Teacher ShelleN.Korea town opens to Western tourists
 The move opens up the possibility of foreign tourists being able to make day tours to the secretive state, a considerably cheaper option than the more expensive multi-day trips currently on offer. The country is largely sealed off from outsiders, with Western travellers allowed in only on strictly controlled tours. After heightening its rhetoric in past weeks in response to international sanctions, Pyongyang has sent mixed messages in recent days, both firing short-range missiles and sending a top envoy to China who pledged to promote peace. Simon Cockerell, co-founder of Beijing-based Koryo Tours, which specialises in trips to North Korea, said it had been seeking permission to add Sinuiju, opposite the Chinese city of Dandong, to its itineraries for years. Now that it had been granted, his company hopes to begin offering day trips for 1,200 to 2,000 yuan ($200 to $330) from next month. "There's a different feeling there, as it's a major area for trade with China. They have a lot of Chinese goods. And every day you can see Dandong, so much richer, on the other bank," he said. On a planning visit earlier this week he was greeted with an electric sign reading: "Warmly welcome Simon Cockerell David". It is the main crossing between the two countries, and Sinuiju was previously open to Chinese visitors. Gareth Johnson, director of Young Pioneer Tours, said Sinuiju would provide a lower-cost way to see North Korea as it could be done in a day. "To go on a tour, it's three days minimum. We are the cheapest, but it is still too expensive for some people." The North remains a niche tourist destination, with the five main agencies arranging trips to the country sharing 4,000 to 5,000 Western tourists per year. "Of course, it is not mass tourism. My clients are people who are interested in politics, social matters, and discovering different things," Cockerell said. "You don't go there to relax beside a swimming pool." source:http://ph.news.yahoo.com |
Can`womenomics' save Japan?
 By Diana Magnay, CNN So said Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in April as he outlined a raft of measures aimed at closing the gender gap in the Japanese workforce. As a Western journalist new to Japan, it is a shock that it takes an economic argument to move the government to act toward more female participation in the workforce. But it's not just a foreign perspective. The noted economist Noriko Hama writes in the Japan Times this week, "You secure better working conditions for women because they have a rightful claim to such treatment. No other reasoning or justification is necessary to do something that is decent and just." Nevertheless, if you are a prime minister in urgent search of growth, the numbers behind so-called "womenomics" in Japan are compelling. 'If you were to close the employment gap between Japanese men, which is 80%, one of the highest in the OECD, with Japanese women -- which is still around 60% -- we estimate that you'd add about 8.2 million workers into the Japanese workforce," says Kathy Matsui of Goldman Sachs, who has long championed the cause. That influx of female workers "could lift the asset level of Japanese GDP by as much as 14%," she adds. Now Prime Minister Abe is trying to force corporations to act. He has set targets of at least one female executive per company and offered tax incentives to companies that encourage mothers to return to work. According to Goldman Sachs, some 70% of Japanese women choose to leave the workforce after they've had children. That's more than twice the number in the U.S. or Germany. Japan's bleak demographic outlook is well known. The birth-rate is shrinking, the population is getting older and there are fewer workers' to pay for the nation's pensioners. The IMF forecasts Japan's population will shrink by around 30% by 2055. Abe's push to make the workplace a more hospitable place for women -- quite apart from the argument that it's just more fair -- is also a matter of economic survival. Whether Japan's male corporate bosses are listening remains to be seen. source: www.cnn.com |
Abe: Return all missing Japanese
 “The resolution of the abduction issue means the return to Japan of all victims, including missing people,” Abe said at a House of Councillors Audit Committee meeting. The government officially recognizes 17 people abducted by North Korean agents and has asked Pyongyang to repatriate them to Japan. The Investigation Commission on Missing Japanese Probably Related to North Korea, a private Japanese organization, says about 470 other Japanese may have been abducted by agents of that country. Japan is always open to talks with North Korea on the issue of past abductions of Japanese by North Korean agents, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Monday. Suga spoke about a visit by Isao Iijima, special adviser to the Cabinet secretariat, to the reclusive country last week. The Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe emphasizes “both dialogue and pressure,” Suga told a regular press conference. “We will make every effort to settle the abduction issue while always keeping the door open.” source: http://the-japan-news.com |