July 2010
1 The government eases restrictions on the issue of tourist visas to individual Chinese, making it easier for not only wealthy but also middle-class Chinese to visit Japan.
2 Toshiba announces it is working with Mitsubishi Motors on the joint development of a battery system for electric vehicles.
11 A regular election is held for half the seats in the House of Councillors. The ruling Democratic Party of Japan suffers a heavy defeat, losing 10 of its 54 seats up for election, and the DPJ-led ruling coalition loses its majority in the upper house. The Liberal Democratic Party wins 51 seats, a gain of 13, and Your Party gets 10 seats to become the third-strongest force in the chamber.
14 Former Incubator Bank of Japan Chairman Kimura Takeshi and four others are arrested on suspicion of violating the Banking Law by deleting e-mails relating to certain transactions prior to an audit by the Financial Services Agency.
16 Prime Minister Kan Naoto meets with visiting French Prime Minister François Fillon. They exchange opinions on the world economic situation and other issues.
17 The revised Organ Transplant Law goes into effect, making it possible for organs to be transplanted from brain-dead children under the age of 15 if their parents consent.
20–23 Kim Hyon-hui, a former North Korean agent involved in the bombing of a Korean Air passenger jet in 1987, visits Japan. Kim, who now lives in South Korea, meets the families of Japanese abducted by Pyongyang at the villa of former Prime Minister Hatoyama Yukio in Karuizawa.
26 The Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare announces that the average life expectancy of Japanese set new records for the fourth consecutive year in 2009, reaching 79.59 years for men and 86.44 years for women. Japanese women have had the longest life expectancy in the world for 25 consecutive years.
27 Miyazaki Prefecture Governor Higashikokubaru Hideo lifts the state of emergency that had been imposed in the prefecture in response to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.
Yahoo Japan announces a tie-up with Google by which it will use Google’s Internet-search technology.
28 Minister of Justice Chiba Keiko announces the execution of two death-row convicts. These are the first executions since the DPJ took power. Justice Minister Chiba, who attended the executions herself, said that a study group would be formed to discuss the issue of capital punishment.
30 An extraordinary session of the Diet, the first since the House of Councillors election, opens. It will continue until August 6.
31 The Cabinet Office announces that Japan’s population as of March 31 was 127,057,860 persons, a decline for the first time in three years.
Japan’s new ambassador to China, Niwa Uichirō, arrives in Beijing. Niwa is Japan’s first ambassador to be appointed from the private sector since the end of World War II.
