Latest news with #Aichi
Forbes
3 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Bon Jovi's Unlikely Single Turns Out To Be One Of The Band's Biggest Hits
Bon Jovi and Pitbull's 'Now or Never' logs its sixteenth week on Billboard's Pop Airplay chart, ... More ranking as the band's fourth-longest radio hit on the top 40 tally. (MANDATORY CREDIT Koh Hasebe/) Jon Bon Jovi of US rock band Bon Jovi performs at summer rock festival 'Super Rock 84' on their first visit to Japan, Naogoya Baseball Stadium, Aichi, Japan, 4th August 1984. (Photo by Koh Hasebe/) Bon Jovi scored the most unlikely of hits earlier this year by teaming up with multi-genre musician Pitbull. The latter star has landed a number of hits throughout the past few years by repurposing melodies and interpolating hooks from older, familiar smashes by other artists, reworking them into something exciting and new for a different audience. He took parts of "It's My Life" by the rock band and turned it into his 2025 smash "Now or Never," an electronically charged dance-pop cut. The tune sounds little like anything Bon Jovi has produced before, and yet it has become one of the group's biggest hits. "Now or Never" is present on the Pop Airplay chart, Billboard's ranking of the most successful tunes at top 40 radio in the United States. This frame, it dips 10 spaces to No. 33, so it is approaching the bottom of the 40-spot roster — but it's not done being played at pop radio just yet. Last week, the single reached its all-time peak, and the length of time it has spent on the list shows just how popular the tune has become. As of this frame, "Now or Never" has spent 16 weeks on the Pop Airplay tally. It ranks as Bon Jovi's fourth-longest-charting track on the radio list, out of a total of a lucky 13 placements dating back decades. "Always" stands out as Bon Jovi's biggest win on the Pop Airplay ranking, both in terms of length of time spent on the roster and peak position. That track, which arrived in 1994, rose all the way to the runner-up space and spent exactly half a year on the ranking. "It's My Life" — which, of course, introduced the chorus that would later center "Now or Never" — missed that longevity record by one week. "Bed of Roses" is just two frames ahead of "Now or Never," with 18 weeks spent on the Pop Airplay chart. "Now or Never" could match that sum if its decline slows, but if it suffers another tumble like it did this time around, it will disappear very soon.
Japan Times
3 days ago
- General
- Japan Times
SDF ramps up campus outreach amid recruitment slump
With Japan's Self-Defense Forces facing a growing shortage of new recruits, their provincial cooperation offices — responsible for public relations and recruitment — are stepping up efforts to engage students by setting up publicity booths at university festivals. Officials say the initiative is an effective way to foster a stronger connection between the public and the SDF. So far, many universities have responded positively to the outreach. Some experts argue, however, that "on-campus agreement" is needed to ensure that academic freedom is respected. Provincial cooperation offices have set up publicity booths at university festivals for years, but the overall picture of their activities has often been unclear because of limited public promotion. In a notable move, the Aichi Provincial Cooperation Office, based in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, took the unprecedented step of publishing its booth exhibition schedule for October-November last year on its website. Following the move, the office set up booths at 21 campuses across 17 private universities in the central prefecture over the two-month period. Officials noted that similar efforts have been made at other times as well, suggesting that the publicity initiative is now well established. Lt. Col. Eishiro Ishii, head of the office's recruitment section, said the office is "actively doing" the schedule disclosure, while noting that there has been no significant opposition from inside or outside the universities. A typical SDF publicity booth, set up under a tent, features pamphlets introducing the roles and responsibilities of SDF personnel, along with displays of reconnaissance motorcycles and high-mobility transportation vehicles. Some booths also incorporate virtual reality technology, offering computer-generated experiences such as riding in a tank or performing a parachute descent. One university official said, "This is one of the attractions that add excitement to the school festival." A student serving on the festival committee at another university responded positively, saying, "The committee invited (the SDF booth) as one of the sponsoring organizations." At yet another university, an official welcomed the display of SDF vehicles, noting, "Children from the local community were happy to see them." According to Defense Ministry data, the Ground, Maritime and Air SDF invited applications for 19,598 positions in fiscal 2023, but only 9,959 were filled. This reduced the recruitment achievement rate to a record low of 51%, highlighting a severe shortage of qualified personnel — a situation attributed primarily to Japan's declining births. "I feel that (public) perceptions of the SDF have improved," Ishii said. Even so, he emphasized the need to further strengthen outreach efforts. "The public still tends to have a vague image of the SDF as a physically demanding workplace. In reality, the SDF offers a wide range of career options, but these are not widely known," he added. Some experts have raised concerns about universities cooperating with the SDF, citing the importance of safeguarding academic freedom as guaranteed under Article 23 of the Constitution. Their concerns stem from Japan's pre-World War II history, when state power infringed upon independent academic research. In October 2023, the ASDF's Western Air Defense Force Band performed at Tokushima University's school festival, held on the Josanjima campus in the southwestern city of Tokushima. On learning of the planned performance in advance, the university's faculty labor union submitted a letter of inquiry, arguing that the ASDF concert was "out of line with the original purpose (of the school festival)." In response, the university explained that the event was a one-off. The SDF did not participate in the following year's festival. Shun Ishihara, a professor of sociology and social work at Meiji Gakuin University in Tokyo, expressed caution about uncritical collaboration between academia and state institutions. "Universities need to maintain a clear boundary between themselves and powerful state entities such as the SDF," he said. Still, Ishihara also suggested that cooperation is not inherently problematic. "It should not be ruled out if there is a clear agreement within the university," he said. In the case of Tokushima University, "the issue was that no such agreement was in place," he noted.
