Aegis-equipped destroyer collided with a fishing boat/2 missing
February 20, 2008
Two fishermen were missing after a Maritime Self-Defense Force Aegis-equipped destroyer collided with a fishing boat in the Pacific off Boso Peninsula in Chiba Prefecture early Tuesday morning, the MSDF and the Japan Coast Guard said.
The 7,750-ton Atago plowed into the 7.3-ton Seitoku Maru 42 kilometers south of Nojimazaki cape at about 4:10 a.m., according to the officials.
As a result of the clash, the fishing boat’s hull was broken in two, the officials said.
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda criticized poor communications within the ministry after learning that Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba did not receive an initial report on the incident until 90 minutes had elapsed.
Among the MSDF’s five Aegis-equipped destroyers, the Atago, which was commissioned in March last year, is the latest version of the destroyer equipped with the advanced radar system, according to the MSDF.
The accident was the first major collision in 20 years between an MSDF vessel and a fishing boat since the Nadashio, an MSDF submarine, hit the Fuji Maru No. 1, a leisure boat carrying anglers, off Yokosuka Port, Kanagawa Prefecture, in July 1988, killing 30 people.
According to the Third Regional Coast Guard Headquarters, aboard the fishing boat were the captain, Haruo Kichisei, 58, of Katsuura, Chiba Prefecture, and his 23-year-old son, Tetsuhiro. Both were missing after the accident, the coast guard said.
JCG officials said they received a report on the incident from the Atago at 4:23 a.m., which reportedly said the Seitoku Maru had been sundered but was still floating. MSDF officers reportedly added that they were unable to locate any of the boat’s crew. It is believed the destroyer plowed into the side of the fishing boat. Abrasions believed to have been produced at the time of the collision were visible on the right side of the Atago’s bow from a Yomiuri Shimbun helicopter.
JCG officials attached a device called an airlifter to the disparate parts of the fishing boat to stop them from sinking, before searching the two interiors for survivors–a search that proved fruitless.
At the time of the accident, there reportedly was a north-northeast wind of about 7 meters per second, waves of about 50 centimeters, and clear visibility.
According to the Kawazu branch of Shin-Katsuura fishermen’s cooperative, the Seitoku Maru set off from Kawazu Port at about 2 a.m. Tuesday with seven other vessels to fish for tuna. The vessels planned to head for waters off Hachijojima island after fishing for mackerel off Izu-Oshima island to use as bait. They were scheduled to return to the port at about 9 to 10 p.m. later the same day.
When the fishermen’s cooperative contacted the Kinpei Maru, one of the other fishing boats, crew members reportedly said they had spotted an MSDF destroyer.
The MSDF Staff Office established a committee to investigate the accident the same day. MSDF officials said the Atago was on normal night duty at the time of the incident.
Under law, to avoid collisions at sea, vessels are supposed to keep to their respective starboard sides, in principle, when cutting across each other. When planned routes mean that crossing paths is inevitable, the vessel that sees the other on its starboard side is required to change its course to avoid a clash.
However, because an operational fishing boat always takes priority, other vessels must move to accommodate the fishing boat.
It is considered highly likely the Atago bore the responsibility to change direction to avoid a collision at the time of the accident. Usually, a ship taking such action would sound its horn as a warning while steering away from the approaching vessel.
But the crew members of the seven fishing boats sailing with the Seitoku Maru said they did not hear a horn sound before the collision occurred.
The Atago, which is 165 meters long and 21 meters wide, has a crew of about 300.
After leaving the MSDF’s Maizuru base in Kyoto Prefecture on Oct. 25, the Atago arrived in waters off Hawaii on Nov. 8. After test-firing SM-2 interceptor missiles, the destroyer headed for Japan and was scheduled to arrive in Yokosuka on Tuesday.
continue from source: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080220TDY01303.htm
Honda’s ASIMO robots serve tea at the company’s headquarters.
February 12, 2008
continue from source: http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/
3 stabbed to death in Tokyo residence; boy’s arms cut off
February 12, 2008
TOKYO — Three people were found dead at a home in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward on Monday afternoon, while a 15-year-old boy found at the scene with his hands cut off at the wrist and the back of his head caved in has fallen into a coma after being rushed to a hospital, police said.
The three are believed to be Toru Sasaki, 52, his wife Kazuko, 49, and Sasaki’s mother Tokuko, 84, while the boy is Sasaki’s son, who is a first-year student in high school, police said.
