Japan

Several politicians in South Korea and Japan have begun exploring the possibility of a joint history textbook between their nations and China. But given the lingering differences over issues ranging from past wars to current territorial claims, the proposal faces numerous hurdles. Members of South Korea's ruling Grand National Party met informally in Seoul this month with counterparts from the majority Democratic Party of Japan. One of the main topics was whether a joint history textbook could now be developed with government cooperation.

With unemployment topping 10% and his healthcare plan still facing Senate action, President Obama has plenty to keep him busy at home. But on Thursday, he will head to Asia for more than a week, a trip that underscores the White House's conviction that a close partnership with China and other Pacific Rim nations is crucial to American interests. Obama is scheduled to stop in Japan, Singapore, China and South Korea, bringing to 20 the number of nations he has visited since taking office in January.

Re "Koizumi to Propose a Leap in U.N. Status for Japan," Sept. 18: This article only hastens to remind us that the United Nations has become so ineffective in dealing with major world events such as the Darfur genocide in Sudan or the Iraqi war. [By becoming a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council], Japan, along with the other proposed members, Germany, India and Brazil, will be able to help the world community in overcoming the twin demons of the new century: terrorism and nuclear proliferation.

The last thing that aging Japan can afford to lose is young people. Yet as the global economic crisis flattens demand for Japanese cars and electronic goods, thousands of youthful, foreign-born factory workers are getting fired, pulling their children out of school and flying back to where they came from. Paulino and Lidiane Onuma have sold their car and bought plane tickets for Sao Paulo, Brazil. They are going back with their two young daughters, both of whom were born here in this factory town.

As Masahiko Goto sees it, the U.S. aircraft carrier George Washington is not a ship. It's a floating nuclear disaster waiting to happen near one of the world's biggest cities. Its recent deployment to a port near Tokyo was welcomed by brass bands, an open-house crowd of 30,000 and promises of greater security for Japan and the region. But to opponents here, it all boils down to two nuclear reactors and one big question: Are they safe? "It is unthinkable that we have reactors floating in the bay," said Goto, a lawyer who is leading an effort to have the ship banned from Japan.

Everybody, it seems, is wearing them. On trains, on the street, at parties. It's impossible to go anywhere in Japan this time of year and not notice: The Japanese love surgical masks and wear them just about everywhere they go. This year's craze: the N95 model by 3M, a thick and nearly impregnable mask with a noticeable nose groove and extra breathing space. The heavier-than-normal mask -- which, in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended recently for healthcare workers to help protect against swine flu -- sells for as much as $30 at stores.

When Google Earth added historical maps of Japan to its online collection last year, the search giant didn't expect a backlash. The finely detailed woodblock prints have been around for centuries, they were already posted on another website, and a historical map of Tokyo put up in 2006 hadn't caused any problems. But Google failed to judge how its offering would be received, as it has often done in Japan. The company is now facing inquiries from the Justice Ministry and angry accusations of prejudice because its maps detailed the locations of former low-caste communities.

Police said 10 climbers have died on two mountains in northern Japan. Nine people died while climbing Mt. Tomuraushi on Hokkaido island, police spokesman Masafumi Yamasaki said. And a woman died on a different mountain on Hokkaido, he said. He could not provide further details, including the cause of their deaths. Reports said the weather was bad at the time they were climbing.

A Japanese fishing town that holds an annual hunt to kill and sell dolphins for meat has released 70 of the animals from its first catch of the season after a global outcry, a conservation group said today. Opposition has been growing against the hunt in Taiji, in eastern Japan, since the American documentary "The Cove" this year showed dolphins being herded into an inlet and killed with spears. The Save Japan Dolphins coalition said its representatives filmed 70 bottlenose dolphins being released Sunday.

Prime Minister Taro Aso and his Cabinet resigned to pave the way for parliament to elect Yukio Hatoyama as the country's next leader. The resignations were a formality so that parliament's lower house, now controlled by Hatoyama's party following a landslide election victory last month, can vote him in as prime minister. Hatoyama's victory ends more than 50 years of nearly unbroken rule by Aso's Liberal Democratic Party. Hatoyama, head of the left-of-center Democratic Party of Japan, has promised to shake up Japan's political system, cutting government waste, reinvigorating the world's second-largest economy and focusing policies on consumers, not big business.