Kurashi - News From Japan

The last TPP Ministerial in Hawaii did not get the results that governments and corporations wanted. I think we need to celebrate. We do not want more trade in cars, more trade in milk and meat. We don't want extended patents that will make medicines more expensive. And why should copyrights benefit Disney forever? If we really care, the lack of results at the last TPP round actually mean that the amazing movement of citizens and consumers and environmental and labour activists - we won. We fought the system and it lost. Update: East Asia Forum: Will the TPP endgame get tangled in old spaghetti? Huffington Post: TPP Threatens Access to Affordable Medications for People Around the World Washington Post: Why NAFTA passed and the Trans-Pacific Partnership failed The Sydney Morning Herald: Should Australia be wary of the TPP? Yes, Minister. The Mainichi: Japan's TPP benefits limited as U.S. mulls taking 20 years to remove vehicle tariffs Quote: LAHAINA, Hawaii

Guest post over at Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) about copyright issues and the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations – did Japan move closer to the US positions during the recent Maui talks in July, 2015? With Jeremy Malcolm, formerly at Consumers International: Japan’s entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will see a wide range of changes sweeping the economy and the community, in areas as diverse as food safety/food security, country of origin labeling rules, and copyright. As a staff member of Consumers Union of Japan , I am concerned about all of these issues—but I’m writing here about the copyright changes, which unlike in many other TPP countries have sparked national attention . Copyright has been a sticking point for Japan in its trading relationship with the United States dating all the way back to 1945, when Japan was required to award the victors of the Second World War with 10 years of additional copyright protection. The U.S., Australi