Killing Time

And remember, the best thing about Japan is it is so crime free.

'The fatal shooting of a senior gangster in Tokyo has sparked fears of an all-out turf war between two of Japan's fiercest underworld organisations.
Police have arrested two members of a gang affiliated to the Sumiyoshi-kai, Japan's second-biggest crime syndicate, on suspicion of firing shots at the office of a rival gang in apparent retaliation for the killing of Ryoichi Sugiura, a senior member of a Sumiyoshi affiliate.
One of the suspects was quoted by police as saying that he and his accomplice had targeted a group linked to the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's most powerful crime syndicate, in apparent retaliation for Sugiura's death, according to the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper.'

'At the height of the Cold War in the early 1980s, Yasuhiro Nakasone, then prime minister of Japan, reaffirming his country's strong commitment to its supreme ally the United States against Soviet threats, declared that Japan would serve as an "unsinkable aircraft carrier" in the Pacific. Now that the lone superpower is once again facing security threats and waging a war against the so-called "axis of evil", it requires an unwavering commitment to its purpose and direction from its allies. It is indeed very fortunate to have received that commitment, not from one but from two of its most trusted allies in the Pacific. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan and his Australian counterpart John Howard, both conservative and strongly committed to the US, have offered all possible assistance to US President George W Bush....'

posted by Brendan @ 1:24 PM