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Nikkei Asian Review: The Prince Of Peace

The price of peace: Why Japan scrapped a $4.2bn US missile system

Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono was seething after a June 3 briefing in his office. "Why didn't you figure that out sooner?" he snapped.

Officials had just learned of a critical flaw in a U.S.-made missile defense system that would derail a multibillion-dollar defense deal.

Three years previously, Japan had decided to buy the $4.2 billion system, known as Aegis Ashore, amid a fusillade of missile launches by North Korea -- not to mention veiled threats by U.S. President Donald Trump that its allies should spend more on their defenses, and buy American.

But now the Department of Defense was saying it would cost 200 billion yen ($1.89 billion) and take 12 years to fix a problem with the Aegis booster rocket, the one that Japanese officials had just discovered.

It turned out these boosters could fall in a much wider arc than previous estimates suggested, potentially hitting nearby residential areas in Yamaguchi and Akita prefectures where the system was to be based. Defense Ministry officials had only learned of the defect before informing Kono, who was furious.

Digital Bollywood: Can Amazon and Netflix save Indian cinema?

Shikha Nalwa, a homemaker from the northern Indian city of Chandigarh, had been looking forward to seeing "Gulabo Sitabo". The comedy-drama starring Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan was expected to be a blockbuster.

But before "Gulabo Sitabo" hit 2,000 theaters in April, the coronavirus outbreak hit India -- and a nationwide lockdown was imposed. Rather than head to the theater, movie fans like Nalwa had to settle for watching "Gulabo Sitabo" on Amazon Prime Video, two months after its originally scheduled release date.

For Nalwa, watching at home did not spoil her enjoyment.

"Though the movie is a bit slow-paced in parts, it has an interesting narration," she said. In the film, Bachchan plays a disreputable landlord named Mirza who wants to evict tenants from his run-down mansion in order to sell it. "[His] Tom-and-Jerry like fight with tenant Baankey was a major highlight for me," Nalwa added.

Twin storms batter struggling Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi alliance

It has only been a few months since the carmakers that form the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance announced some of the most dire annual results in their history -- but anyone who thought that marked the end of their trials has been roundly disabused of the notion.

Renault announced Thursday that it posted a record net loss of 7.3 billion euros ($8.6 billion) for the January to June period, 65% of which was due to Nissan Motor's loss -- the French company has a 43% stake in the Japanese automaker.

"We are in a complex, difficult situation. We all are, but Renault took the COVID heat once we were already feverish," said Luca de Meo, Renault's chief executive, who took over the role earlier this month, in an online news conference.

Check out more at: https://asia.nikkei.com/Print-Edition/Issue-2020-08-06

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