中国將會成為世界最大石油消費国

Recently the Yomiuri News on-line reported the following:

中国、世界最大の石油消費国へ…ＩＥＡ予測

　【ロンドン＝五十棲忠史】国際エネルギー機関（ＩＥＡ）は１２日、最新の世界エネルギー見通しを発表した。

　先進国の石油消費量が次第に減るとともに、２０３０年前後には中国が米国を抜いて世界最大の石油消費国になると予測した。

　ＩＥＡは世界のエネルギー消費の中心は中国、インド、中東に移ると指摘。インドは、２０２０年代初頭までに最大の石炭輸入国になると予測した。天然ガスは２０３５年までに中国と中東での使用量が現在の４倍になると見込んでいる。

　ＩＥＡはエネルギー価格の地域間格差についても触れ、安価なシェールガスの産出が期待できる米国と比べ、日欧、中国の産業向け電力価格は約２倍となっていると指摘した。この価格差は２０３５年ごろまで続くとの見方を示した。

（2013年11月12日23時25分  読売新聞）

(試譯文)

          On the 12th the International Energy Agency (IEA) announced the latest world energy prospect.

While the oil consumption of advanced nations would decrease gradually, it was predicted that China would replace the U.S. by around 2030 to become the world's largest petroleum consuming country.

IEA indicated that the center of energy consumption in the world would move to China, India, and the Middle East. It predicted that India would be the biggest coal importing country by the beginning of the 2020s. It was expected that by 2035 the amount of natural gas consumption in China and the Middle East would increase 4 times compared to the present.

IEA also touched on the energy price gap between different areas. It indicated that the electric power price for industries in Japan, Europe and China was about twice compared with the U.S. which could expect the production of cheap shale gas. It showed the view that the price difference would continue until around 2035.

(23:25 on November 12, 2013    Yomiuri Shimbun)

I think cheap electric power is important for the industries to survive.

俄國和越南達成防衛合作

Recently the NHK News on-line reported the following:

ロシアとベトナムが防衛協定

11月13日 0時5分

ロシアのプーチン大統領とベトナムのサン国家主席は、両国の防衛協力を強化するための新たな協定を締結し、ベトナムとしては、南シナ海の島々の領有権を巡って対立する中国をけん制するねらいがあるとみられています。

ロシアのプーチン大統領とベトナムのサン国家主席は１２日、ベトナムの首都ハノイで会談し、ロシア軍がベトナム軍の能力向上のために訓練を施すことや、ロシア製の軍事装備品のベトナムへの売却を進めることなどを盛り込んだ防衛協力に関する新たな協定を締結しました。
ベトナムは、南シナ海の島々の領有権を巡って対立する中国が、海洋進出を活発化させていることを念頭に、ロシアから最新の潜水艦を購入するなど軍の近代化を急いでいて、ロシアと新たな協定を結んだ背景には、中国をけん制するねらいがあるとみられています。
さらに両首脳は、ロシアが受注したベトナム初の原子力発電所の建設を急ぐことや、ＦＴＡ＝自由貿易協定の交渉を早期に進展させることなど、幅広い分野で協力を進めていくことを確認しました。
会談のあと行われた記者会見でサン国家主席は、「ロシアは最も大切なパートナーだ。あらゆる分野で関係を最大限発展させていきたい」と述べて、今後もロシアとの関係を深めていく姿勢を強調しました。

(試譯文)

Russian President Putin and Chairman San of Vietnam concluded a new agreement to strengthen the defense cooperation of both countries; it was expected that Vietnam was aiming at checking China which had opposed to the former’s sovereignty claims over the islands in South China Sea.

On the 12th Russian President Putin and Chairman San held talk together in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. The new agreement concluded was about the defense cooperation which incorporated military training from Russian to improve the capability of the Vietnam army, and to push forward the sales of  Russia military equipment etc. to Vietnam.

Noting that China was opposing to its sovereignty claims over the islands in the South China Sea, Vietnam was in a hurry to modernize its army. With activating its advance into the sea in mind, it purchased the newest submarine from Russia. It was expected that  aiming at checking China could be a backdrop for reaching this new agreement with Russia.

Furthermore, both leaders confirmed to forward cooperation in broad areas, such as to hurry the construction of the first nuclear power plant in Vietnam whose order was received by Russia, and to push forward the negotiation of the FTA - free trade agreement at an early stage.

At the press conference held after a talk, President San said “Russia is a partner of the most importance, and want to develop their relation to the utmost in all area", and emphasized a posture in which it would continue to promote its relation with Russia.

It seems that Russia is trying to show its presence in South-east Asia.