All were found bleeding, and a bloodstained ax was discovered in the house, according to police.
The boy was quoted as telling the police before he lost consciousness, “My father did it to me,” while a note with blood, believed to have been written by Sasaki, was found in the house, which suggested he would commit murder-suicide.
Experts say gyoza cases exaggerated / Believe many people mistakenly attributed symptoms to food poisoning
February 12, 2008
More than 2,700 people have reported suffering health problems in the wake of a report that pesticide-contaminated gyoza produced in China had sickened 10 people in Japan, according to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.
Yet since the original 10 cases, no further examples of organophosphate poisoning have been confirmed.
Experts say mild cases of poisoning by minute traces of organic phosphorus may have been overlooked. But they believe in most cases people are probably mistakenly attributing their symptoms to food poisoning.
On Jan. 30 it was learned that 10 people from three families in Chiba and Hyogo prefectures had developed food poisoning symptoms after eating frozen gyoza dumplings made in China. An organophosphate pesticide, methamidophos, was found in the gyoza and on the packaging.
According to the health ministry, 2,745 people have complained to public health centers of feeling sick after eating the same product or similar ones. Of these, 884 visited a doctor.
On Feb. 1, two days after the initial report, the Shizuoka prefectural government received a report from a health center in the prefecture of a suspected case of organophosphate poisoning.
According to the health center, a woman in her 50s reported suffering from nausea and numbness of the tongue after eating Chinese-made frozen food.
The prefectural government reported the case to the health ministry and to the Tokyo metropolitan government, which oversees JT Foods Co., the firm that imported and distributed the frozen food and gyoza involved in the 10 poisoning cases. The metropolitan government considered holding a press conference over the suspected case, but a blood test showed it was not organophosphate poisoning.
By Feb. 2, three days after the initial news report, 946 people complained of health problems, with more than 2,000 having reported problems by Tuesday.
More than 5,000 people have now consulted with a health professional or inquired about Chinese frozen products.
Some of those who saw doctors were admitted to hospitals over their health problems, though local public health centers in each case found patients were actually suffering from gastroenteritis or an existing condition, rather than food poisoning.
In Aomori Prefecture, a co-op that sold and recalled products, including the gyoza brand involved in the original case, called 9,220 households that had purchased the product and asked if any members of their family had become ill after eating Chinese frozen food.
Many respondents reported examples of food poisoning, leading the prefectural government to report 168 suspected cases to the health ministry.
However, when co-op employees visited these households, many people offered additional information suggesting they may already have had some sort of existing health problem.
Shinji Koike, an official at the co-op, said, “We may have worried people, but we feel relieved now.”
According to Toyama University Prof. Hiroshi Okudera, who treated victims in the 1994 sarin nerve gas attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, victims of organophosphate poisoning suffer contraction of the pupils (miosis), dizziness and vomiting.
“Unless you check for miosis, it’s hard to tell [organophosphate poisoning] from gastroenteritis,” he said. “I’m sure there were people who felt sick but decided not to go see the doctor. Some of them might have suffered mild poisoning.”
Susumu Oda, a professor at Tezukayamagakuin University who specializes in psychiatry, said, “As concerns over Chinese-made food have been growing for some time, and with the reports of food poisoning, there may have been some cases of autosuggestion, where people thought they had been poisoned [but hadn’t].”
Source: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080211TDY02305.htm
Mongolian Asashoryu wins one-day sumo meet
February 12, 2008
TOKYO (AP) — Grand champion Asashoryu of Mongolia beat compatriot Tokitenku on Sunday to win a one-day sumo tournament.
Asashoryu overpowered Miyabiyama in the semifinals before facing Tokitenku in the final at Ryogoku Kokugikan.
Asashoryu lost to compatriot Hakuho on the final day of the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament last month in his return to sumo after serving a two-tournament suspension for playing in a charity soccer tournament in Mongolia.
Asashoryu, who has won 21 Emperor’s Cups, became the first wrestler to win the annual one-day event three times in a row.
Hakuho started the one-day event from the second round but made an early exit after losing his first bout to Tokitenku, who defeated Bulgarian ozeki Kotooshu in the semifinals.
Asashoryu wins sumo 1-day tournament
February 12, 2008
Yokozuna Asashoryu made time in between interviews with TV “personality” Mina Monta to beat fellow Mongolian Tokitenku in the final of the 32nd Japan Ozumo Tournament at Ryogoku Kokugikan on Sunday.
