The Japan-America Society of Houston (JASH) advances mutual interest in American and Japanese peoples.  Regular business hours to resume on Tuesday LEADING U.S.-JAPAN EXCHANGE IN HOUSTON FOR 57 YEARS Sister Cities International (SCI) will hold a U.S.-Japan Sister Cities Summit September 16-19 All 460 U.S.-Japan Sister City partners will be invited along with government entities Memorialize and reaffirm the U.S.-Japan friendship “for the next 170 years” Strengthen current bilateral partnerships and develop new relationships Rejuvenate dormant U.S.-Japan sister city relationships still on pause from COVID Honor citizen diplomats who have been key to U.S.-Japan relations Cultivate the next generation of leaders and cultural bridge builders Explore opportunities for economic development between countries Participate in programming at the Osaka World Expo This year’s theme is “Celebrating Our Legacies Programs and speakers for each day of the summit will focus on the following words/concepts: The summit will be in both English and Japanese with a goal of securing 800 attendees from the U.S Through the U.S.-Japan Sister Cities Summit Sister Cities International intends to advance the shared missions of SCI State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan: cultivating people-to-people ties to foster mutual understanding and peace with other countries To learn more about the summit and secure your registration visit the summit website by clicking the buttons below: The following are Included with your summit registration: Pre-summit virtual culture and language sessions Assistance with transfer between Kansai International Airport and Star Gate Hotel (certain dates/times only) Information on local points of interest and attractions in Izumisano English-Japanese interpretation / simultaneous interpretation service during the sessions Plenary and breakout sessions at the Star Gate Hotel (Day 1 and Day 2) Izumisano Mayor’s Welcome reception (Day 1) Round-trip ground transportation and admission to Osaka World Expo (Day 3) Closing ceremony and plenary session (Day 4) Light snacks throughout each day at the Star Gate Hotel Commemorative book “The Hajimari Project: U.S.-Japan Sister City Stories of Origin” Optional additional cultural experiences (Offered to the participants and guests through Japan Tourist Bureau (JTB) More information on extra tours and options which will be booked separately and directly through JTB All content © 2025, Japan-America Society of Houston, Inc., unless otherwise noted. | 2990 Richmond Ave, Suite 670, Houston, TX 77098 | Phone: 713.963.0121 | PRIVACY POLICY Your browser does not support JavaScript, or it is disabled．Please check the site policy for more information Osaka Prefecture—A 62-year-old retiree from Suita found a couple of surprises on his journey to express gratitude for the conclusion of his working life He traveled along a pilgrimage route connecting Ise Jingu shrine in Mie Prefecture with about 150 Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines in six prefectures in the Kinki region He bought along his “goshuincho” book to collect “goshuin” seal stamps which practices the ancient ascetic religion of Shugendo he was taken aback by the sight of a young Caucasian priest The retiree was even more shocked when the priest brought his face close to the goshuincho and carefully wrote kanji characters from top to bottom for the stamp “I still feel nervous when I draw goshuin,” said the 32-year-old priest wondering how much practice the priest had put in The priest was born Alex Farley in the U.S state of Ohio.Having majored in music in college Farley initially aspired to become a teacher He came to Japan in June 2014 to gain teaching experience and landed a job at an English conversation school He had an affinity for Japanese culture as his stepmother hails from Japan but I am too quiet to be an American and am not a person who gets overly excited,” he said When he started working as a travel planner at a tour agency he became more frequently exposed to traditional culture A turning point came during the COVID-19 pandemic Although the tour agency continued to pay his salary He used the time to study Buddhism to satisfy his curiosity Farley became particularly interested in Kukai (774-835) He was inspired by the fact that Kukai underwent Buddhist training in natural surroundings Farley quit his job and enrolled in a college in Kyoto to study Buddhism But he realized that there were hardly any materials or opportunities to study Japanese Buddhism in English hoping to become a bridge between Buddhism and foreigners An acquaintance introduced the American to Tojo as someone who loves visiting temples Although the head priest had never thought about hiring a non-Japanese person it occurred to him that the temple is close to Kansai Airport and attracts many inbound tourists The live-in priest goes into the main hall at around 7 a.m. cleans up the temple’s front approach and sweeps soot from the site of the “goma kito” fire ritual “I hope I can write characters that make people happy when they receive goshuin,” he said Koken started taking calligraphy lessons several months ago “I feel embarrassed when I see goshuin that I drew earlier,” he said the path to become a priest has just begun.” who has collected about 4,000 seal stamps at temples and shrines nationwide and written books on goshuin there are only one or two places in the country where you can ask non-Japanese priests for goshuin.” Kyoto’s Tofukuji temple opens up restricted areas to draw tourists Shikoku pilgrims face higher stamp fees from April 1 Monk inserts Buddhist deity into Madonna and Child work Information on the latest cherry blossom conditions Please right click to use your browser’s translation function.) A series based on diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry Here is a collection of first-hand accounts by “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life A series about Japanese-Americans and their memories of World War II In-house News and Messages No reproduction or republication without written permission Please view the main text area of the page by skipping the main menu. The page may not be displayed properly if the JavaScript is deactivated on your browser Japanese version OSAKA — The government of the city of Izumisano plans to establish a volunteer fire corps made up entirely of foreigners within this fiscal year in what will be the first attempt of its kind in the prefecture please disable the ad blocking feature and reload the page This website uses cookies to collect information about your visit for purposes such as showing you personalized ads and content By clicking “Accept all,” you will allow the use of these cookies Users accessing this site from EEA countries and UK are unable to view this site without your consent By Setsuko Kitaguchi / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer The job of a volunteer fire corps is to rush to the sites of disasters and fires to conduct rescue and firefighting efforts Members are often company employees and students they rush to the site and assist professional firefighters by engaging in such duties as extinguishing fires Each municipal government sets criteria for appointing volunteer firefighters under its particular local ordinances There have been an increasing number of cases of foreign nationals serving as members of these corps which are in charge of local disaster prevention The expectation is that foreign volunteer firefighters will be able to respond appropriately to incidents in which foreign nationals are affected by disasters because they will be able to take into account differences in languages and living customs It is planned that the foreign members will help other foreign residents and travelers evacuate and serve as interpreters in shelters in cases when The city government plans to require foreigners who join the branch corps to be able to have daily-level conversations in Japanese and understand instructions and orders from Japanese fellow members the city government will discuss in detail with the city’s five existing branches how the