2005.07.04

Asia-AIDS Several nations threatened by the AIDS crisis in Asia are finding themselves even more vulnerable in the wake of last December's devastating Indian Ocean tsunami. That is the assessment from officials at the Seventh International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, underway in the port city of Kobe, Japan as we hear in this podcast report. 2005.07.04

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Japan-Reform (Kyodo) Japan's prime minister wins a key victory in his quest to privatize Japan's postal system, but at the cost of splitting his party. 2005.07.04

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Okinawa-U.S. Marine (Kyodo) Another incident involving a drunken U.S. Marine on Okinawa -- this time the jarhead in question is arrested for molesting a 10-year-old girl. 2005.07.04

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Japan-Correspondents Snubbed Japan's Trade Minister Shoichi Nakagawa was a no-show for his scheduled speech this noon at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan. Scores of scribes were kept waiting, as well as more than 100 other guests, while messages were relayed to the Club that Nakagawa was "stuck in traffic" and would arrive soon. Finally at 1 p.m., an hour after his scheduled arrival, a Club officer announced that another message had been received that the politician was still in traffic and it was suggested to cancel the lunch (by this time the audience was beyond dessert.) Government sources say Nakagawa was not mobile but rather firmly seated in Nagatacho amid the controversy over Prime Minister Koizumi's postal reform and he decided to snub the foreign media and deal with politics instead. Nakagawa is among the leaders of a rebellious faction opposing the Koizumi postal reform plan. Veteran correspondents, some of who have been in Japan for nearly a half-century, called Nakagawa's late cancellation unprecedented in the Club's 60-year history and said such a lame excuse was an insult to the foreign media. Rumors swirled among the media that Nakagawa, with a reputation for his intense nocturnal drinking, likely had a killer hangover, but then reports emerged that the minister had been spotted in the Diet in the morning looking relatively bright-eyed. Nakagawa also has a reputation, a la Makiko Tanaka, for forgetting important meetings or snubbing distinguished visitors so the insult to the correspondents is just seen as the latest in series of such gaffes by the rebellious politician. DEVELOPING... 2005.07.04

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Japan-Politics (Kyodo) Opposition gains strength in Tokyo assembly at the expense of the governing party in an election seen as a precursor of national elections next year. 2005.07.04

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