Barack Obama, Japan - GS questions based on daily current affairs

ANSWER: Japan

Explanation:

• A Japanese firm said it would open the world’s first fully automated farm with robots handling almost every step of the process, from watering seedlings to harvesting crops.
• Kyoto-based Spread said the indoor grow house will produce 30,000 heads of lettuce a day. The farm, measuring about 4,400 square meters, will have floor-to-ceiling shelves where the produce is grown.
• Seed planting will still be done by people, but the rest of the process, including harvesting, will be done (by industrial robots).
• The move to robot labor would chop personnel costs by about half and knock energy expenses down by nearly one third.
• The pesticide-free lettuce will also have more beta carotene than other farm-grown lettuce, the company said.
• Robot-obsessed Japan has repeatedly turned to automated workers to fill labor shortages that are projected to get worse as the country rapidly ages.

ANSWER: Japan

Explanation:
President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee extended greetings to the Emperor and People of Japan on the eve of their national day on 23rd December 2015. The current emperor of Japan is Emperor Akihito and his birthday is celebrated on the national day of Japan. The two countries have recently strengthened bilateral ties into Special Strategic and Global Partnership.

ANSWER: Japan

Explanation:
Japan has taken the decision to resume whaling in the Antarctic Ocean by March end. By March 2014, ICJ had ruled that Japan’s decades old whale hunt in the Antarctic should stop. Japan fisheries agency has notified the International Whaling Commission on 27th November 2015 that Japan will resume whaling under the revised plan in the 2015/2016 season. Plan has also made the decision to cut annual minke whale catches by two thirds to 333. Scientific whaling in Japan commenced in 1987.

ANSWER: Both of the above

Explanation:
Japanese Parliament has voted into law a defence policy shift which could permit its troops to fight overseas for the first time since 1945. This shift which is the biggest change in the defence policy of Japan since creation of post war military in 1954 is critical to meet new challenges, especially from China. Legislation has triggered protests from citizens who fear it could ensnare the Japanese troops in global violence. Bills promoting the law were approved by the lower and upper house of the Japanese parliament, despite opposition efforts to block vote submitting censure motions and no confidence motion against the cabinet of Shinzo Abe in the lower house. Long standing ban on collective self defence is to be removed via this law.

ANSWER: Japan

Explanation:
Japan switched on a nuclear reactor for the first time in nearly two years, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe seeks to reassure a nervous public that tougher standards mean the sector is now safe after the Fukushima disaster in 2011. Of Japan's 25 reactors at 15 plants for which operators have applied for permission to restart, only five at three plants have been cleared for restart.

ANSWER: Japan

Explanation:
The bill that seeks revision of the public office election law was passed by the House of Councilors (upper house) after being approved in the House of Representatives (lower house).

ANSWER: C N R Rao

Explanation:
Prof. C N R Rao is also the only Indian to be elected as a foreign member of the Japan Academy in Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research.

ANSWER: Japan

Explanation:
Japan's state-of-the-art Maglev train clocked a new world speed record in 21st Apr’15 in a test run near Mount Fuji, smashing through the 600 kilometre per hour mark. The new record came less than a week after the company recorded a top speed of 590 kph, breaking its own 2003 record of 581 kilometre per hour.