(LinkAsia: October 19, 2012)
Yul Kwon:
Japan and China have a big economic stake in each other. Their trading relationship is worth over $300 billion every year. But now, anti-Japan sentiment in China has driven down the sales of Japanese cars to the point that some Japanese brand names are disappearing from Chinese roads. For more on this story, here's Japanese broadcaster NHK.

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NHK World NEWSLINE
Airdate: October 16, 2012

Reporter:
Nissan Motors unveiled a new passenger car last month, developed especially for the Chinese market. Nissan is a top seller of Japanese cars in China. The price of the 1600 c.c. Runabout starts from about $11,000 - almost the same as Chinese models. Nissan kept costs down by using more locally-made parts. Nissan executives hoped the new car launch would jump-start sales in the country. But the timing couldn't have been worse. Anti-Japanese sentiment is running high. Company managers say the impact on sales has been larger than expected.

Carlos Ghosn:
This is the kind of crisis we really that we really don't like because it is completely outside the reach of the companies. You know, political situation is very emotional between the two countries, and you're caught in the middle.

Reporter:
Japanese automakers have been forced to keep a lower profile since the Senkaku issue erupted. That means less, sometimes no product promotion. This motor show held in Tianjin last month is a key event on the industry calendar. But Honda, Mitsubishi and Fuji all pulled out at the last moment. The situation is made worse by a spreading consumer boycott targeting Japanese products.

Anonymous:
Because of the Senkaku issue, I'm going to buy a German car.

Anonymous:
Given the political problems I don't think it's a good idea to buy a Japanese car now.

Reporter:
One dealer of European cars is offering what they call "a patriotic service." It's a discount offer. Customers who replace their Japanese vehicles get more than $700 off the sticker price.

Anonymous:
We offer the patriotic service to peoplereplacing Japanese cars, no matter what brand they are.

Reporter:
Declining sales are now affecting output. Toyota and Nissan scaled back local production from September through October. Some plants cut operating days or shortened operating hours. More assembly lines could follow suit. Managers of Japanese automakers say they hope the sale slump is just a 'bump in the road' for their Chinese operations. But that could all depend on an improvement in Japan-China relations and there's no sign of that happening anytime soon. Akirhiro Mikoda, NHK World, Tianjin.

Yul Kwon:
Due to poor sales, Toyota is closing its Tianjin production plant for five days next week. Toyota's sales in China fell by almost 50 percent in September.

(LinkAsia: July 13, 2012)
Yul Kwon:                                                                      
In addition to its dispute with South Korea, Japan is locked in a territorial struggle over another set of islands that it calls the Senkaku. Japan currently controls the uninhabited islands, but China and Taiwan are disputing its claim. Now the Japanese government is upping the ante. Here's Japanese broadcaster NHK with the story.

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NHK World NEWSLINE
Airdate: July 9, 2012

Reporter:
The five, uninhabited islets lie off Okinawa. The state owns one of them. It's been renting the others from a Japanese family since 2002. Now the Noda administration is considering buying them.

Osamu Fujimura, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary:
The purpose is to ensure peaceful and stable management of the islands and surrounding waters. Buying them instead of continuing the present one-year lease would help do that.

Reporter:
Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura denies the existence of a dispute over the Senkakus. He says history and international law back up Japan's claim. Fujimura adds the government will maintain tight security on the islands. He says officials are involved in a number of different negotiations.

(LinkAsia: June 29, 2012)
Yul Kwon:
It doesn't appear that tattoos on public employees are scaring away any tourists. Japan's tourism industry is experiencing a comeback this year after last year's earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters. While American and European tourists are just starting to trickle in, visitors from other Asian countries are surging, despite the strong yen and the high prices. Japanese broadcaster NHK has the story.

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NHK World NEWSLINE
Airdate: June 22, 2012

Mitsuko Nishikawa, NHK World Reporter:
One of Tokyo's most popular destinations, Asakusa, is once again enjoying a continuous flow of tourists from across the world.

Shop owner:
We see more and more foreign visitors everyday.

Mitsuko Nishikawa, NHK World Reporter:
The government's tourism organization says 669,000 travelers visited Japan in May. That's 87 percent up from last year, right after the March 11th catastrophe, and about 7 percent down from 2010.

Visitors from Asian countries, such as China, contributed dramatically to this return to pre-March 11th figures. But tourists from the United States and Europe have yet to make a comeback.

Tourists from other countries are filling their places. Tourism officials say more people from emerging economies in Southeast Asia are coming to Japan. The number of visitors from Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam hit a record high for the month of May.

Indonesian Tourists:
Yeah, today I bring my kids. I bring them to Disneyland yesterday. And maybe tomorrow we will be going to Mt. Fuji. We are ready for a vacation.

Indonesian Tour Guide:
Last year, they don't want to come to Japan because Fukushima problem. But this year, I think that Japan will be popular. And they want to visit Japan because of food and culture and people.

Mitsuko Nishikawa, NHK World Reporter:
Nowadays, yen is quite high.

Indian Tourists:
Yes, that we know. You go to have your chance when the time is right. We can't wait tomorrow.

Mitsuko Nishikawa, NHK World Reporter:
The Japanese government is aiming to attract more and more tourists from Asian emerging economies. This month, the foreign ministry launched a program to issue multiple-entry visas for Thai tourists.

Norifumi Ide, Commissioner, Japan Tourism Agency:
The recovery of tourism isn't happening that fast. The government, the private sector and municipalities have to roll up our sleeves and work closely together to attract more visitors.

Mitsuko Nishikawa, NHK World Reporter:
The strength of the yen means a trip to Japan can be expensive. But many visitors I've spoken to say cost isn't a concern. The Japanese economy still has a long way to go before it fully recovers from last year's disaster. But with the help of visitors from emerging economies, it might get back on track faster.

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Yul Kwon:
If you're thinking about visiting Japan, but still worried about radiation, Japan's tourism bureau offers a radiation map so you can check out radiation levels for yourself. It also gives you a chart showing that you'd be exposed to less radiation in Japan than in some parts of Brazil.

The Bush administration's detainee interrogation tactics are front and center in a new U.S. Senate intelligence committee report that implicates Condoleeza Rice as an early proponent of torture techniques. While Liz Cheney and other former Bush officials defend tactics such as waterboarding as a means to prevent terror, we are tracking ways in which societies elsewhere have responded to revelations of state torture.

 

Susan Benesch at the Huffington Post draws parallels with Argentina and Chile, where early attempts to forgive officials accused of torture during military regimes in the 1970s and 1980s have more recently led to criminal trials and imprisonment. Just two weeks ago, former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori received a 25 year prison sentence from Peru's Supreme Court for his role in massacres of left-wing rebels in the 1990s.

 

And at Real Clear Politics, Pierre Atlas proposes the U.S. look to the U.K. and Israel, whose judiciaries struck down the use of torture to fight perceived terror threats posed by Irish and Palestinians respectively. Meanwhile, this week's U.S. Senate intelligence report itself notes that waterboarding was previously the domain of brutal despots like Pol Pot in Cambodia.

 

Can the U.S. draw useful lessons from global responses to state torture? Or will Americans chart a new and unique path to reconciliation?