富久娘、「純米酒」自主回収

Recently the Yomiuri News on-line reported the following:

富久娘、「純米酒」に醸造アルコール…自主回収

神戸市灘区の酒造会社「富久娘酒造」は１１日、「純米酒」に醸造アルコールを混ぜたり、規格外の酒米を使った安い酒に「純米酒」などのラベルを貼ったりするなど、国税庁の基準に違反する日本酒を販売していたことを明らかにした。

　同社は該当する３８銘柄の自主回収を始めた。今年１月〜１０月末に一升瓶換算で約２５万本を販売したという。

　同社によると、不正表示は１０月下旬、大阪国税局の指摘で発覚。国税庁の基準では純米酒の原料は米と米こうじだけだが、醸造アルコールを加えたものがあった。また、品質の劣る規格外の米を使った酒に「吟醸酒」「純米酒」「本醸造酒」といった高級酒のラベルを貼って販売していた。

　同社が原料を記した書類などを調べたところ、少なくとも４〜５年前から不正表示は始まっていたとみられるといい、詳しい時期を調べている。読売新聞の取材に、小島久佳社長は「結果としてお客様をだましたことになった。原因究明を徹底し、再発防止に努めたい」と話した。

（2013年11月11日23時59分 読売新聞）

(試譯文)

On the 11^th the National Tax Agency showed that the sake which was below the standard was sold by the brewing company "Oenon Holdings, Inc " of Nada-district, Kobe-city; it mixed brewing alcohol with "junmai-shu", or sticking labels such as "junmai-shu" on the cheap alcohol that used substandard brewing rice to prepare.

The company began the voluntary recall of 38 applicable brands. By 1-litre bottle conversion, it was said that about 250,000 bottles were sold from the end of January up to October this year.

According to the company, indications of mislabeling were discovered in the Osaka Regional Taxation Bureaus in late October. Based on the standard of the National Tax Agency, for junmai-shu, the materials used to prepare should be rice and rice koji only; but some had added in with brewing alcohol. Moreover, the labels of luxury liquor, such as “ginjo-shu”, “junmai-shu”, and “honjozo-shu” were stuck to alcohol prepared with substandard rice and were inferior in quality, and sold.

When looking at the company’s documents etc. in which raw materials were recorded, it might be concluded that the mis-labeling had begun at least 4-5 years earlier, and the detailed timing was still being investigated. Speaking to the news coverage of Yomiuri Shimbun, President Hisayoshi Kojima was saying that “it means that we had deceived the customers as a result. I would like to find out the complete cause and to strive to prevent future recurrence".

I always think that honesty is an important asset in doing business.

小心假網址

To-day the Mainichi News on-line reported the following:

フィッシング:「〜．ｃｎ．ｃｏｍ」でサイト急増　警察庁が注意喚起

2013年11月23日

　警察庁は、サイトのアドレスが「〜．ｃｎ．ｃｏｍ」であるフィッシングサイトが、１１月から急増していると注意喚起を行っている。

　「〜．ｃｎ．ｃｏｍ」は中国を対象とするサイトで使われることが多い。これらフィッシングサイトは、金融機関やオンラインゲームなどのログイン画面に偽装して作られていた。

　警察庁は９月下旬からサイトを確認し、１１月に入ってからは約２００サイトを把握している。認証を必要とするサイトには、正規のアドレスを直接入力するなどの対策を呼びかけている。【デジタル編集部】

(試譯文)

     The National Police Agency was calling for attention about fishing sites with the address site "--. cn.com", as they had increased rapidly since November.

     "--. cn.com" was used as the site for China in many cases. These fishing sites were camouflaged and there were login screens to financial institutions or online games etc.

     The National Police Agency identified these sites starting from the end of September, and entering into November, it had got hold of about 200 sites. It was appealing for measures, such as to carry out a direct entry at the official address when logging into a site that needed attestation.

I think it is always advisable to be careful with unfamiliar web-sites.

日本百貨店餐單食材失實

Recently the NHK News on-line reported the following:

全国17デパート おせちでも異なる食材

11月5日 22時43分

各地でメニューの表記と違う食材が使われていた問題が次々と明らかになる

なか、「小田急百貨店」と「京王百貨店」それに「東武百貨店」など、全国１７のデパートで販売されたおせち料理でも、表示と異なる食材が使われていたことが明らかになりました。

問題のおせち料理は、高島屋の子会社がほかのデパートに卸していた商品で、「フォション」というブランドの洋風のおせち料理として販売され、このうち「車海老（えび）のテリーヌ」と表示したものが、実際は「ブラックタイガ−」でした。
高島屋によりますと、すでに明らかになっている「大丸松坂屋百貨店」グループの店舗を含めて、これまでに全国１７のデパートに卸していたことが分かったということです。
このうち、小田急百貨店では去年２５個販売していたほか、京王百貨店はおととしから２年間で１６個販売していたということで、いずれもことしの注文の受け付けを中止しました。
東武百貨店はおととしから販売していて、実際に販売した数は調査中だとしています。
高島屋では「お客様に多大なるご迷惑をおかけしたことを深くおわびし、管理体制の再徹底に努めます」と話しています。

(試譯文)

About the incident that the food notation in the menu was different from the cooking material that was used, it became clear that this problem had occurred one after another in various places.  

