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TOKYO ? A manhunt that riveted Japan ended Friday when police captured a Chinese convict who bolted from a Hiroshima penitentiary clad only in his underwear in the country’s first prison break in more than two decades.

Police found Li Guolin, who was serving a 23-year sentence for attempted murder, near an elementary school in the southern Japan city on Friday.

Japan’s public broadcaster, NHK, broke into programming to show police taking him into custody. He wore a heavy jacket and ski cap pulled down over his face. NHK said he had a knife when he was arrested.

Li is suspected of breaking into a apartment to steal clothes after he jumped the prison walls on Wednesday. According to the Japanese media, he also stole a beer while he was there ? police reportedly found his DNA on a can he left behind.

Hiroshima police confirmed his arrest, but had no further comment. Officials said it was the first prison break from a Japanese penitentiary since 1989.

The government’s top spokesman apologized for the escape and vowed tougher measures to keep inmates from breaking out. Li managed to climb over a wall inside the prison campus and then use scaffolding to get over the 16-foot (5-meter) outer wall, which was under construction for repairs. Sensors on the wall were turned off because of the repair work.

“We apologize for causing serious safety concerns to the neighbors,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said. “We’ll make sure that prisons and related institutions take steps so that they will never repeat the same mistake.”

Li, believed to be the leader of a gang of burglars, was convicted in 2005 for shooting at a police officer and stealing a squad car.

Nearly 800 officers had been assigned to the hunt for Li, who had been jailed for shooting at an officer and stealing a squad car in 2005.

The escape was the first ever from the Hiroshima prison. A corrections official with the Justice Ministry said the last escape by an inmate from within a Japanese prison was in 1989.

Li escaped by ducking out of an outdoor exercise session.

Li was sent to the Hiroshima prison in 2008.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/japan/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120113/ap_on_re_as/as_japan_jailbreak

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TOKYO ? Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda replaced five Cabinet members Friday in a bid to win more cooperation from the opposition and voters to raise the sales tax and rein in the bulging fiscal deficit.

The new Cabinet is meant to create “the best and strongest lineup to steadily tackle the issues that we must achieve without running away or putting off,” Noda told a news conference. “I chose people who can move ahead and make a breakthrough.”

Two of the removed ministers had been censured by the opposition, including former Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa, who claimed he was unaware of the details of a 1995 rape of a schoolgirl by three U.S. servicemen on the island of Okinawa ? a crime that continues to deeply impact local support for the large American troop presence there.

The opposition, which controls the less powerful upper house of parliament, had threatened to reject any discussion about key tax legislation unless Ichikawa was fired.

Twelve posts were unchanged, including finance and foreign minister. The 17-member Cabinet was formally installed Friday in a ceremony with the emperor.

Noda, who took office in September, says Japan urgently needs to reduce its debt burden as the nation ages and its labor force shrinks, putting a greater burden on the social security and tax systems. He has promised to submit a bill by the end of March to raise the 5 percent sales tax in two stages, to 8 percent in 2014 and to 10 percent by 2015.

“It’s not time for politics that is only pleasing to your ears. It’s painful for us to ask (for higher taxes), and it may hurt our election results. This is a test of whether we can gain understanding for tough policies in Japan,” Noda said.

The reshuffle will “strengthen our government to tackle the major policy goal of social security and tax reforms,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said in announcing the new lineup.

Noda named Katsuya Okada, a former foreign minister, as deputy prime minister to spearhead those efforts.

Noda’s public approval rating has slid below 40 percent amid resistance to raising the sales tax and a general lack of confidence in political leadership in Japan, which has seen a new prime minister every year for the past six years.

Japan’s divided parliament makes it difficult for Noda to pass legislation. The tax issue has also divided the ruling Democratic party, with powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa and his supporters arguing that raising taxes would hurt the already weak economy.

Noda has said his government’s priorities also include leading reconstruction efforts after last March’s devastating tsunami and bringing “rebirth” to the area around the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant. The government declared a month ago that the plant is essentially stable despite widespread skepticism, with experts warning it remains vulnerable to earthquakes.

The new defense minister, Naoki Tanaka, is a relative of former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, one of Japan’s most powerful politicians who was felled by a corruption scandal. He is replacing Ichikawa, who had boasted that his lack of experience with security issues would allow him to view them with a fresh perspective.

Ichikawa’s claim of ignorance about the Okinawa rape case complicated already-stalled efforts to move an important U.S. Marine base which is a key element in Washington’s plans to restructure its forces in Asia.

Jin Matsubara will replace consumer affairs minister Kenji Yamaoka, who was censured for making comments in support of a pyramid marketing scheme, perceived as shady in Japan. He was also criticized for reportedly comparing the collapse of the euro to the tsunami, which was deemed insensitive to the victims of that disaster.