foreigners-only branch is to be managed The city government aims to follow this up by revising relevant municipal ordinances and then starting operations of the new branch which is home to Kansai International Airport has established a policy of actively bringing in foreign workers residents in the city with foreign citizenship numbered at 3,028 accounting for about 3% of the total population Another factor prompting the formation of the foreigners-only volunteer fire corps was the increase in foreign tourists staying in the city following the end of the COVID-19 crisis volunteer fire corps are organized by municipal governments and their members are treated as part-time special public servants Duties of the members include ordering other people to leave fire sites and destroying buildings to prevent fires from spreading further the Cabinet Legislation Bureau in 1953 expressed the view that public servants who wield such public power need to have Japanese citizenship Because this principle has been interpreted as also applying to members of volunteer fire corps it seems that many local governments are leery of allowing foreign nationals to join volunteer fire corps of this sort the Izumisano city government has adopted a system of “function based corps” to create the corp These are members who are chosen in advance to perform particular duties The representative example is female volunteer firefighters who specialize in caring for female evacuees in shelters The city government is preparing a scheme in which foreign members of volunteer fire corps will be able to perform duties which do not constitute enforcements of Japan’s public authority The city government plans to ask foreign residents in the city to join the volunteer fire corps Crisis Management officer for the city government “The purpose is to encourage a wide range of people to get involved in the event of a disaster I want to invite foreign nationals who are interested in disaster prevention or volunteer activities to join.” According to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency (FDMA) of the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry volunteer fire corps members with foreign nationalities numbered 479 nationwide as of April 1 The number represents a 1.8-fold rise since 2020 the year the FDMA began collecting the data employ a total of 10 foreign nationals as volunteer firefighters where a large number of foreign students live the city government established a foreigners-only function based volunteer fire corps in 2015 The Yokohama city government has also assigned foreign nationals to volunteer fire corps since 2020 the city government created a “disaster prevention instruction team for foreigners,” which includes Japanese members who speak foreign languages In light of the increase in volunteer firefighters with foreign nationalities during this fiscal year the FDMA is considering setting a range of activities in which these people can take part It is likely that the status of foreigner volunteer firefighters “These efforts will effectively improve and strengthen our ability to prevent disasters in line with the actual conditions in each region.” Our weekly ePaper presents the most noteworthy recent topics in an exciting © 2025 The Japan News - by The Yomiuri Shimbun please click the box below to let us know you're not a robot Get the most important global markets news at your fingertips with a Bloomberg.com subscription A man believed to be a Ugandan athlete who went missing last week from his pre-Olympic training camp in western Japan has been found in Yokkaichi in the central prefecture of Mie a weightlifter who was staying in Izumisano went missing Friday after leaving a note at his hotel saying he wanted to work in Japan as life in his home country was difficult The city and his team had been trying to locate him with help from police adding they are trying to verify his identity and are in communication with the team and the country's embassy in Tokyo who has been taken into protective custody is responding to questioning with occasional tears The athlete and his coach were due to return to Uganda this week after the weightlifter missed out on a spot for the Tokyo Olympics due to begin Friday amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic The weightlifter purchased a shinkansen bullet train ticket to Nagoya on Friday morning He had a mobile phone but his passport was kept by the Ugandan team The Osaka police said Ssekitoleko arrived at JR Nagoya Station on Friday and joined a Ugandan man believed to be someone he knew in advance in the major central city and then moved to the neighboring prefecture of Gifu Nagoya is the prefectural capital of Aichi where about 150 Ugandan people -- the second-largest Ugandan community in Japan -- were living as of late last year Ssekitoleko was visiting Yokkaichi about 40 kilometers to the south of Nagoya The note he left behind also asked members of his delegation to give his belongings to his wife in Uganda Under the anti-COVID-19 measures put in place by Olympic organizers athletes are only allowed to go to a limited number of locations The weightlifter's disappearance from his training camp has raised further questions about the safety of the Olympics at a time when Tokyo and other parts of the country continue to reel from surging infections two members of the Ugandan delegation have tested positive for the virus was found to be infected upon arrival at Narita airport near Tokyo The remaining eight members traveled to Izumisano but a second person in their 20s was found to be infected fueling concerns over Japan's border control measures the members were able to start training from July 7 and they entered the athletes' village in Tokyo on Tuesday Missing Ugandan athlete spotted on camera at Nagoya station Ugandan athlete in Japan for Olympics goes missing leaving note To have the latest news and stories delivered to your inbox Simply enter your email address below and an email will be sent through which to complete your subscription Please check your inbox for a confirmation email Thank you for reaching out to us.We will get back to you as soon as possible has announced several upcoming tourism developments in Rinku Town located a 10-minute drive from Kansai International Airport the main gateway for air travel into Japan’s Kansai region The city made an effort to raise its tourism profile around six years ago when the then mayor pushed for more integrated resorts (IRs) and hotels to be built in Izumisano to unlock the area’s potential planning general manager for Izumisano City And while the city lost the IR bid to nearby Yumeshima – a reclaimed area in Osaka Bay – Izumisano fought on to capture the throngs of international leisure and business visitors passing through Kansai International Airport yearly A prominent project will be the Setia Izumisano City Center (SICC) a two-hectare mixed-use development scheduled to open in 2024 a conservatory with fountains and waterfalls a Malaysian real estate specialist that is also behind Setia SPICE Convention Centre in Penang and Setia City Convention Centre in Selangor “We’re working closely with our hotel partner to ensure that we cater for diverse tastes in food We want to bring in Malaysian and South-east Asian food and let Japan experience Malaysian hospitality,” S P Setia’s executive vice president Koe said: “Izumisano offers a genuine way to experience the Japanese way of life without the hordes of tourists.” other upcoming attractions in Izumisano include the Kanku Ice Arena (opening December 2019); as well as an expansion of Rinku Premium Outlets by 2020 that will add another 60 to its existing 210 shops new hotels on the cards include the Hen na Hotel Kansai Airport with 98 keys (opening November 2019); the Oriental Suites Kansai Airport with 258 guestrooms (opening winter 2019); and the Hotel WBF Grande Kansai Airport with 700 guestrooms and a rooftop bar (opening 2020) Aside from capturing the inbound crowd heading to Osaka for the World Expo 2025 Koe also shared plans to capture more Muslim travellers Calling the segment “a well of untapped potential” he believes that the SICC will “inspire confidence in visiting Muslim tourists” due to Setia’s “experience and knowledge of designing and constructing Muslim-friendly buildings and environments Kansai International Airport is already a Muslim-friendly airport we just have to polish and generate the story,” concluded Koe Seafront stays and heritage charm at Penang Marriott Hotel Is Your Business Listed On TTGmice Planner Online Most Japanese local governments have fluffy promotional mascots—–known colloquially as yuru kyara—that incorporate something famous about the locality.  