It became clear that the food in the New Year dishes sold at 17 department stores in the whole country, such as the "Odakyu Dept Store", the "Keio Dept Store" and the "Tobu Dept. Store" also had menu displayed differently from what material was used in the dishes.

The New Year dishes in question were the commodity which the subsidiary of Takashimaya had wholesaled to other department stores: being sold as New Year dishes in the Western style with the brand "Fauchon", among these some were displayed as "the Terrine of prawns (shrimp)" which in practice was "the black tiger”.

According to Takashimaya, it was said that what had already become clear until now was that the dishes had been wholesaled to 17 department stores in the whole country including the stores of the "Daimaru Matsuzakaya department store" group.

Among these, 25 pieces were sold by the Odakyu Dept Store last year. Also it was said that Keio Dept Store sold 16 pieces in the two years since two years ago, and it all had stopped accepting orders this year.

The number that was actually sold by the Tobu Dept Store since the year before last was still under investigation.

In Takashimaya, it was said that "we deeply apologize for having made great trouble to customers, and would strive for a revamp in the management system".

I think honest is an important asset in doing business.

南韓法院判三菱重工必須損賠殖民地時代勞工

Recently the Mainichi News on-line reported the following:

元徴用工訴訟:韓国の地裁、三菱重に損賠支払い命じる

毎日新聞　2013年11月01日　20時56分（最終更新　11月02日　00時05分）

　【光州（韓国南西部）大貫智子】日本の植民地時代に名古屋市の軍需工場で働かされたとして元女子勤労挺身（ていしん）隊の韓国人女性４人と遺族１人が三菱重工業に損害賠償の支払いを求めた訴訟で、光州地裁は１日、同社に女性１人あたり１億５０００万ウォン（約１３９０万円）、遺族に８０００万ウォン（約７３０万円）の支払いを命じる判決を言い渡した。戦後補償に関する訴訟で韓国の裁判所が日本企業に賠償を命じるのは３件目。元女子勤労挺身隊員への賠償命令は初めて。

　今後、提訴の動きが広がる可能性があり、原告側弁護団は「韓国で訴訟が続くのは日韓関係にとって望ましくない」と、韓国政府が来月設立予定の元徴用工らに対する支援財団に日本企業が参加することを求めている。

　一方、三菱重工は判決を不服とし控訴する考えを示した。

　判決では、原告らを上級学校に通学させるなどとうそをついて動員し、劣悪な環境で労働させたなどとして、原告の精神的苦痛に対する賠償責任があると断じた。

　また、１９６５年の日韓請求権協定について、日本側は植民地支配への不法性を認めておらず、両政府間で植民地支配に対する合意がない中で締結されたことなどを理由に、個人請求権は消滅していないとした。今年７月に同社と新日鉄住金に元徴用工への賠償を命じた判決と同じ解釈だ。

　また、韓国政府は７０年代、協定に基づき日本から供与された経済協力金の一部を個人補償として支給したことがあるが、判決は「死亡者に対する補償に過ぎない」と指摘し、原告らは一切補償を受けていないとした。

　７月の２件の判決で、賠償額は８０００万〜１億ウォンだったが、今回は、原告が当時１０代前半と若かったことや、韓国帰還後に従軍慰安婦と誤解されて精神的苦痛を受けた点などを考慮し、増額した。

　原告の梁錦徳（ヤン・クムドク）さん（８２）は「裁判を始めた当初はこんな判決が出るとは考えもしなかった」と涙をぬぐった。梁さんら今回の原告は日本でも同様の訴訟を起こしたが２００８年、最高裁で敗訴が確定。しかし１２年５月に韓国最高裁が個人請求権は消滅していないとの判断を示し、昨年１０月にあらためて提訴した。韓国ではほかに３件の提訴が相次ぎ、今回はその最初の判決。

(試譯文)

In the lawsuit which asked the Mitsubishi Heavy Industry to pay reparations to four South Korean women of a former woman labor volunteer corps and one bereaved family member because they had been ordered to work in a munitions factory in Nagoya in the colonial days of Japan, the Guanzhou District Court passed the judgment on the 1^st which ordered the company to pay 150 million won per woman (about 13,900,000 yen) and to pay 80 million won (about 7,300,000 yen) to the bereaved family member. It was the 3rd case that a South Korean court ordered a Japanese company to make compensation in a lawsuit as the post-war compensation. It was the first time that a compensatory command was awarded to a former woman labor volunteer corps member.