A Kyodo News agency poll on Jan. 7-8 showed public support for Noda’s Cabinet fell to 35.7 percent from 44.6 percent in December, with three-quarters of respondents citing an insufficient explanation of the tax hike plan. However, some experts say such polls ? and by extension the media ? wield too much influence in determining a prime minister’s longevity.

They say the absolute nature of the polls’ top question ? do you approve of the Cabinet’s performance, yes or no ? makes it very hard for leaders to stay popular. If people are the least bit dissatisfied with the government, it’s easy to respond in the negative, they say.

___

Associated Press writers Mari Yamaguchi and Eric Talmadge contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/japan/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120113/ap_on_re_as/as_japan_politics

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TOKYO (Reuters) ? Japan scurried to prepare for the unexpected on Monday after news that Kim Jong-il, the leader of its unpredictable neighbor North Korea, had died of a heart attack.

“I’ve issued three orders, which are to strengthen our intelligence gathering capability, to cooperate with officials from the United States, South Korea and China, and to be prepared for the unexpected,” Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda told reporters.

“We cannot allow Kim’s death to harm peace and stability on the Korean peninsula.”

Ministers at a security meeting earlier on Monday reached no conclusion on whether to raise the level of alert for Japan’s military.

Still, the government faces a tense end to the year as Noda prepares to visit China and complete important policies for the domestic economy, which include the budget for the fiscal year from next April and tax increases to cover welfare spending.

“I ordered each division within the ministry to do their utmost in information gathering and in staying vigilant and watchful,” a Defense Ministry spokesman quoted Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa as saying.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura stressed the need to watch risks related to the succession. “At present, we have no confirmation on the successor but we’re closely watching. According to the North Korean announcement, they will accept people expressing condolences from December 20 to 27 and the funeral will be held on December 28 in Pyongyang,” he said.

Kim died of a heart attack on Saturday while travelling by train, state media reported on Monday, sparking immediate concern over who is in control of the reclusive state and its nuclear program.

Japan’s ties with North Korea, with which it has no diplomatic relations, have long been fraught due to Pyongyang’s bitterness over Japan’s 1910-1945 occupation of the Korean peninsula, Tokyo’s worries about North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs, and Japanese anger over the abduction of its citizens by North Korean agents decades ago.

ANXIOUS WAIT

Talks to normalize ties between Tokyo and Pyongyang have been halted for years with the issue of the Japanese abductees, an emotional subject in Japan, a major obstacle.

Kim Jong-un, the youngest son of Kim Jong-il, was named by North Korea’s official news agency KCNA as the “great successor” to his father. Little is known of Jong-un, who is believed to be in his late 20s and was appointed to senior political and military posts in 2010.

“Kim’s death could represent an opportunity as his stance was that the abduction issue had been resolved and there was no room for negotiation,” said Shigeo Iizuka, who heads a group of families of abductees and whose younger sister was taken to North Korea in 1978 when she was 22.

“However, there are still questions as to whether his successor will continue his father’s dictatorship or whether he will change the country for its own sake.”

The report of Kim’s death grabbed immediate headlines in Japan, where newspapers issued extra editions.

Some Tokyo residents said they were concerned about what would happen next inside the borders of their unpredictable neighbor.

“I am worried indeed. I am very interested in knowing how this will all turn out,” 73-year-old retiree Kosuke Yoshimasa told Reuters.

Another retiree, Michiko Matsuzaki, 68, sounded a note of cautious optimism. “I hope this will lead North Korea to become more democratic,” she said.

Japan, like others in the region, will be watching to see what stance Pyongyang adopts towards the outside world following Kim Jong-il’s death and whether Kim Jong-un can consolidate his power.

“At present, when they are trying to firm up their internal regime they are more likely to prioritize firming domestic stability rather than trying to boost tension with the outside,” said Tadashi Kimiya, a Tokyo University professor who specializes in Korean affairs.

“If the government cannot exercise control there will be confusion and instability,” he added.

Kimiya said he did not expect any sudden flood of refugees from North Korea headed for Japan, nor did he think Pyongyang’s military was likely to take aggressive action.

Security was tight at the Tokyo headquarters of the General Association of Korean Residents of Japan, Pyongyang’s de facto diplomatic mission in Japan, where a North Korean flag flew at half-mast.

Japan has about 400,000 permanent residents who are ethnic Koreans backing either Seoul or Pyongyang, many of them descendents of those brought to Japan as forced labor when the peninsula was a Japanese colony.

(Additional reporting by Elaine Lies and Stanley White; Writing by Linda Sieg; Editing by Michael Watson)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111219/wl_nm/us_korea_north_japan_spokesman

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