JapanGov Weekly

[Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency] [Wednesday, Dec 3, 2014]

H-IIA F26 with the Asteroid Explorer "Hayabusa2" onboard launched at 1:22:04 p.m. on Dec 3, 2014 (JST) from the Tanegashima Space Center.
The rocket flew smoothly, and, at about approximately one hour, 47 minutes and 21 seconds after liftoff, "Hayabusa2" was separated from the H-IIA F26. We will update you with the latest information on the "Hayabusa2" on the project page.
Please send your support messages for the mission! (you can send a message from Hayabusa2 Project page or tweet with hashtag #hayabusa2).
(http://global.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/hayabusa2/)

[Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry] [Monday, Dec 1, 2014]

On December 1, 2014, the Japan Patent Office (JPO) will start the FY2014 Anti-Counterfeiting Campaign. In FY2014, the JPO will strongly call for public attention to the campaign under a slogan titled “Fakes are not Kawaii,” focusing on young people in particular, by using a variety of PR media, including establishing a website exclusively for the campaign and creating comprehensive portal and other websites, aiming to raise public awareness of preventing counterfeit products under the concept that they should not buy or accept counterfeit or pirated products.

1. Objectives

In recent years, counterfeit and pirated products have been becoming so complex and widespread that people tend to sustain more serious damage from them, with more sophisticated tricks and vicious transactions on the Internet leading to an increase in the number of victims. However, according to the special public opinion poll on intellectual property conducted by the Cabinet Office in 2014, the results revealed that more than 40% of the respondents accepted the purchase of counterfeit products, although the number of such respondents is tending to decline, showing that raising consumers’ awareness of buying genuine products through anti-counterfeiting campaigns and other means is still significant for Japan to improve their attitudes toward counterfeit products.

This year, the JPO will conduct the campaign, focusing on raising young people’s awareness of the campaign in particular, under the slogan titled “Fakes are not Kawaii!”

2. Campaign outline

(1) Date: From December 1, 2014, to February 27, 2015

(2) Website created exclusively for the campaign
The JPO will create a website exclusively for the campaign on the JPO website,* on which video clips will be posted and some anti-counterfeiting efforts made by related associations in the field will be described.
*http://www.jpo.go.jp/mohouhin/26fy/campaign/ External Site Link(in Japanese)
Note: The video clips will also be provided with captions in English and Chinese, thereby conveying Japan’s messages to consumers in other countries in which the number of people who have suffered from counterfeit products tends to increase.

(3) PR media
As PR media, the JPO will utilize a comprehensive portal website, price comparison website, auction website, and microblogging website, through which the JPO will guide consumers who have visited the websites to the campaign website above.

(4) Supporters
Intellectual Property Policy Headquarters, National Police Agency, Consumer Affairs Agency, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Agency for Cultural Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japan Tourism Agency under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and International Intellectual Property Protection Forum (IIPPF)

3. Future actions

In addition to the programs to raise consumers’ awareness like this campaign, the JPO will further advance the projects to address counterfeit and pirated products through collaborative efforts with the industries and related government organizations, including conducting surveys to ascertain the current situations of damages caused by counterfeit products, requesting governments of other countries to enhance crackdowns on counterfeit products to eliminate them, supporting human resource development programs to create human resources who will lead the elimination of such products, and supporting Japanese enterprises that intend to expand their businesses overseas.

Division in charge
International Cooperation Division, Policy Planning and Coordination Department, JPO

FY2014 Campaign Slogan

[Ministry of Foreign Affairs] [Monday, Dec 1, 2014]

1. On December 1, the visa waiver for Indonesian nationals possessing ordinary e-passports will be commenced, based on a system of registering e-passports.

Visa Waiver for Indonesian Nationals Based on a System of E-Passport Registration (Press Releases) (November 7, 2014)
(http://www.mofa.go.jp/press/release/press4e_000498.html)

2. Specifically, Indonesian nationals who have registered their e-passports to diplomatic missions of Japan in Indonesia (the embassy, consulates-general, or the consulate) will be able to enter Japan for fifteen days during the period of three years or until the passport expires, whichever comes first.

3. This measure forms one part of the relaxation of visa requirements announced at a meeting of the Ministerial Council on the Promotion of Japan as a Tourism-Oriented Country in June this year, and is expected to contribute to Japan becoming a tourism-oriented country with an ambition to attract as many as 20 million foreign visitors, to the Growth Strategy, as well as to the promotion of people-to-people exchanges.

[National Diet Library] [Wednesday, Dec 3, 2014]

On December 3 (Wed.), the National Diet Library released the digital exhibition "Modern Japan and France―adoration, encounter and interaction."
(http://www.ndl.go.jp/france/index.html)

This exhibition features about 200 materials from politics, industry, literature, art, lifestyles, and subcultures depicting the Japan-France relationship that began with the conclusion of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce in 1858. You can refer to the history of relations between the two countries through the chronology and index of persons.

The digital exhibition of the Bibliothèque nationale de France titled "France-Japan, an encounter, 1850-1914" will also be available soon.