The yokozuna had a relatively straightforward route to the 2.5 million yen first prize, helped by yokozuna Hakuho’s loss to Tokitenku–a No. 1 maegashira at the New Year basho–in the second round.
Religion gets personal
February 9, 2008
Japanese attitudes toward religion have often been considered something of a paradox–most Japanese consider themselves nonreligious but still visit religious facilities. In this installment of the “Currents” series, The Daily Yomiuri examines what religion means to the Japanese.
In a sun-filled, spacious “house” replete with refined European furniture, the former beauty queen’s grandchildren sang the heartwarming “Shiki no Uta” (Song of Four Seasons), the family’s favorite song. The family watched home videos, often chuckling as they recalled lighthearted moments and events that had slipped from memory over the years.
It was a pleasant family gathering on a pleasant day. And as they said their final goodbyes to the 88-year-old woman, her funeral came to an end.
Rather than following traditional funeral rituals, her relatives had opted for a more personal ceremony that they thought reflected the closeness of the family.
Witnessing this funeral service four years ago convinced Kenichi Nitto, the general manager of funeral company Kansai Shinseikatsu Gojokai, that he had been right to foresee a growing demand for such personalized rites in which families have more input in the proceedings.
When Nitto entered the funeral business about 30 years ago, he took it for granted that Buddhist rituals would be an integral part of any funeral. But when Nitto looked ahead to his own funeral, he realized he wanted a personal ceremony with a more homey feel that would assuage his family’s grief.
The result was Memorial House Keyakinomori funeral hall in Sanda, Hyogo Prefecture. Furnished with a stylish bathroom, beds, a kotatsu and even a kitchen, Keyakinomori is a far cry from the conventional funeral halls where Buddhist monks chant sutra before a wooden altar adorned with rows of chrysanthemums and other flowers.
Funerals held there since it opened in 2003 have catered to personal preferences and often are largely free of religious influence.
“More and more people are stepping away from the preconception that funerals require monks,” Nitto said. “At first, we were very worried whether people would accept such an extraordinary idea. But it turned out to be just what people wanted.”
Many Japanese people still associate funeral services with Buddhism. But this religion–in its original form–did not attach much importance to funeral services.
Instead, Shintoism–the indigenous religion of Japan–has influenced funeral traditions and rituals, said Sachiya Hiro, who has written many books on religion.
“Today’s funerals are actually shaped by Shintoism,” Hiro said. “Buddhism doesn’t have a conventional role in funerals. Buddhist thinking follows that whatever happens after people die should be left alone.”
Buddhism came to play a big part in funeral services in Japan in the late Edo period (1603-1867) at the politically motivated instruction of the shogunate. Before that, community leaders had conducted rituals in accordance with Shinto-influenced customs when a member of their community died.
In an attempt to stamp out Christianity, the shogunate required all families to register with a temple and placed the Buddhist institution in charge of ritual care of the dead. With the funeral being such an important Christian rite, the shogunate could deduce that anyone who did not follow the Buddhist service after death was likely to be a Christian.
“The monks were ordered to conduct funerals for common people. Until then they had never arranged such rituals,” Hiro said. “So they simply copied the rituals they had performed for funerals of their fellow monks.”
The practice of giving kaimyo–posthumous names to go to the spirit world–also spread to commoners at this time, according to Hiro.
After the sweeping reforms led by the GHQ of the Allied Occupation of Japan after World War II, temples were stripped of the income from their large land holdings, and had little option but to rely on funerals or anniversary memorial services as a way of generating revenue, he said. About the only other recourse available was to transform themselves into tourist attractions to stay afloat.
As illustrated by the services offered at Keyakinomori, however, a growing number of people are opting for funerals that they feel better accommodate their personal preferences.
A quiet change is also afoot in funeral practices.
Since the early 1990s, the practice of scattering ashes, called sankotsu, which was not uncommon before the Edo period, has gained growing acceptance, particularly among people uncomfortable with the manner and cost of conventional funerals and those who do not want to burden their family with the responsibility of looking after an ancestral tomb. For example, the Grave-Free Promotion Society, a nonprofit organization, has performed such “natural funerals” for more than 2,200 people on nearly 1,300 occasions since 1991.
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Changing perceptions?
Recent trends indicate a diluted embrace of organized religion with regard to funerals, but what about Japanese consciousness of religion overall?