Japan Times
23-05-2025
- General
- Japan Times
Two ASDF crew members confirmed dead in training plane crash in Aichi
The Air Self-Defense Force confirmed on Thursday that the remains recovered from a training plane crash last week were those of two crew members. The ASDF's T-4 training aircraft crashed near a lake in Aichi Prefecture immediately after taking off from the Komaki Air Base last week. "The deaths of its two crew members were confirmed today," Hiroaki Uchikura, head of the ASDF, told a news conference. "It is gut-wrenching that we lost the precious lives of our comrades," Uchikura said. A search after the crash soon led to the discovery of what appeared to be remains, but officials could not immediately identify them. However, "a subsequent official analysis confirmed, much to our sorrow, that they belong to the two soldiers on board whom we had been looking for," Uchikura said. He said he "takes the accident seriously" and that the ASDF "will do our best to identify the cause and improve aviation safety." The T-4 seats two and is a "domestically produced, highly reliable and maintainable training aircraft ... used for all basic flight courses," according to the Defense Ministry website. Aerial footage of the lake soon after the crash, broadcast by NHK, showed an oil slick on its surface dotted with what appeared to be debris.
The Independent
22-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Two confirmed dead following Japanese training plane crash
Two Japanese air force members died shortly after their training aircraft crashed last week, the air force chief confirmed on Thursday. The T-4 plane, carrying two crew members, crashed into a reservoir minutes after taking off from Komaki Air Base in central Japan's Aichi prefecture on May 14. Autopsies revealed both crew members, aged 29 and 31, died just two minutes after takeoff, according to Air Self-Defense Force Chief of Staff Gen. Hiroaki Uchikura. The cause of the crash remains under investigation, prompting the grounding of all 196 remaining T-4 training aircraft for emergency inspections. Witnesses at the time told the NHK national broadcaster that they heard a loud noise like thunder, followed by sirens of police cars and fire engines. Defence Minister Gen Nakatani previously said the T-4 plane, which operates out of Nyutabaru air base, in the southern prefecture of Miyazaki, was heading back to its home base on an unspecified mission. Officials previously searched an area near the Iruka pond reservoir, approximately six miles northeast of the base and near the city of Inuyama, where debris from the aircraft has been discovered. This incident is the latest in a string of defense aircraft accidents in recent years, coinciding with Japan 's accelerated military buildup in response to China 's growing regional influence. Japan's doubled defense spending has raised concerns that weapons procurement may be prioritised over safety measures.
CNA
22-05-2025
- General
- CNA
Two Japanese soldiers confirmed killed in training plane crash
TOKYO: The Japanese military confirmed on Thursday (May 22) that remains recovered from the crash of a training plane last week were those of two soldiers. The Air Self-Defense Force's T-4 training aircraft crashed near a lake in central Japan's Aichi region immediately after taking off at its Komaki Air Base last week. "The deaths of its two crew members were confirmed today," Hiroaki Uchikura, head of the ASDF, told a news conference. "It is gut-wrenching that we lost these precious lives of our comrades," Uchikura said. A search after the crash soon led to the discovery of what appeared to be remains but officials could not immediately identify them. However, "a subsequent official analysis confirmed, much to our sorrow, that these belong to two soldiers on board that we had been looking for", Uchikura said. He said he "takes the accident seriously" and "will do our best to identify the cause and improve aviation safety". The T-4 seats two and is a "domestically produced, highly reliable and maintainable training aircraft ... used for all basic flight courses", according to the defence ministry website. Aerial footage of the lake soon after the crash broadcast by NHK showed an oil slick on its surface dotted with what appeared to be debris.