a city in the south of Osaka Prefecture bordering the Kansai International Airport but a canine superhero wrestler bursting with brawn Named after nearby Mount Inunaki and designed by the author of the popular Kinnikuman (Muscle Man) manga series Inunakin’s motto is “to make utmost effort.” the city that has been single-handedly wrestling the central government over a controversial donation scheme for local government Inunakin (left) shows off his second-place medal alongside other winning mascots at the 2019 Yuru Kyara Grand Prix in Nagano the furusato nōzei (hometown tax payment) system allows taxpayers to donate a portion of their local taxes to a local government of their choice local governments send gifts—oftentimes local produce the scheme exploded in popularity in 2015 after the maximum amount that could be deducted doubled to 20% Efforts to attract donations have triggered fierce competition among local governments offering ever more lavish gifts Izumisano became Japan’s top donor recipient in 2019 raking in ¥50 billion through aggressive campaigns featuring high-value goods and Amazon gift cards The sum represents nearly a tenth of all donations nationwide and more than double the city’s average annual local tax revenues (around ¥20 billion) Facing mounting criticism that the donation system was getting out of hand issuing guidelines advising localities to limit the value of return gifts to no more than 30% of the donation and restrict gifts to locally sourced goods When the law was finally changed to reflect these guidelines in June of 2019 the internal affairs ministry excluded Izumisano and three other municipalities from the scheme claiming the local governments were abusing the system The city first took the issue for dispute arbitration and then sued the ministry in the Osaka High Court Although the court ruled against Izumisano in January a black belt in Judo and former American football player is promising “to fight to the end.” I sat down with Mayor Chiyomatsu to talk about the city’s ongoing spat with the central government and what it says about local autonomy in Japan The peculiar hometown donation tax system reveals much about challenges facing local governments and the risks of half-baked schemes counting on market competition to vitalize regions Izumisano Mayor Chiyomatsu Hiroyasu (left) speaks at a press conference in Osaka on January 30 regarding the Osaka High Court’s ruling “The government envisioned the hometown tax as a clever way of encouraging local communities to come up with ideas to attract extra funding,” says Chiyomatsu “But  when competition over-heated and brash local governments like ours appeared the ministry of internal affairs feared things were getting out of control and in a panic changed the law.” Inaugurated under the leadership of current Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide the system was designed so citizens could give back to their “hometowns” and other local communities that were dear to them The scheme was also part of a broader effort to combat over-centralization with donations redistributing a measure of the large tax revenues from big cities to rural regions facing depopulation Even as central government subsidies and funding to local governments were reduced municipalities and prefectures were encouraged to compete for donations that they could use to revive their communities four million taxpayers had donated a total of ¥510 billion Since total local residence tax revenues are around ¥13 trillion this still represents a fraction of tax revenues that theoretically could be deducted if all Japanese citizens donated the maximum deductible amount Izumisano and a handful of aggressive local governments bought the ire of other cities less successful in attracting donations the Osaka High Court stated that the city had “greatly impacted other municipalities by collecting donations in ways that go against the scheme's original purposes.” Complaints from other localities and a desire to keep things in check led the ministry to publish ever stringent regulations and eventually revise the law “The government’s handling of the hometown donation tax system has revealed how decentralization is not progressing but is being reversed,” says Chiyomatsu “The independence and autonomy of regions promoted by the central government in recent years basically meant ‘don’t depend on us.’ But when our city took the initiative When Izumisano appealed to the Supreme Court earlier this year it noted that the ministry of internal affair’s decision was “an arbitrary and unconstitutional act that undermined local autonomy.” by excluding Izumisano and other municipalities Until the revisions to the hometown tax donation law there were no legal restrictions on what kind or value of gifts local governments could send donors the scheme originally did not envision such “return gifts” at all the series of ministry guidelines on gifts such as keeping their value under 30% of the donation were nonbinding “technical advice.” Since Japan passed a series of decentralization laws in 2000 central and local governments are theoretically on equal footing; central ministries may advise local governments but they may not punish them for not following such advice “So now we are fighting till the end so as to not leave a source of problems for the future of local autonomy in Japan,” Chiyomatsu says There is no question that Mayor Chiyomatsu has made utmost effort to generate revenue for his city of 100,000 the central government designated Izumisano as a local government needing to improve its finances stemming largely from debts  of over ¥90 billion incurred to build facilities related to Kansai International Airports (partly in the city’s territory shared with two neighboring municipalities with the bridge being solely within Izumisano) who studied economics at Dōshisha University and Lincoln University in the United States and later worked for Kyoto-based Horiba Engineering the city pursued innovative revenue-raising schemes like selling naming rights of the city and applying taxes on use of the bridge to Kansai International But it was the hometown donation system in which Izumisano struck gold the city signed a comprehensive deal with Trustbank Inc. a company running a popular internet platform for hometown tax donations Izumisano promised the company bonus remuneration if the city became number one in donation revenues nationally such as locally manufactured towels and mileage points for Peach Aviation (a locally based budget airline) eventually adding Amazon gift cards on top of such offerings Chiyomatsu explains that some ¥17 billion of the ¥50 billion raised in donations in 2019 remained even after deducting the costs of return gifts and administration “For a city whose annual revenues are about twenty billion yen Izumisano has relatively large local tax revenues and only receives 6.7% from local allocation tax “Izumisano fought to the end because we aren’t easily controlled by tax allocations,” explains Chiyomatsu Referring to a town in Shizuoka that was also excluded last year and quickly went cap in hand to Tokyo to apologize to the ministry “If we’d been in their situation the ministry of internal affairs threatened to reduce the city’s subsidies and in fact cut its special revenue-sharing grants twice last year The mayor says the city is considering a separate lawsuit if it decides to cut allocations again Chiyomatsu enjoyed backing from different quarters in the ongoing struggle: the governor of Osaka who is from the Japan Innovation Party and champions local