In recent years, more and more Japanese have considered themselves nonreligious. According to a 2005 Yomiuri Shimbun survey, 75 percent of respondents said they did not really believe in any religion.
But scholar Tetsuo Yamaori brushes off the argument that Japanese are nonreligious, saying Japanese simply do not follow specific faiths in the same way as followers of monotheistic faiths. He blames the post-Meiji education system’s fixation with modernization for causing the Japanese to misunderstand their indigenous religion.
Since the reintroduction of Western religions shaped intellectuals in the Meiji era (1868-1912) and influenced the definition of the term “religion,” Japanese have fallen into the habit of viewing their indigenous faith from the viewpoint of monotheistic religions such as Christianity, which believe there is only one god, said Yamaori, a professor emeritus of the International Research Center for Japanese Studies.
“For more than 100 years, we have identified our own faith through the framework of monotheistic religions,” he said. “We’ve come to think that our own religion is primitive and less sophisticated and it’s not what a religion should be.”
According to Yamaori, Japanese religion is polytheistic and tolerant of other religious beliefs, and evolved around nature worship, which he calls season religion, and the concept of “mu,” or nothingness.
Japanese people have long appreciated seasonal change, such as the blooming of cherry blossoms or the arrival of autumn foliage, and sensed the existence of many gods in nature. At the same time, Japan’s vulnerability to natural disasters cultivated feelings of awe toward the environment. Tenets of Buddhist belief, such as that nothing remains unchanged and everyone that is born must die, fit snugly with this sentiment.
The claim that many Japanese are nonreligious seems to come unstuck when one considers the number that still feel a connection to religious sites.
In the 2005 Yomiuri survey, more than 80 percent of respondents said they had visited a shrine, temple or church at some time during the past year. The survey also found many seek divine help when trouble strikes. And just last month, the National Police Agency said 98.2 million people visited shrines or temples across the country in the first three days of 2008–the highest number since 1974.
This paradox–in which many Japanese regard themselves nonreligious but still visit religious facilities–has intrigued observers.
“If you are looking at the cognitive dimension of religion where you’re focusing on belief, it seems Japanese are rather less religious than, say, Americans,” said Mark Mullins, a professor of Japanese religion and society at Sophia University. “But if you look at ritual behavior and participation, all of a sudden, the population is actually fairly religious.
“You might say [hatsumode and doing things relating to the family and graves of ancestors] is just a custom. That may be, but they are going to a sacred place,” he said.
Mullins added that this kind of practice, however, only rarely translates into exclusive commitment or belonging to one religious organization, with survey research revealing that just under 10 percent of Japanese claim to belong to a religious organization.
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Revival of spiritualism
Japanese culture, society and civilization have been predicated on religious beliefs, yet many Japanese have drifted away from these beliefs as negative images of organized religion have put down deep roots.
Many religious scholars say the 1995 subway sarin attack carried out by the Aum Supreme Truth cult accentuated negative attitudes and suspicions about religion, leading to what has been dubbed a Japanese “allergy” to organized religion.
However, Japanese religious behavior does not necessarily correspond to their cognitive-level beliefs.
Many people seem to be seeking alternative ways to find solace or peace of mind–on a spiritual level.
Fumio Kaneki of Yokohama travels to the trendy Tokyo district of Nishi-Azabu on Monday evenings. Shopping and a fancy dinner are not on his mind: rather, Kaneki makes his way to the heart of one of the world’s busiest capitals to find some quiet and peace of mind. Tucked away down a quiet side street, Chokokuji temple offers zazen meditation sessions.
“I’ve been coming here for about 20 years,” the 75-year-old said. “At first I would drop in after a day at the office, just to recharge my batteries.”
According to Shobo Shimizu, who is in charge of zazen at Chokokuji, the temple provides the sessions in the evening so people can come and unwind for an hour or two after work. When The Daily Yomiuri visited Chokokuji last month, about 65 people were attending the session. On average, about 40 to 70 people aged from their 20s to their 70s take part each week, with some coming from as far away as Saitama and Chiba prefectures, Shimizu said.
Naoki Kashio, Keio University associate professor, said spirituality is nothing new to Japanese.
“Spirituality has been at the core of religion since ancient times. But existing religions are no longer doing very well at inducing this sense of spirituality in people,” Kashio said. “Yet people still want to believe in the existence of a higher being and feel a connection with something intangible.”
