Two New Translations

I started this translation before the actual election for a new PM took place, but I got distracted/it took me longer than expected. Noda ended up winning and maybe I will talk a little bit about it later. Suffice to say, no one mentioned anything at work about their being a new PM.

DPJ mainstays and young members endorse Maehara, Kaeda represents Ozawa-faction core

On the DPJ election bulletin from the 27th, the 5 announced candidates presented 20-25 names of DPJ members endorsing their candidacies.

Former foreign minister Maehara received endorsements from 24 members. Maehara's group within the DPJ, the Ryouunkai, occupied a majority of the spots. Some of the backbone and young member names that stood out are: Hosono Koji, Furukawa Motohisa, Komiyama Yoko, and Watanabe Shu.

Mabuchi Sumio (former Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation) received 20 endorsements. Mabuchi gathered 13 votes from lower house members including Taki Makoto and party members from around the Nara area. He also recieved 4 votes from members close to former representative Ozawa Ichiro, House of Concillors member Martti Turunen, and Yokomine Yoshiro.

Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry Kaeda Banri received support from 25 members close to Ozawa Ichiro after Ichiro announced his support for Kaeda on the 26th. With Ozawa's coordination of Kaeda's announcing of his candidacy, former Minister of the Environment Ozawa Sakihito, former Minister of Forestry, Agriculture and Fisheries Akamatsu Hirotaka of the ex-Socialist Party group, and former Deputy Director of the Government Secretariat Matsuno Yorihisa also lined up in support of Kaeda.

Minister of Finance Noda Yoshihiko recieved 25 votes of support from his and Prime Ministerial aide Renho's group the Kasei Group. From Naoto Kan's group, Former Minister of National Strategy Arai Satoshi, DPJ Secretary-General Okada, Vice-Chair of the Committee of Diet Strategy Nakagawa Masaharu, and members close to Chairman of Party Policy Genba Koichiro joined in support of Noda.

Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Kano Michihiko received support from 25 party members. Vice-Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Tsutsui Nobutaka and other members well acquainted with agricultural policy gathered in support of Kano. From Hatoyama's group, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation Ohata Akihiro, Budget committee of the Upper House of the Diet Maeda Takeshi from the Haneda group,and other members with long political histories supported Kano.

http://www.asahi.com/politics/update/0827/TKY201108270141.html

The next article is from today. I picked it because it was short! High school student finds a 5-inch American unexploded ordnance. Don't worry, no one was evacuated!

High School Student digs up Unexploded Ordnance in Okinawa "Is it some kind of part?"

Around 7 p.m. on August 30th next to Okinawa Prefecture, Yaese-cho's Kochinda Athletic Park, a male first year high school student (16) found a 13cm diameter, 40 cm in length unexploded ordnance and called the police emerbency tip board. Because it was liable to explode if a fuse was affixed, the Japanese Self Defense Force carried out an emergency collection of the ordnance at 9 p.m. that evening. There was no evacuation of residents and no injuries occured.

According to the prefectural police, the ordnance was a American-manufactured 5-inch shell. Half of the shell was buried. The student dug the ordnance up by hand and carried it about 15 meters away to show his friends at the nearby soccer field, then they reported it to police. The student said "I thought I had dug up some kind of part or accessory".  

http://www.asahi.com/national/update/0831/SEB201108310015.html

Proposed renewable energy and agriculture research site in Fukushima

This is an article I translated from Asahi. I am going to be not cool on my blog and start posting translations of stories I come across. These are by no means official or free of flaws.

Here is the link to the Japanese:

http://www.asahi.com/business/update/0824/TKY201108230748.html

Here is the English:

A plan to make Nishigo-mura and Shimogou-chou in southern Fukushima Prefecture into a research and development base by 20 companies including Toshiba and Panasonic in order to research fields such as renewable/green energy,  agriculture, and social welfare etc. has been made public.  The goal of this plan is to bring economic recovery to the  troubled Fukushima prefecture by introducing and supporting new businesses in the area.

Both towns are advancing the plan which uses 50-100 hectares of  government land in Nishigo-mura as the primary site. If the  no-interest loan purchase of the land is accepted maintenance work will begin within the year. Also, both towns have begun  applying for status as a "special reconstruction area" within the year.

If the area recieves that designation, it will get favorable  treatment in the form of tax reductions and relaxation of  certain regulations.The area is near the Tohoku Shirokawa Interchange, Shin-Shirokawa Shinkansen Station and has good  access to Tokyo. According to AT Kearney Consulting, who are promoting the plan, approximately 20 companies have expressed their intention to take part in the plan.

End Translation

Here is a translation of some of the stuff on the map in the article:

The area shaded in red is the proposed area.

Involved fields and companies:

自然エネルギー（東芝）

Renewable energy - Toshiba

植物工場（丸紅、スプレッド）

(I am not sure what the technical term for it is) Indoor Agriculture/Farming - Marubeni, Spread?

物流センター（国分）

Logistics/Transportation Center - Kokubu

介護、福祉、観光　（パナソニック、ニチイ学館、セントケア）

Nursing/Care, Social Welfare, Tourism - Panasonic, Nichii Gakkan,　Saint Care

都市インフラ、金融（NTT東日本、アラップ）

City Infrastructure, Finance (East Japan NTT, Arup)

設備管理

Facilities Management