autonomy; sympathetic Diet members; as well as local voters the mayor sailed to a third consecutive term despite the Osaka branch of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party pulling its support over his antagonistic position to the central government supporters frequently shouted out to me to keep up the fight,” says Chiyomatsu Looking beyond Izumisano’s experience the hometown donation tax scheme is riddled with systemic problems much of it undealt with in last year’s legal changes Foremost is the question of loss of revenue for individual municipalities and the state as a whole The bulk of donors are in larger cities in populous regions—Kanagawa and Setagaya have seen drastic outflows of residence tax revenues due to donations The central government compensates three-quarters of these losses of revenue with extra tax allocations further weighing on already dire national finances More problematic is how net revenue to the state is lost by maintaining this gift-giving scheme in order to pay commissions to internet platform services and advertisers as well as purchase and ship return gifts all costs must be kept under half of the received donations Japan last fiscal year lost ¥250 billion in taxes that could have been used for public services and initiatives to revive local economies these losses could expand if more taxpayers decide to participate in the racket There is also the regressive nature of the tax deduction scheme to consider the more you can donate and deduct from your local taxes amassing ever more “gifts” from across Japan a system of “catalogue shopping” and “government-legitimated tax avoidance.” Such actions privatize the benefits of what should be a public resource More worryingly it erodes trust in the fairness of the taxation system Nor is it clear that short-term surges of donations will help revitalize local economies sustainably an expert on reviving regional communities has called the hometown tax donation system “bad competition leading to bad results” encouraging “first-come first-served” behavior that disregards the public good Kinoshita writes: “The central government shouldn’t be fanning this nonsensical competition for short-lived resources but rather decentralize fiscal resources and design incentives which encourage localities to invest in their economies for the long term.” The scheme also undermines support for decentralization and local self-determination by rewarding beggar-thy-neighbor competition called for localities to take initiative and be more independent the overall results from their institutional tweaks to the local government system have been dismal: overconcentration of wealth and population in Tokyo continues says that “leaders must make the effort rather than waiting idly by and looking on enviously.” This is certainly true But even if we accept the need for greater innovative efforts among local governments and residents it is not clear whether a level playing field can be achieved The new scheme is not fair for all regions Return gifts must basically be locally sourced and all costs must be within 50% of the donation received “Municipalities with popular local produce have an unfair advantage,” points out Chiyomatsu or crabs—the so-called three sacred items of hometown tax donations—or similar attractive goods regions far from the major cities where most wealthy donors live will need to pay higher freight costs forcing them to offer less valuable return gifts “The central government should ideally let local governments decide what  rules should apply to the hometown tax donation system as they know what’s best for themselves,” says Chiyomatsu but whether a more equitable and less restrictive system would emerge from agreements among Japan’s 1,800 or so local governments is less clear as the sovereign referee and guardian of all local communities in Japan the central government must think long and hard about the viability of this donation scheme Tokyo has focused its energy on punishing those who step out of line while papering over the cracks of a poorly thought-out system Banner photo: Izumisano Mayor Chiyomatsu Hiroyasu (center) on January 30 with municipal officials and legal team outside the Osaka High Court prior to hearing the ruling in the city’s case against the central government. © Jiji.) National Report The Osaka District Court ruled in favor of Izumisano city against the central government over the city’s funding being clawed back because of the high amount it raised through the hometown tax donation program had argued it was unfair that the government reduced its tax revenue funding allocation by hundreds of millions in yen just because it had attracted a large amount of donations Called "furusato nozei," the popular program lets citizens direct some of their residential tax payments toward a local government of their choice A portion of those payments are returned to them in the form of gifts from the municipalities Izumisano became a popular place for people to send their donations because of the wide range of gifts it offers in exchange Presiding Judge Osamu Yamaji accepted the city’s argument and revoked the government’s decision to significantly reduce the payment He said the central government did not have the authority to reduce the funding like that under the Local Tax Allocation Law the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications had revised an ordinance in 2019 so it could include the donations local authorities receive through the hometown tax donation system in calculating how much funding to give them The government collects taxes from people on behalf of prefectures and municipalities and then later transfers money back to local governments The government had judged that Izumisano had ample funding because of the flood of donations it gets through the hometown tax system it slashed a special type of local tax allocation for the city in fiscal 2019 to around 53 million yen ($450,000) which is about 440 million yen less than the previous fiscal year The judge said the amended ordinance could significantly harm the budgets of local authorities who receive large amounts of donations through the program He dismissed the government’s argument that the amended ordinance was intended to correct funding disparities among local authorities and ensure fairness by granting more money to the ones with less available funds “I would like to pay my respects to the sensible decision by the court,” he said “I hope the ministry will withdraw the illegal ordinance.” Internal affairs minister Yasushi Kaneko said it is too early to comment on the matter “I will consider our response after scrutinizing the ruling and speaking with the relevant ministries and agencies,” he said (This article was written by Yuto Yoneda and Hiroki Koizumi.) Tomato juice at $57 a bottle a surprise hit this winter Crowd-funding drive saved lathe used for battleship Yamato Japanese version Osaka Prefecture--A second member of Uganda's Olympic delegation has tested positive for the novel coronavirus after the team was allowed to travel to its host city here despite a team coach testing positive at Narita Airport Izumisano officials announced June 23 that a Ugandan athlete in their 20s tested positive for the virus through a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test on June 22 The coach was found to be infected after a PCR test at the airport outside Tokyo on June 19 when the team arrived in Japan The fact that the team was permitted to leave the airport afterward has incited criticism from lawmakers and heads of local governments questioning if the anti-virus border control measures and “bubble” promised by the Tokyo Olympics organizers to contain infections are working Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura on June 22 said that the rest of the team “were supposed to be kept at Narita.” Izumisano Mayor Hiroyasu Chiyomatsu said that day that the airport's quarantine officers should have identified who had been in close contact with the coach at an early stage Izumisano's prefectural health center has begun trying to determine who came into close contact with the athlete who