News Headlines - 28 July 2020

Japan stirs controversy with huge COVID aid contract for ad giant Dentsu - Reuters

The agency, the Service Design Engineering Council, actually carried out only a fraction of that work, local media first reported last month. Service Design was co-founded by Dentsu Group Inc., one of Japan’s most influential companies. It passed hundreds of millions of dollars to administer the project back to Dentsu, an advertising and PR company with close ties to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), government documents show.
Under the arrangement, Service Design won the contract to distribute the $20 billion, but actually took less than 1% of the total $718 million for managing the project and passed on most of the rest to Dentsu, which set up vetting procedures, websites and call centres, the companies and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) said.

Japanese celebs express shock, anger at gov't plan for more Abenomasks

Some Japanese celebrities, including 1980s-idol-turned-actress Kyoko Koizumi, have taken to Twitter to express shock and anger following reports that the government plans to distribute an additional 80 million cloth masks, which proved to be unpopular among some members of the public, to help contain the spread of the new coronavirus.
The actress, also known as Kyon Kyon among fans, posted a brief comment that can be loosely translated as "Wait a second!" along with a link to a newspaper article on the plan. The post had been retweeted over 6,000 times and racked up at least 13,800 likes as of 5 p.m. on Tuesday.

Nurse cleared over death of elderly given doughnut | NHK WORLD

A Japanese high court has overturned a lower court ruling that found a nurse guilty of giving a doughnut to an elderly woman who later died after choking on it.
The 60-year-old practical nurse works at a special nursing care home for the elderly in Nagano Prefecture, central Japan.
She was charged in 2013 with professional negligence resulting in death for failing to check what the 85-year-old resident should be given to eat.

Nissan reports huge ¥671 billion loss and plan to close Barcelona plant | The Japan Times

Nissan Motor Co. reported a ¥671 billion ($6.2 billion) net loss for the latest fiscal year and unveiled a plan to turn the carmaker around by eliminating about ¥300 billion in annual fixed costs, cutting capacity and reducing the number of vehicle models.
The result, the first loss in a decade and the biggest in 20 years, includes restructuring and impairment charges of ¥603 billion for the year that ended in March, the Yokohama-based company said Thursday.

Issey Miyake Men Collection to Be Discontinued | HYPEBEAST

Issey Miyake‘s menswaer output dates back to 1976, back when the Japanese creative first launched his eponymous fashion brand, enduring multiple creative directors and even a rebranding to Issey Miyake Men in 2012. Despite the line’s renown, 2020 marks the final year of its output - Issey Miyake Inc. announced the collection’s discontinuation on July 28.
The company insists that the decision had been made prior to the coronavirus pandemic and the shuttering of Issey Miyake Men will lead to “new possibilities” in Miyake menswear. Six-year creative director Yusuke Takahashi departed Issey Miyake Men in January 2020, leaving the design team to take over for Fall/Winter 2020, the line’s final full collection.