Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Uganda government has today signed a grant agreement with Japan for sh88.6 billion project to help improve traffic control in Kampala. Minister of Finance Matia Kasaija signed the grant aid agreement with the Japanese Ambasador Kazuaki Kameda . The grant will be spent on constructing …
Read More »The rise of Japan
What made this country transform rapidly from a backward agrarian society into a modern industrial power The Independent | ANDREW M. MWENDA | How did Japan, a poor and economically “backward” country rapidly transform into a modern industry power a few years after its initial contact with the West? I …
Read More »ANALYSIS: Inspired by Japan
Where people, values, mentalities and habits create pure harmony THE INDEPENDENT | ANDREW M. MWENDA | In February and March of this year, I visited Japan and travelled extensively across that country’s major cities – from Tokyo to Kyoto and Hiroshima to Osaka, the commercial capital of Japan. I was …
Read More »Japanese sumo vs Trump’s WWE: big differences in clash of big men
Tokyo, Japan | AFP | President Donald Trump will be ringside Sunday for Tokyo’s big sumo tournament, but if he hopes his longtime love of US-style professional wrestling will give him special insight into the action, he better think again. Both sumo and the WWE involve enormous men wearing very little …
Read More »Panasonic joins firms stepping away from Huawei after US ban
Tokyo, Japan, | AFP | Japan’s Panasonic on Thursday said it would stop supplying some components to Huawei, joining a growing list of firms distancing themselves from the Chinese telecoms giant after a US ban over security concerns. The announcement came a day after four major Japanese and British mobile carriers …
Read More »Ridding space of old satellites and debris
Colorado Springs, United States | AFP | With constellations of thousands of telecommunication mini satellites expected to orbit Earth in the near future, the risk of space-debris collisions will grow. For Nobu Okada, it’s an opportunity. The 46-year-old Japanese entrepreneur founded the start-up Astroscale in Singapore in 2013 with the …
Read More »The enthronement of Japan’s Emperor Akihito
Paris, France | AFP | Emperor Akihito ascended to the Japanese throne on November 12, 1990 in a tightly choreographed ceremony steeped in tradition but with hints of modernity. Akihito, aged 56, had already succeeded his father, Emperor Hirohito, immediately on his death the previous year after the longest reign …
Read More »FAO, Japanese government boost refugees in Moyo, Yumbe
Moyo, Uganda | ISAAC KHISA | It is 1pm. Dressed in UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) white T-shirts, men and women sing songs of praise as a convoy of vehicles snake its way in Palorinya East Village in Moyo District. The delegation consists of FAO representative to Uganda …
Read More »Not so fantastic: Can Japan end its love affair with plastic?
Tokyo, Japan | AFP | From bento boxes to individually wrapped bananas, plastic reigns supreme in Japan. But amid global concern about single-use waste, new legislation could help end the country’s love affair with plastic. The push comes ahead of the G20 summit, which Japan will host in Osaka in …
Read More »China, Japan and the next world war
Why Trump and XI policies in the South China Sea could lead Japan to rearm ANALYSIS | Andrew M. Mwenda | As Uganda and Rwanda were preparing themselves for a possible military confrontation, I was in Japan talking to public officials, intellectuals and academics on the situation in the Sea …
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