tested positive City officials who traveled to Narita Airport to welcome the team have been ordered to self-quarantine at home The delegation of nine arrived at Narita on the evening of June 19 Despite all members having all their required documents and vaccination records The remaining eight tested negative in antigen tests but quarantine officers did not check the members to ascertain if they had been in close contact with the coach during the long flight to Japan The team was allowed to leave and arrived at a hotel in Izumisano They have been self-isolating in the hotel City officials announced June 22 that the eight members and a city employee who accompanied the team from Uganda were identified as having had close contact with the coach and will have their health monitored constantly until July 3 city officials give a testing kit to the team and collect samples from its members Uganda case raises fears athletes may slip through net Uganda Olympic team member tests positive for COVID-19 Ugandan Olympic team delayed after flight canceled Three people with virus flouted quarantine Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Website Feedback OnlyPlease leave your website feedback comments below kindly provide the steps you took so we can replicate the issue For general council inquiries, please see Council Contact page You can use CTR+V to paste a screenshot from your clipboard directly into the textarea above Otherwise you can upload a file from your computer below Council today welcomed the Izumisano City winner of the competition Eleena Jackson from Matthew Flinders Anglican College returned from her prize week in Hinako's hometown The Sunshine Coast has just enjoyed a month of promotion throughout schools and venues in Izumisano City in Japan thanks to an art competition with a difference Sunshine Coast Council today welcomed the Izumisano City winner of the competition returned from her prize week in Hinako’s hometown Community Programs Councillor Jenny McKay said in a unique cultural exchange initiative the SUNED association arranged for Year 5 students in both the Sunshine Coast and Izumisano regions to create artworks that gave a sense of what their home region meant to them “Each city judged the best 20 from the other’s region – and awarded a first second and third placegetter,” Cr McKay said “The winner and one of their parents were provided a free one-week trip to the other’s city with SUNED funding the Japanese visitors to the Coast and Izumisano City Council funding the Sunshine Coast visitors to Japan on the Sunshine Coast judging panel of the Izumisano students’ artwork “The Izumisano City judges of our students’ paintings were Mr Hiroyasu Chiyomatsu - Mayor and Mr Tatsuhiro Nakafuji - Superintendent of Education." local residents have the opportunity to view Hinako’s winning artwork along with the 19 finalists from Izumisano at Nambour Kawana and Caloundra libraries during the first two weeks of April Mr Salsbury said apart from encouraging the artistic talents of the students the cultural exchange was also a means to promote each other’s region were sent on a roadshow through the city of Izumisano visiting all schools and being seen by many potential visitors to the Coast,” Mr Salsbury said “We’ve had great support from Mayor Jamieson’s office Cr McKay and Sunshine Coast Destinations from day one of this project extolling the Coast as a family friendly destination for international visitors works in very well with the Coast’s 'naturally refreshing' brand.” Eleena Jackson and her father Stewart visited Izumisano from March 13-20 while Hinako Yoshida and her mother Kayo are visiting the Sunshine Coast from March 24-29 Experience Sunshine Coast Living and community Environment Business Development Council Pay and apply Last updated :  06:00 AM, Fri 04 Apr 2025   © Sunshine Coast Regional Council 2008–2025 Police investigating if suspect is mentally stable to criminally charge him I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Police in Japan arrested a man accused of stabbing people with a knife on a train in western Osaka city who was carrying three knives at the time of the attack on Sunday was arrested from the platform of Rinku Tow station immediately after the stabbings including a 24-year-old train conductor and two passengers were injured after a man suddenly attacked them following an altercation Police officers responded to an emergency call from another passenger at 10am local time on Sunday A dramatic video of the police’s encounter with the knife-wielding man showed police ordering him to drop the knives while others encircled him who was wearing a black t-shirt and grey pants with a mask hanging on his face ignored police calls and sat on the ground before he was tackled by a police officer who used a stick to knock off the weapons from his hands to arrest him The suspect said he had “trouble” with the passengers and claimed to be mentally unfit Officials said they are investigating the incident and examining if the man is mentally stable to be charged with criminal offences told the outlet that the suspect approached a 23-year-old man and slashed his neck in a sudden attack The woman said he did not say anything and began attacking “The man (who was slashed) jumped up and covered his neck and face with his hands,” she said The attack took place on Rinku Town station which is closest to one of the largest shopping malls in the city and a stop away from Kansai International Airport Violent crimes have remained a rarity in Japan mainly due to its stringent gun control laws resulting in only a few gun-related offences each year There has been a notable shift in recent times with some prominent incidents involving random knifings on subways and arson attacks there is a rising apprehension surrounding the emergence of homemade guns and explosives prompting growing concerns within the nation former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe was gunned down by a man who emerged from a crowd in one of the most high-profile killings the country has seen The suspect, who was identified as 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami, was arrested immediately after the attack “holding a cylinder-shaped object”, police had said. The latest incident came two days after a knife-wielding man stabbed at least four pedestrians in South Korea’s Seoul, killing one person and injuring others. The incident happened in Gwanak-gu on Friday in the proximity to Seoul National University and a 30-year-old suspect was arrested for the fatal stabbing. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies govt and politics","score":0.852899},{"label":"/society/crime/personal offense/homicide","score":0.826033},{"label":"/law govt and politics/law enforcement","score":0.774884},{"label":"/society/crime/personal offense/assault","score":0.709618},{"label":"/law Osaka Prefecture--A 37-year-old man was arrested July 23 at a train station in Osaka after an incident that left three people with stab wounds according to the Senshu-Minami Regional Fire Department A station attended alert emergency services around 10:30 a.m that a conductor had been stabbed in the face at Rinku Town Station in  Izumisano was arrested on the spot on suspicion of attempted murder said it temporarily suspended services between Hineno and Kansai Airport Station on the Kansai Airport Line Expert: Packed station during bullet train delay grew ‘dangerous’ Man arrested on suspicion of attempted arson on Shinkansen Today's print edition Home Delivery The number of immigration law violators who were deported rose by over 65% in 2023 the year after Japan lifted COVID-19 border restrictions Immigration Services Agency data showed Friday The number of those deported rose to 8,024 from 4,795 in 2022 18,198 foreign nationals were subject to deportation procedures in 2023 nearly doubling from 10,300 the year before.