June 2010
1 Seven municipalities in three prefectures begin paying the national child allowance, which was a highlight of the Democratic Party of Japan’s 2009 election manifesto. For fiscal 2010 (ending March 2011) the monthly allowance per child up to junior high school graduation is set at ¥13,000, half the amount proposed in the DPJ manifesto.
2 Prime Minister Hatoyama Yukio announces his resignation after just eight and a half months in office. DPJ Secretary General Ozawa Ichirō also steps down. On June 4 Kan Naoto is elected to succeed Hatoyama as president of the DPJ and the National Diet selects him as prime minister. On June 8 Kan appoints his cabinet, in which 11 ministers are retained, including the foreign minister, defense minister, and minister of land, infrastructure, transport, and tourism.
3 In the face of protests, a cinema in Tokyo decides to cancel its scheduled screening of The Cove, a US documentary that criticizes Japan’s dolphin fishing. Screening is cancelled at other places in Japan as well, but then in July some cinemas begin opting to show the documentary.
5–6 The Meeting of APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade is held in Sapporo. This is the first ministerial meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in 2010, when Japan is serving as APEC chair. The meeting closes with a chair’s statement calling for the strengthening of regional economic integration and the formulation of a regional growth strategy.
11 Prime Minister Kan delivers a policy speech in the Diet in which he stresses the need for tax reform, including a possible consumption tax hike, in order to achieve fiscal reconstruction.
Minister of State for Financial Services and Postal Reform Kamei Shizuka resigns in protest at the scrapping of a postal reform bill in the current session of the Diet. He is succeeded by Jimi Shōzaburō, secretary general of the People’s New Party. The party, which Kamei heads, decides to remain in the ruling coalition with the DPJ.
13 The Japanese space explorer Hayabusa, launched in 2003, returns to Earth after a seven-year journey in space. Hayabusa touched down on the asteroid Itokawa and made the world’s first attempt to gather and bring back asteroid soil.
14 Sumō ōzeki (champion) Kotomitsuki admits his involvement in a baseball gambling scandal, and it becomes evident that a stable master and other wrestlers also took part. On June 27 the Japan Sumō Association announces tough punishments, including Kotomitsuki’s dismissal, after which Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology Kawabata Tatsuo approves the holding of the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament in July.
16–21 Afghan President Hamid Karzai visits Japan. As well as holding talks with the emperor and Prime Minister Kan, President Karzai visits Hiroshima, Kyoto, and Nara. This year marks the eightieth anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Afghanistan.
23 Prime Minister Kan attends a memorial service commemorating the sixty-fifth anniversary of the end of the war in Okinawa and, on behalf of the Japanese people, apologizes for the heavy burden placed on the Okinawan people in hosting US military bases.
25–27 Prime Minister Kan visits Canada to attend the Group of Eight summit in Muskoka and the Group of Twenty summit in Toronto. He also holds bilateral talks with US President Barack Obama and the leaders of Russia, South Korea, and China.
28 The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism begins trials of toll-free expressways, one of the pillars of the DPJ’s 2009 election manifesto, on 50 sections of 37 expressways around Japan. The trials will continue through the end of March 2011.
28 – July 1 Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism Maehara Seiji visits Chicago and San Francisco in the United States to promote sale of the Shinkansen bullet train.
29 The Ministry of Foreign Affairs releases a report on the reform of Japan’s official development assistance. Against the background of a declining ODA budget, the report stipulates, among other things, the setting of outcome targets and the verification of effects so as to realize efficient management. In addition, the report states that the Foreign Ministry will begin studying an international development solidarity levy in order to secure funds beyond those of the existing ODA budget.
