Lawmakers' income hits record low

The average income of lawmakers hit a record low yen22.23 million in 2009, down yen2.6 million from the previous year, according to data released June 30 by the Diet. Cuts in benefits and the lack of major land and stock sales are believed to have caused the fall to a level unseen since both the House of Representatives and House of Councilors started releasing financial statements of lawmakers in 1993.


昨年一年間の国会議員の所得が公開され、平均所得は2223万円で、93年の調査開始以来最低となった。

benefits　収入
financial statements　資産や所得の報告書
Diet　国会

議員はお金のためにやっているわけでないので収入は少なくてよいと思う。

SEA Shepherd

An antiwhaling activist from New Zealand was convicted and given a suspended prison term July 7 for interfering with a Japanese whaling ship and illegally boarding it in the Antarctic Ocean in February.
The Tokyo District Court gave a two-year prison term, suspended for five years, to former Sea Shepherd member Peter Bethune, 45, for launching a bottle containing butyric acid onto the Shonan Maru No. 2 that injured one of its crew members Feb. 11, and for illegally boarding the vessel Feb. 15.
Bethune was not planning to appeal, according to his counsel. After the ruling, Bethune was taken into custody by immigration authorities. As he had technically illegally entered Japan by boarding the vessel, he is expected to be deported within days, said one of the attorneys, who declined to be named. Prosecutors had demanded a two-year prison term, while the defense team sought a suspended sentence.

環境保護団体「シーシェパード」のメンバーによる日本の調査捕鯨妨害事件で、ニュージーランド国籍の同団体メンバー、ピーター・ベスーン被告の判決公判が7月7日東京地裁で開かれ、執行猶予5年の有罪判決が言い渡された。


was convicted　有罪判決を受けた
suspended prison term　執行猶予付きの判決
interfering with　を妨害して
be deported　強制退去
taken into custody by　引き渡された

こういう人々が捕まってほんとによかった
しっかり更正してほしい。

TAKERU KOBAYASHI

Eating champion Takeru Kobayashi, arrested at a Fourth of July hot dog-eating event at Coney Island in the U.S., was freed July 5 after a night in jail, looking a little weary and saying he was hungry. Kobayashi, wearing a T-shirt bearing the message "Free Kobi," was freed by a Brooklyn judge after he pleaded not guilty. The 32-year-old said he consumed only a sandwich and some milk in jail.


米ニューヨークで7月4日に行なわれたホットドッグ早食い大会で、会場に乱入しようとして公務執行妨害容疑などで逮捕された元チャンピオン小林尊さんが、翌５日釈放された。


Fourth of July　アメリカ独立記念日
pleaded not guilty　無罪を主張した
arrested　逮捕する
jail　刑務所

最近テレビに出てないと思ったらこんなことをしていたのかと思った。
こうゆう事件を起こすのは日本の価値を下げるのでもうやめてほしい

MATSUDA

A former temporary worker at Mazda Motor Corp. hit 11 Mazda employees with a car on the morning of June 22, at the automaker's plant in the city of Hiroshima, killing one and injuring the others, police said.
Toshiaki Hikiji, 42, of Hiroshima, was driving a Mazda Familia at around 7:35 a.m. as workers were beginning to arrive at the Ujina plant.
He fled the scene after hitting the workers but called the police, who found him on a mountain in the nearby town of Fuchu and arrested him.
Of the 11 workers, all of whom were male, Hiroshi Hamada, 39, died and two others were seriously hurt. The other eight sustained minor injuries.
The police found that Hikiji went bankrupt two years ago.
They suspect Hikiji attempted random mayhem using a car and a knife like Tomohiro Kato, who is on trial over the Akihabara rampage.

広島県にあるマツダの工場内に従業員の男性が入ってきて次々と人をはね、１人を死亡させた。さらに男は逃げたそうだ。

plant工場
injuring　けがをおわせる
fled the scene　現場から逃げる
be seriously hurt 重症を負わせる
went bankrupt　破産する
random mayhem　無差別に殺す
rampag　殺傷事件

事故はしょうがないがその跡に逃げるのはいけないことだ。
車を運転するときには十分気をつけたい。

Toll-free highway trials start

The government stopped collecting tolls on 50 sections along 37 rural expressways at midnight June 27 in line with a key promise made by the ruling Democratic Party of Japan in last year's election, and traffic immediately surged.
In the pilot program that will last until March 31, all expressways in Okinawa and most sections in Yamagata, Shimane and Oita prefectures will be toll-free for all vehicle types, regardless of whether they use the electronic toll collection system. The program will cost ¥100 billion.

国土交通省はと腕をしやすくしお金を使ってもらうことを目的とした高速道路を無料するため、全国の50ヶ所で実験を始めた。

Toll-free highway trials 　　　　　　　　高速道路の無料化実験
in line with 　　　～に沿って
rural　　地方の
pilot program　社会問題
regardless of ～に関わらず

高速道路の無料化されたことにより、遠くまでドライブや観光をしにいきたいなと思った。