From now on, movements towards legal challenge might spread and plaintiff's lawyers were urging that "for lawsuits to continue in South Korea, it would be undesirable for Japan-Korea relations"; as for the South Korean government, it was asking the Japanese companies to participate in a support fund to be established next month that aimed at the former conscript laborers.

On the other hand, the Mitsubishi Heavy Industry showed the idea of being dissatisfied with the judgment and would file an appeal.

The judgment ruled that plaintiffs were mobilized by a lie saying that they were going to attend to an upper school etc.; and judged that there was compensation liability for the mental anguish of the plaintiffs for having been made to work in an inferior environment etc.

Moreover, regarding the Japan-South Korea claim agreement of 1965, on the grounds that the Japanese side did not accept the illegal nature of the colonial rule, thus there was no agreement to the colonial rule among both governments. As such it was concluded that an individual’s right to make a claim had not been ruled out. It was on the same interpretation that a judgment was made in July this year which ordered the same company and the New Nippon Steel Sumitomo Metal to compensate to a former conscript laborer.

Moreover, although based on an agreement in the 1970s, the South Korean government, using money supplied by Japan, had provided some economic assistance as individual compensation, the judgment indicated that "it is only compensation to the deceased", and assumed that plaintiffs had received no compensation.

Although the claimable amount in the judgment of the two cases in July was 80 million-100 million won, the amount was increased in consideration that the plaintiff’s age in those days was at the first half of their 10s, they were young; and that they had been misunderstood as comfort women after returning to South Korea, thus suffered mental anguish etc.

The plaintiff Mr. Jan Qum Doc (Yan Kumudoku) (82) wiped the tear, saying that “at the beginning when the trial began, we did not think such a judgment could come out". Although the same plaintiff Mr. Jan had filed the same lawsuit in Japan, it was decided as a lost case in the Supreme Court in 2008. However, in May 2012 the South Korean Supreme Court showed the judgment that individual claims had not been ruled out, because of that, a new appeal was submitted in October last year. Additionally, in South Korea, there were three legal appeal cases succeeding one another, and this time was the first judgment of these cases.

I hope the court judgment in South Korea would not harm the trade relation between South Korea and Japan.

中国及台湾出産鰻魚被充當日本鰻魚

Last month the Yomiuri News on-line reported the following:

国産ウナギかば焼き９トン、実は中国・台湾産

　中国や台湾産のウナギを静岡県産や国産と偽って販売したとして、静岡県は２１日、同県吉田町のウナギ養殖販売会社「大井川うなぎ販売」（藪崎周二社長）に対し、日本農林規格（ＪＡＳ）法と景品表示法に基づき、表示改善を指示した。

　産地を偽装したウナギはかば焼きに加工され、昨春以降、少なくとも約９トンが１０都道県の卸売業者に販売されたといい、県警は２１日、同社などを不正競争防止法違反（誤認惹起(じゃっき)）容疑で捜索した。

　県の発表によると、同社は２０１２年４月～１３年７月、中国産や台湾産のウナギを、加工５業者（１社は廃業）とともに静岡県産かば焼きなどと偽装し、卸売業者に販売した。県は、加工４業者にもＪＡＳ法に基づく改善指示を行った。

（2013年10月22日10時45分 読売新聞）

(試譯文)

On the 21st (October) the Shizuoka Prefecture, based on the Japanese Agricultural Standards (JAS) Method and the Law for Preventing Misleading Representation, pointed to the eel cultivation and sales company "The Oigawa Eel Trading" (President Shuji Yabusaki) of the Yoshida town in the same prefecture for display improvement because the company pretended their eels as from China and Taiwan, and sold them as a product from Shizuoka, or from domestic production.

The eel with its place of production misrepresented was processed into kabayaki. It was said that since last spring at least about 9 tons were sold to the wholesalers in 10 locations in different prefectures, counties and the capital. On the 21st the Prefecture Police searched the company etc. on suspicion of violating the Unfair Competition Prevention Act (misconception inducement).

According to the prefecture’s announcement, using the eels from China and Taiwan, the company misrepresented them as kabayaki from Shizuoka. The product was processed by 5 contractors (one company had already given up its business), and sold it to the wholesalers from April 2012 to July 2013. The prefecture also gave directives to the four processing contractors to make improvement based on the JAS method.

The action taken by the prefecture is good news for all the consumers.