2011年10月6日木曜日

IAEA to help decontaminate Japan nuke plant area

TOKYO – A team of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency will visit Japan this week to help with the massive cleanup of areas contaminated by a radiation-leaking nuclear power plant, officials said Tuesday.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said the 12-member team will help plan and conduct the decontamination during its nine-day visit starting Friday. It will also visit the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, meet with Japanese nuclear officials and compile a report, he said.

A massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami damaged cooling systems at the plant, causing three reactor cores to melt and releasing large amounts of radiation. Tens of thousands of people fled their homes.

"We hope that we can move ahead with decontamination more promptly and effectively by bringing together wisdom from around the world," Fujimura said.

The team is the second major IAEA mission to Japan since the nuclear crisis began. An IAEA accident investigation team visited the tsunami-hit plant in late May and early June.

The upcoming mission will also inspect the plant and monitor decontamination experiments in farmland and other areas near the plant.

Japan lifted some evacuation advisories around the plant last week, in a move largely aimed at reassuring tens of thousands of evacuees that it is safe to return home. But the area must still be decontaminated, especially schools, playgrounds and other areas where children gather.

A 12-mile (20-kilometer) no-go zone remains in place around the plant. But the government lifted the advisories in five municipalities just outside the ring, saying the plant had been restored to a relatively stable condition, with radiation levels reaching safety standards.

Towns around the plant have begun massive efforts to decontaminate buildings and restore public services so residents can return. Tens of thousands remain in voluntary exile, and local officials say they don't expect residents to rush back because of radiation fears.

Experts say it could take decades for some of the areas nearest the plant to be safe for habitation after the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., is struggling to keep the plant under control. It said last week it recently made significant progress in controlling reactor temperatures, key to achieving shutdowns.

TEPCO faces billions of dollars in compensation claims from people and businesses affected by the nuclear crisis.

A government panel said in a report Monday that TEPCO could face a capital deficit of up to 8.6 trillion yen ($112 billion) in a worst-case scenario if it is unable to restart halted nuclear reactors or raise utility fees. The panel said the utility is likely to face about 4.5 trillion yen ($60 billion) in compensation claims and will need 1.2 trillion yen ($15.8 billion) to decommission crippled reactors.

The panel recommended that TEPCO save about 2.5 trillion yen over the next 10 years by eliminating 7,400 employees or 14 percent of its work force, selling off affiliates and taking other steps.

The panel's recommendation will be incorporated into a new restructuring plan for TEPCO as it seeks public funds.


View the original article here

Japan companies on shopping spree with strong yen (AP)

TOKYO – Rakuten is not just the top shopping website in Japan. These days the company is doing some serious shopping of its own as it turns the strong yen — usually seen as a huge negative for Japanese companies — into a plus.

The online shopping mall operator has bought several overseas businesses in the last year and is not the only Japanese company on an acquisition spree. Businesses from pharmaceutical companies to toy makers have been emboldened by the increased purchasing power that the rising yen gives them.

A strong yen has long been characterized as potentially fatal for Japan Inc. by making the country's cars, consumer electronics and other goods more expensive abroad, eating into the earnings of giant exporters like Toyota Motor Corp., Sony Corp. and Nintendo Co.

But for a service company such as Rakuten Inc., the yen at post World War II highs is a boon it hopes will help it catch up to giants in the global e-commerce hierarchy such Amazon and eBay. The yen is up nearly 8 percent against the U.S. dollar over the past year.

"I like it," Rakuten Chief Executive Hiroshi Mikitani said with a grin when asked about the yen's gains. "We can buy more companies."

Mikitani also thinks Japan's traditional export-focused manufacturers should be taking advantage of the yen's rise by buying rivals in emerging markets. But he said some may be reticent as they lack the management expertise to know what to buy or how to make it work.

"They should think about that, and utilize the strength of the currency as a weapon," Mikitani told reporters. "I think we should favor the stronger yen."

Embracing a strong yen is an uncommon attitude among Japanese CEOs, and officials. Rakuten is different in other ways too. