Timeline for August 2019
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1
Emperor Naruhito attends his first opening ceremony of a Diet session since ascending the throne in May.
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Seven & I Holdings announces that it will terminate its 7pay barcode payment service at the end of September after a series of security breaches.
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2
The government decides to remove South Korea from its “white list” of trading partners that enjoy simplified export controls, in the first case of its kind. The move comes into effect on August 28. On August 12, the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy announces reciprocal measures.
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- Japan Decides to Remove South Korea from Preferred Nation List
- Japan Firms Worried over Growing Tensions with South Korea
- South Korea to Drop Japan from List of Trusted Trade Partners
3
The organizers of the Aichi Triennale 2019, an international cultural festival, announce the cancellation of the exhibition After "Freedom of Expression?" in Nagoya. The inclusion of a statue representing wartime “comfort women” drew numerous complaints and threats.
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- Art Event Featuring Comfort Women Statue Called Off
- Suga Denies Influence on “Comfort Women Statue” Exhibition
4
Golfer Shibuno Hinako wins the 2019 Women's British Open in her first appearance in the tournament, finishing 18 under par. She is the first Japanese winner of a major golf championship since Higuchi Hisako won the LPGA Championship in 1977, and the second ever.
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6
Hiroshima marks 74 years since the atomic bombing with a ceremony attended by 50,000 hibakusha and relatives. On August 9, Nagasaki holds a ceremony on the anniversary of its bombing.
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- Hiroshima Mayor Wants Japan to Join Nuclear Ban Treaty
- Nagasaki Mayor Warns of Increased Nuclear Weapon Use Risk
7
Liberal Democratic Party politician Koizumi Shinjirō announces that he will marry television news presenter Takigawa Christel.
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9
Prosecutors decide again that they will not indict 10 Ministry of Finance bureaucrats, including former National Tax Agency Commissioner Sagawa Nobuhisa, over forgery and other allegations related to the Moritomo Gakuen cronyism scandal.
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- Prosecutors Reconfirm No Indictment over Moritomo Gakuen Scandal
- MOF Official's Suicide over Moritomo Scandal Work-Related
15
An official ceremony is held in Tokyo on the anniversary of the end of World War II, commemorating those who died in the conflict. Emperor Naruhito gives the same expression of “deep remorse” that his father Emperor Emeritus Akihito did in previous years.
Typhoon Krosa disrupts transport schedules centered on western Japan, while many people are traveling during the Obon period. It also causes a “foehn wind,” bringing high temperatures to the Japan Sea coast. In Niigata Prefecture, the city of Tainai reaches 40.7 degrees, while Itoigawa never drops below 31.3 degrees throughout August 15, which is a national record for the highest ever minimum temperature over one day.
18
Police arrest Miyazaki Fumio, a driver involved in a road rage case in which he forced another man to stop his car at a rest area in Moriya, Ibaraki Prefecture, and repeatedly hit him.
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20
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Edano Yukio and Democratic Party for the People head Tamaki Yūichirō agree to establish unified caucuses of their opposition parties in each of the two chambers of the Diet.
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22
The South Korean government announces it will scrap its General Security of Military Information Agreement pact for sharing military intelligence with Japan.
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- South Korea to Scrap Intelligence-Sharing Pact with Japan
- Japan Protests South Korea's Decision to Scrap Intelligence-Sharing Pact
- Abe Raps Seoul's Decision to End Intelligence-Sharing Pact with Tokyo
Yokohama announces its bid to host an integrated resort including a casino. Its candidate site is Yamashita Pier and it would plan to open the facility in the second half of the 2020s.
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25
The Japanese and US governments reach a basic agreement on a new bilateral trade deal. Japan will lower its tariffs on beef, pork, and other agricultural products to the same levels as those of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which came into effect at the end of 2018. There is no guarantee that the United States will not add further tariffs to Japanese cars.
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The organizing committee for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games reveals the design for the Paralympic medals, featuring a traditional fan motif.
26
The government’s Personal Information Protection Commission tells job information provider Recruit Career to take corrective steps after it sells companies data on the probability of job-hunters declining offers, without receiving permission.
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- Recruit Career Sells Data on Job Offer Refusal Odds to 38 Firms
- Recruit Career Scraps Job Offer Refusal Prediction Service
- Corrective Steps Urged for Recruit Career over Job Data Scandal
27
At a press conference at the end of the Group of Seven summit, Prime Minister Abe Shinzō says he will reshuffle the cabinet and his LDP leadership team in September.
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28
Vice Minister of Health, Labor, and Welfare Ueno Hiroshi resigns over allegations of influencing visa procedures for foreign workers.
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The Japan Meteorological Agency issues heavy rain emergency warnings in Fukuoka, Saga, and Nagasaki Prefectures. Northern Kyūshū experiences record downpours, leading to flooding of rivers and inundation of roads, causing three fatalities as of August 29.
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30
A declaration calling for the resolution of heavy debt burdens owed by African countries is adopted at the end of the Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development. The TICAD declaration also makes the first reference to the free and open Indo-Pacific initiative promoted by Japan and the United States.
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(Originally published in Japanese. Banner photo: Shibuno Hinako kisses the Women's British Open trophy in Milton Keynes, Britain, after winning the competition on August 4, 2019. © Jiji.)