In 2004, Kashio and some fellow researchers launched a Web site called “Spiritual Navigator,” aimed at improving understanding of religion. The site mainly attracts people in their 20s and 30s and receives 1 million hits a month.
Kashio’s assertion that people have a craving for a spiritual connection is being borne out by a recent spiritual boom.
Take, for example, spiritual counselor Hiroyuki Ehara, who has achieved almost rock-star status, appearing regularly on TV and in magazines. His books have sold more than 9 million copies, and the popularity of his late-night TV show saw it shifted to a prime-time slot.
“There are still people who are seekers for some kind of meaning or some kind of practice that makes life worth living or manageable,” Mullins said. “I think this reflects a new individualism and volunteerism in Japanese religiosity, more experimentation outside of institutional religion.”
Poisoning-linked pesticide widely used in China
February 8, 2008
Dichlorvos, an organic phosphorus pesticide detected on the packaging of frozen gyoza linked to a food poisoning case in Fukushima Prefecture, is widely used in China, including for the production of bootleg liquor.
The pesticide is used by farmers to exterminate insect pests, and also as a domestic pesticide for killing mosquitoes and other insects.
According to reports in the Chinese press, there was a mass-poisoning case in the country’s northwestern Gansu Province in 2006 in which a middle school student was killed and three other children fell seriously ill after they mistakenly consumed the chemical.
In 2001, a woman in northeastern Heilongjiang Province mistakenly sprinkled the chemical, which was kept in a small bottle in her kitchen, on a plate of gyoza dumplings.
She fell ill after eating the gyoza and was treated in a hospital.
In China some believe that the chemical can be used to give home-distilled liquor a more punchy flavor.
There are media reports that a man developed poisoning symptoms after drinking liquor to which he had added dichlorvos.
In 2007, the authorities in Guizhou Province confiscated bottles of dichlorvos as well as syringes when they raided a factory producing bootleg mao-tai liquor.
A man suspected of involvement in producing the liquor said the pesticide made the bootleg product very similar to genuine mao-tai.
There have also been reports of a pickle producer adding the pesticide to its products to keep them fresh, and a meat processor selling sausages that had been kept in a liquid solution of the chemical.
A 30-year-old farmer who lives near Tianyang Food Processing in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, whose products sparked the food poisoning scare in Japan, said he considers the chemical safe.
“I’d eat a tomato covered with dichlorvos after giving it a quick wipe with my hands. It would be all right as the pesticide is not a deadly poison,” the farmer added.
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Employees investigated in China
By Satoshi Saeki
Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent
BEIJING–Authorities in China’s Hebei Province, where the scandal-hit Tianyang Food Processing firm is located, confiscated company documents, including personnel records, as part of a probe into its employees, a Japanese government team that inspected the company said in Beijing on Wednesday.
According to the team, the authorities’ investigation is focusing on employees who worked at the factory during the period the gyoza packages tainted with chemicals were produced.
The team said the authorities seem increasingly inclined to believe somebody intentionally laced the products with chemicals, rather than being an incident caused by a failure of sanitary control.
Arrests made in death of sumo wrestler
February 8, 2008
NAGOYA–A former sumo stablemaster was arrested Thursday on suspicion
of assault resulting in the death of a 17-year-old wrestler in June, police said.
The former Tokitsukaze stablemaster, whose real name is Junichi Yamamoto, was arrested along with three wrestlers from the stable over the death of Tokitaizan, whose real name was Takashi Saito, after apparent hazing. The three wrestlers are Yuichiro Izuka, 25 (known as Doto), Masanori Fujii, 22 (Tokiomaru), Masakazu Kimura, 24 (Akiyutaka).
Yamamoto, 57, became the first person to be arrested over a sumo-related incident that took place when he was a stablemaster.
According to the Aichi prefectural police and Inuyama Police Station, Yamamoto, the three arrested wrestlers and four others assaulted Saito during training sessions between 12:40 p.m. on June 25 and 11:30 a.m. on June 26 at the stable’s temporary lodgings in Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture, where they were staying ahead of the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament. Saito collapsed after full-contact practice called butsukarigeiko on June 26. He was sent to the hospital but died later the same day.
Yamamoto allegedly hit Saito over the head with a beer bottle on June 25 after the wrestler tried to flee the stable’s lodgings. Yamamoto also allegedly told the three wrestlers to assault Saito. During the butsukarigeiko, he allegedly hit Saito with a wooden stick.
