80 hours.

While Prime Minister Sun Aitikai Chi is still insisting on passing the budget through

the diet by the end of this month, the upper house presents a greater obstacle as the coalition

of the LDP and Nippon Ishin.

Japan Innovation Party is foreseed short of a majority.

The Opposition Democratic Party for the People signed an agreement with the LDP laid

in 2025 seeking budget approval by the end of the current fiscal year at the end of March.

But the strong armed tactics used in ramrouting the budget in the lower house have left DPP

lawmakers less conciliatory about quick passage in the upper house.

Budget deliberations began about a month later than usual because Takaichi dissolved

the lower house and held a snap election in which our LDP won a supermajority.

In addition to the small number of deliberation hours, no subcommittee sessions were held to

debate budget themes related to separate ministries.

The last time no such sessions were held was 37 years ago.

The LDP and Opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan agreed on March 13 to begin

upper house deliberations on the budget from March 16.

The CDP upper house diet affairs committee Chairman Yoshitaka Sido told reporters that the

agreement included the understanding that more thorough deliberations would be held

in that chamber.

Chihiro Okawa, a political science professor at Kanagawa University, said using its large

number of lower house seats in administration management posed a risk to the government.

A stance of skipping debate in the diet could rattle sound democracy, he said.

He also noted that her cabinet ministers often spoke on her behalf during diet deliberations

in the lower house budget committee.

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