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); Deportation procedures result in two outcomes overstayers and other immigration law violators are subject to deportation and will be detained until their departure They cannot reenter Japan for at least the next five years Those who voluntarily report themselves to the immigration authorities with an intention to depart from Japan are given less severe departure orders meaning they can avoid being detained before they are deported They are allowed to reenter after one year Among the 18,198 people who underwent deportation procedures 9,197 were given the less strict departure orders Of those who were subject to deportation as of the end of 2023 2,929 were given provisional release based on humanitarian and other considerations Foreign nationals who were subjected to the procedure hailed from 95 countries and regions with Vietnam occupying the largest share at 38.2% followed by Thailand (3,171) and China (2,059) while 340 illegally landed or entered the country and 175 had engaged in activities not explicitly authorized by their visas Some 12,384 were confirmed to have engaged in unlawful employment Kanto had the highest number and share of illegal workers at 8,983 and 72.5% which includes the manufacturing heartland of Aichi Prefecture Ibaraki Prefecture had the highest number for a prefecture at 2,748 In a time of both misinformation and too much information quality journalism is more crucial than ever.By subscribing Your subscription plan doesn't allow commenting. To learn more see our FAQ Sponsored contents planned and edited by JT Media Enterprise Division Local officials are searching for a Ugandan athlete who went missing in western Japan on Friday in a case raising questions over Japanese organizers' oversight of Olympic participants amid local coronavirus concerns The missing 20-year-old Julius Ssekitoleko was training as part of the nine-member Ugandan team in Izumisano Teammates realized the athlete was absent around noon Friday when his saliva test sample was not delivered and they found his hotel room empty There was no training Friday morning and he was last seen in his room in the early hours of Friday After failing to find him inside the hotel officials notified police for a broader search who did not meet Olympic standards in the latest international rankings Media said he left a note saying he wanted to stay in Japan and work said officials had received reports of possible sightings of Ssekitoleko at a nearby train station The pandemic-delayed Olympics begin on July 23 despite mounting concern about Tokyo's upsurge of infections The host city on Friday reported 1,271 cases after hitting a six-month high at 1,308 the day before The Ugandan team has featured before in Japan's health and surveillance system On their arrival on June 19 at Narita International Airport a member of the team tested positive and was quarantined there while the remaining eight members were allowed to travel more than 500 kilometers (300 miles) on a chartered bus to Izumisano their pre-Olympics camp in the western prefecture of Osaka a second member of the team from East Africa tested positive for the virus forcing seven town officials and drivers who had close contact with the team to self-isolate Health officials said both infected Ugandans had the delta variant Both team members have since ended their quarantine requirement and the team has been training since July 7 The case prompted the Japanese authorities to step up border controls and change isolation policy to require entire groups to quarantine in airport areas when any member tests positive While Japanese officials have required the use of health and location apps and restricted activity in a “bubble” to fully isolate athletes from the Japanese public Monitors pledged earlier by Olympic Minister Tamayo Marukawa have not been seen operating at a number of hotels Marukawa told reporters Friday that she is asking organizers to strengthen measures and increase surveillance staff at hotels to make sure rules are followed Olympic athlete on Ugandan team reported missing in Osaka 2nd member of Uganda Olympic team infected with coronavirus FACTBOX--Coronavirus outbreaks at the Tokyo Olympics Osaka Prefecture--A labor union at a major airport ground service provider has threatened to break a key labor-management agreement as it demands fewer flights be serviced to rein in ballooning overtime work If the agreement governing overtime and holiday work is scrapped Swissport Japan employees will not be able to work after their designated hours “We do not have the capacity to accept the current number of flights,” Masaki Arashiro told The Asahi Shimbun in a recent interview “We need to reduce the number of flights we handle.” provides airport ground services and air cargo handling at six airports Haneda Airport and Kansai International Airport 16 it had been notified that the labor union would break the agreement at the end of November unless working conditions are improved Arashiro said workloads have sharply increased since October of last year as the number of international flights rebounded following the COVID-19 pandemic and workers have been experiencing a manpower shortage He said employees working beyond the monthly overtime limit of 45 hours under the labor law has become the norm “Some union members are putting in more than 100 hours of overtime a month,” he said His union organizes about 90 percent of the company’s 1,400 or so regular employees which is 51 percent owned by Switzerland-based Swissport International and 49 percent owned by trading house Marubeni Corp. has said it hopes to maintain the labor-management agreement by improving the situation the general rule is to work eight hours a day and 40 hours a week and a labor-management agreement based on Article 36 must be concluded if these statutory maximum hours are exceeded Facing an industry-wide labor shortage and high turnover airport ground services companies have said they will increase recruitment and develop human resources Swissport has increased the number of employees by more than 50 percent from the approximately 1,000 as of December But Arashiro said training new employees has not kept pace with the workload and that much of the work has therefore been concentrated on employees with the necessary qualifications and experience “Exhausted veteran employees are quitting one after another,” he said Arashiro acknowledged there are concerns among union members about causing inconveniences to customers such as forcing airlines to cancel flights he emphasized that cutting back on the workload is a priority “It will be too late if someone dies from overwork or gets involved in a serious accident because of it,” he said He also said improving the working environment will help the company secure workers Survey: Two in three do not report overtime from teleworking Famed roll cake shop in Hyogo twice warned for labor abuse Overtime budget requests reflect long work hours of bureaucrats Mitsubishi Motors worker’s suicide certified as death from overwork Yamaha English School teachers win regular employee status Accenture referred to prosecutors over illegal overtime Osaka — Her hamburger recipe had won a contest But was it good enough to become commercially successful Miyo Okuno is one of a number of entrepreneurs getting a chance to give their business dream a test run by means of a project that recently started in Izumisano Prospective business owners are making use of a shared facility created from an abandoned house in Izumisano that allows them to open trial shops to gain experience before opening their own enterprises The project is a collaboration between the public and private sectors that allows novice business operators to open small “challenge shops” in Share Base Tsumugiya a renovated vacant house located in front of Izumisano Station on the Nankai Line it can be used by those wishing to open their food-related establishments “We hope that this facility will become a springboard for a new wave of vitality for the city,” said a person involved in the project Share Base Tsumugiya is a project of Value Renovations Sano (VRS) which was established chiefly by the municipal government with the aim of reviving and revitalizing urban areas by offering support to those looking to open a business One challenge shop is the hamburger stand run in the afternoon by