SNA (Tokyo) — The following stories were reported today by the Shingetsu News Agency.

The Top Headline

—East Japan Railway Workers’ Union reaffirms the right to conduct labor strikes. Railway strikes haven’t been seen in Japan since the 1980s, but this major union has voted to maintain the possibility that one might occur in the future.

Politics

—Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yukio Edano calls for Nobuhisa Sagawa to be dismissed as head of the National Tax Agency now that it is clear he gave false testimony to the Diet.

—Party of Hope (1.8%) and Democratic Party (0.7%) still don’t have enough popular support even to appear on this graph, even though some combination of the two parties might be able to create the largest opposition party in terms of lawmakers in the near future.

—As of today, Taro Aso is the longest-serving Finance Minister in the postwar era. Who’d of guessed?

International

—Foreign Minister Taro Kono: “Without being swayed by smile diplomacy, Japan will firmly coordinate with the United States and South Korea toward the ultimate goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.”

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