エイゴパス - Student News Video & Transcripts

   
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Senkaku and Diaoyu — two different names for the same set of islands at the center of some tension between China and Japan. You can see those two countries on this map. And right in between them, that`s where you`ll find these islands in the East China Sea.

There`s not much to them. They`re rocky. They`re not near much else. No one lives there.

So why is there tension?

Well, China and Japan each say the islands belong to them. Yesterday, this was seen near the islands — a Chinese plane. China said it was there to carry out a patrol.

Japan launched its own planes in response, including eight fighter jets. The Chinese plane was gone by the time the Japanese jets showed up. And while China and Japan have been kind of wrestling over these islands for a while, this was the first time aircraft were involved.

AZUZ: Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush. Three of these last four U.S. Presidents have served eight years in the White House. President Obama`s set to do the same thing. When your country`s leaders are in office that long, it can make it easier to remember what order they came in. In Japan, that might be more challenging.

(Part II)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, would you like to play the prime minister game? It`s a very difficult challenge, so you have to place them in order, so …

Oh, so close!

OK, what are you guys saying? Is it right? Is it correct? Do you think it`s correct? Yeah? Good job, it`s correct.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: All right, so part of what makes that prime minister game so difficult is that in the past six years, Japan has had six different prime ministers. The country could get its seventh soon. Japan`s holding elections on Sunday, so what the Japanese people think about this turnover at the top of their government, and what kinds of challenges will their next prime minister face? Here `s Alex Zolbert with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEX ZOLBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Is it frustrating that you`ve had so many leaders in six years?

(voice over): "It`s completely crazy," she says. Another woman tells us, it is unusual to have so many prime ministers. It`s a sign of Japan`s instability.

Obviously, the jokes can be made about the ever-changing prime minister here in Japan, but there are very serious issues at play. This country is in recession once again, it`s grappling with rising debt, as well as its biggest reconstruction efforts since World War II. Plenty to tackle for whoever will become this country`s seventh prime minister in just over six years. Alex Zolbert, CNN, Tokyo.

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