Izumisano resident Okuno whose main selling point is the use of local produce Although Okuno had never even worked at a restaurant she attended a restaurant management school for six months and learned business administration and basic cooking knowledge through practical training The spark that led her to open a hamburger shop of her own was lit at a contest for recipes using locally produced ingredients held over January and February this year Her recipe for a hamburger made from a minced Inunaki pork pate Senshu onions and mizunasu eggplants took the Grand Prize Learning she could open a challenge shop in front of the station gave her added incentive I wanted to try to achieve my dream,” she said which is chock full of local ingredients and served on a bun made from the Omimai brand of rice her stock of 30 burger sets sold out in an hour and a half “I got a variety of opinions after having people try it for themselves,” she said She said she is looking for a place in the city where she can open her own full-scale hamburger shop Among the other challenge shops within Tsumugiya are a bar With the latest declaration of a state of emergency the shops are for now mainly limited to takeout VRS charges fees starting at ¥3,600 a day for food establishments and from ¥1,100 a day for retailers and continues to accept applicants to open shops we want them in the end to go out on their own and open businesses in the city which will in turn revitalize the city,” said Kuniaki Nishino VRS manager and the municipality’s director of local community revitalization we’d like people to use this facility to build a brand image.” Japan’s handling of Olympic delegations arriving from overseas was brought into question after a member of Uganda’s team tested positive for COVID-19 at Narita Airport and was placed in quarantine while the other team members continued on to their training camp in Osaka Prefecture No additional tests were performed on the remaining eight team members after they tested negative in antigen tests given at the airport outside Tokyo Lawmakers voiced doubts about the decision not to quarantine the entire Ugandan delegation before they left the airport during a meeting with government officials on June 21 “Seeing as the other eight individuals traveled together with the person who tested positive it is surely reasonable to assume that they were all in close contact,” said a lawmaker with the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan who questioned the health screening setup at airports “They should not have been allowed to leave the airport.” coaches and officials will descend on Tokyo next month for the Summer Games that kick off July 23 The Ugandan team arrived at Narita around 6 p.m All the members had documentation showing they had been fully vaccinated prior to departure and had tested negative for COVID-19 a coach was found to be infected after a PCR test was given at the airport The PCR test was performed as a safeguard after an earlier antigen test did not produce a definitive result The other delegation members tested negative in antigen tests and were not required to undergo an additional PCR test They left the airport by chartered bus early June 20 to reach the team's training site in Izumisano city Officials in Izumisano announced June 22 that the eight members and a city employee who accompanied the team from Uganda are having their health condition monitored constantly due to fears they might have been exposed to the novel coronavirus The prefectural health center there identified them as a group at risk they have all tested negative during daily PCR tests Quarantine officers at Narita did not check the members to ascertain if they had been in close contact with the coach during the long flight to Japan The team arrived at a hotel in Izumisano later that morning They are effectively self-isolating in the hotel health ministry officials said the task of identifying individuals at risk of having become infected with the virus lies with local public health officials wherever team members are staying “Local authorities are supposed to determine who has been in close contact based on information on passengers that airlines provide to the central government,” said one official But another lawmaker took issue with the ministry’s approach likening it to passing the buck to a public health center in a local region a prefectural official expressed anger over the central government’s decision to permit the Ugandan team to leave the airport saying it posed an unacceptable risk if the virus has already been passed to other members during the journey from the airport in Chiba Prefecture “Since the infection of one person was confirmed at Narita Airport the central government should have identified who were at risk of contracting the virus,” the prefectural official said passengers seated within two rows of an infected individual during a flight are required to have their health monitored on a regular basis upon arrival in Japan The public health center in Izumisano said identifying such individuals is possible if information is made available such as physical distance of others who were seated close by whether they wore masks and how long they spent chatting with the infected individual Japanese version A council comprising a company that operates three airports in the Kansai region and other stakeholders confirmed a plan on Monday to increase takeoff and landing slots at two of the airports The move comes on expectations of increased demand for air travel during the 2025 World Exposition to be held in the city of Osaka for six months from mid-April 2025.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); The upper limit on the number of takeoff and landing slots at Kansai International Airport in Osaka Prefecture will be raised to 60 per hour from 45 currently — a 30% increase Osaka Prefecture--A record-low 6.55 million passengers passed through the gates at Kansai International Airport here in 2020 a year-on-year plunge of 79 percent caused by the COVID-19 pandemic That total fell short even of the figure for domestic-only Itami Airport also in Osaka Prefecture saw a steady stream of cancellations of international flights after travel restrictions were introduced in February last year The number of international passengers at the airport in 2020 decreased by 86 percent year-on-year to 3.5 million including 2.15 million non-Japanese flyers while domestic passengers declined by 56 percent to 3.05 million after leisure and business travel demand dropped over infection concerns Itami Airport reported a 54-percent decrease to 7.67 million its lowest total since opening in February 2006 The combined passenger traffic at the three airports was 15.85 million Low-cost carriers (LCCs) were hit particularly hard The number of LCCs using Kansai International Airport has sharply increased since the mid-2010s when visa requirements were eased for Chinese and Southeast Asian tourists That rise helped to push passenger numbers to five straight annual record highs until 2019 Kansai International Airport offered 1,409 international round trip flights weekly during the peak winter period in January 2020 such flights had decreased to around 50 a week Airlines based at Kansai International Airport are bracing for continuing tough times this year will reduce its domestic flights in February to 48 percent of its initial plan plans to abolish services on three routes to and from Fukuoka Kansai Airports is also expected to lose money with so few inbound tourists using the duty-free shops and restaurants at the airports PRIVATIZED AIRPORTS IN PREDICAMENT Kansai International and Itami airports became the first privatized airports in Japan in April 2016 many privatized airports attracted LCCs to cash in on the soaring number of inbound tourists The pandemic destroyed that business strategy saw 288,000 passengers--all domestic travelers--between April and December last year down by 79 percent from the same period the previous year The airport operator also canceled plans to extend the passenger terminal building to expand international services Construction was originally