According to the police, Yamamoto admitted to hitting Saito with a beer bottle, but he denied it was because Saito had tried to escape. Yamamoto also denied having instructed the wrestlers to assault Saito.
Izuka and Fujii basically admitted to the allegations, but Kimura said he believed he was disciplining Saito.
The police plan to send papers on four other wrestlers suspected of taking part in the assault.
The police initially said Saito died from illness, but an autopsy at Niigata University found he died from traumatic shock. Later, an examination by Nagoya University specialists of Saito’s body tissue also found a connection between the assault and his death.
Butsukarigeiko involves a wrestler repeatedly pushing an inert opponent, who is in a brace position, across the ring. It is designed to build stamina and usually occurs at the end of training sessions. Normally lasting for a maximum of five minutes, it is not uncommon for wrestlers to vomit after such training. Police say Saito was forced to undergo the training for about 30 minutes.
Yamamoto was dismissed by the Japan Sumo Association in October over the scandal.
JSA Chairman Kitanoumi lamented the arrest of Yamamoto and the three others Thursday night. “It’s so regrettable that sumo wrestlers have been arrested,” Kitanoumi said at a press conference held at Tokyo’s Ryogoku Kokugikan.
The chairman said he hoped the four would cooperate with the police investigation. Referring to a possible punishment by the JSA on the four, he said, “We’ll take measures that we think necessary while looking at a future judicial judgment.”
He added that the JSA committee set up after the incident to examine ways to prevent a recurrence will take measures to handle the case.
Source: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080208TDY01304.htm
Gyoza victims urge joint investigation
February 4, 2008
People sickened after eating gyoza made in China have urged the Japanese and Chinese governments to cooperate in investigating how pesticides got in the products.
Their calls came after Di Menglu, head of the Tianyang Food Processing factory that produced the gyoza believed to have made dozens of people ill, said Saturday at the first press conference held by the company since the outbreak that there were no problems with the factory’s food safety management system that monitors production.
Speaking to reporters three days after the discovery of a pesticide, methamidophos, in some frozen gyoza exported to Japan, Di said such a problem had never occurred before.
After watching the press conference, a family member of a housewife from Inage Ward, Chiba, who became sick after consuming the gyoza, said Tianyang’s response had been expected.
“The circumstances won’t change. This is all the more reason Japanese government bodies should deal with the problem,” he said.
A man, 51, whose family of three in Takasago, Hyogo Prefecture, complained of feeling sick after eating the gyoza, said resolving the problem would be difficult as countries are involved.
“I hope the Japanese and Chinese governments will work together in a thorough investigation to determine the cause so it won’t happen again,” he said.
An employee of the public relations office of Sojitz Foods Corp., which handles gyoza imports from Tianyang, said that based on reports from China, Tianyang had been sincere in dealing with the problem.
“I have no intention of defending Tianyang, but compared with other factories that do business with my company, Tianyang is well equipped and has a sound safety management system. Tianyang will continue working with the Japanese side to investigate the cause,” he said.
A spokesman for Japan Tobacco Inc., whose affiliate JT Foods Co. sold the gyoza, said that regardless of what Tianyang said, JT would continue looking into the case.
A senior official of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry’s Food Safety Department declined to comment on Di’s remarks, saying it was only the Chinese side of the story.
“At first, we were informed that Chinese authorities would come to brief us on the problem. We weren’t notified of the press conference in China. We just don’t know what exactly is going on,” he said.
After reading reports about the Tianyang press conference, a senior officer of the National Police Agency said he was surprised that Tianyang was able to announce there were no problems only a couple of days after beginning inspections.
“Di only said there is no methamidophos at the factory, but he did not answer questions about the possibility of employees mixing the pesticides in with the gyoza. The explanation isn’t satisfactory,” he said.
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8 more people hospitalized
A total of 285 people in 34 prefectures have seen doctors and eight had been hospitalized as of Saturday for treatment after eating foods processed in China, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said.
This figure was in addition to 10 people of three families in Chiba and Hyogo prefectures who earlier reported feeling nauseous and other symptoms after eating products contaminated with a pesticide.
The ministry figures were derived by surveying 130 public health centers after the food-poisoning outbreak surfaced Wednesday. The ministry said two people each had been hospitalized in Oita and Okinawa prefectures, and one each in Yamagata, Chiba, Aichi and Tottori prefectures.
"bee-zine & buzz-in" 