scheduled to begin in the business year starting in April 2020 because prospects remain uncertain,” said an official of the airport operator whose shareholders include Mitsubishi Estate Co whose operation has been taken over by a consortium comprising Nishi-Nippon Railroad Co. reported a year-on-year drop of 99 percent in international passenger traffic to 3,000 between April and September last year The consortium is required to pay about 14 billion yen ($133.42 million) to the central government every year in exchange for the right to operate the airport But after posting an operating loss of 7.8 billion yen the consortium was unable to pay the fee for the business years ending in March 2021 and March 2022 Hiroshima Airport was expected to be privatized in April this year Passenger traffic at the airport was 589,000 between April and December 2020 a 76-percent drop from the same period in 2019 The airport operator is now unsure if it can implement its plans to significantly expand international services “All privatized airports face financial difficulties because their strategies to increase inbound tourists backfired while domestic travel decreased,” said Kazusei Kato a Keio University professor specializing in transport economics “Inbound tourists will return some day as long as economic growth continues in Asian countries It is important to envision the time after the coronavirus pandemic and make preparations such as speeding up the immigration process.” Japan Airlines forecasts record annual loss of $3.6 billion Tourists visiting Okinawa drop 63% in 2020 amid pandemic Japanese version Japanese version Japanese version After building an artificial island in Osaka Bay to host a gleaming officials discovered it was sinking into the sea the high-stakes deal to privatize Kansai International Airport could be at risk of a similar fate an embarrassing setback in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's drive to attract investments and cut its massive debt.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); The problem: the government agency running the bid refuses to budge on an $18-billion price tag that makes Kansai six times as expensive as a comparable deal in 2013 for airports in Portugal which was originally published in Japanese language on 09 February and texts are drawn with incredible concentration A meticulous world of typography created by an artists who has been a member at <YELLOW> in Izumisano Osaka for 10 years There is one man who is facing the studio wall hunched over When I looked over his shoulder to see what he was doing he was drawing letters as if an architect was drafting a plan using a ruler for straight lines and the cap of the pen for curved lines 声をかけると突然のサービスショット。作品に描かれる日付はその作業を行なった日だそう。 When I talked to him he suddenly posed for the camera The dates written into the artwork are the days that he worked on the piece Yoshiyasu Hirano is an artist at atelier <YELLOW> in Izumisano Osaka The director of <YELLOW> Yuichi Higaki and says: “before he was drawing only twice a month at another facility but I couldn’t not recognize his talent.” He has been coming to <YELLOW> since 2008 and his art has blossomed In 2016 he won the top award at the ‘Osaka Finding New Talent In Contemporary Art World Project’ and many others He started to draw letters over the animals and erasing them I thought that maybe he just wants to draw letters so one day I gave him a newspaper and then he started to draw letters one after another I am happy that he found something that he can concentrate and draw Eventually he was able to win awards with his letters.” He also takes letter from English newspapers On drawing paper letters are drawn with hardly any space in between There are many words there such as “discrepancy” or “Russia.” I try to find meanings in these fragmented words but Higaki says: “he is just choosing letters that he likes the shape of.” When I took this comment into consideration and looked at his artwork as a whole a beautiful world immerged made up of small straight and curved lines The Hirano-style typography art makes us realized how naïve we are trying to capture the world with our stereotypes and preconditions A large work the size of 1455mm × 950mm that took six months to complete I wondered if there was any change to Hirano after participating in the studio for 10 years and continuing to draw “His mother told us that his autism became lighter before he couldn’t cross the road with construction because it was too loud for him Maybe he has more capacity to deal with his feelings after drawing Follow us on social media for notifications about The Nippon Foundation DIVERSITY IN THE ARTS events This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Find an agent with the right local expertise Sign up as a PRO agent for only RM2.19 a day OSAKA (Oct 5): Malaysia Housing and Local Government (KPKT) Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin and the Mayor of Izumisano City in Osaka Hiroyasu Chiyomatsu expect S P Setia Bhd’s upcoming mixed development in Izumisano City to create economic benefits for both countries The housing minister had a meeting with Chiyomatsu at Izumisano City Hall in Osaka Japan this morning and both were then briefed on the Setia Izumisano City Centre (SICC) development by S P Setia senior executive vice-president Datuk Koe Peng Kang Also present were S P Setia president and CEO Datuk Khor Chap Jen and deputy president and chief operating officer Datuk Wong Tuck Wai SICC will have the features of both Japan and Malaysia This is a good approach by the (Izumisano) City Hall to bring the perspectives of other countries into a local development especially those from Asean and Middle East countries,” Zuraida said in her speech at the meeting which was an extension of a study tour to Japan organised by EdgeProp Malaysia with support from Panasonic Chiyomatsu is also upbeat about the project's potential in drawing more tourists to the city “Izumisano is a good gateway city that is receiving many visitors around the world particularly after the relaxation of Visas and the LCCs (low cost carriers) coming through the Kansai International Airport We are now recording about 7.6 million visitors a year via the airport “The (number of) visitors from Malaysia is about 150,000 I’m sure the number will increase,” he said Expected to be completed over the next few years SICC is on a 4.9-acre site opposite Rinku Premium Outlet and about 6km away from the Kansai International Airport the development is expected to become a lifestyle destination that caters to various needs with its residential food and cultural; as well as healthcare and wellness “We want to create a destination that will cater to visitors from the Kansai International Airport around the clock “This project involves talents from both countries such as Malaysian architects and Japanese engineers and consultants we hope to create an outstanding project,” he said More highlights on the Japan study tour in EdgeProp.my’s Special Report on Sustainable especially those from Asean and Middle East countries.” As one of the leading property developers in Malaysia Eco World Development Group Bhd (EcoWorld) has been keeping its ear to the ground Determined to cater to homebuyers’ actual needs the company has carried out surveys and researches to gain such insights The end goal of the property developer is simple – to build quality homes and sustainable townships that not only meet the needs of today but of the future.. More than 200,000 sale/rent listings and daily property news EdgeProp.my is Malaysia's most useful property website for home buyers and investors you can find daily breaking news on property and hundreds of thousands of properties for sale and rent with detailed information such as past transacted prices Whether you are looking to buy or rent properties we have the most comprehensive property listings in Malaysia for all popular property types in the market - condominiums and apartments residential land and commercial properties Interested in new property launches in Malaysia Check out our featured new launches by top property developers in Malaysia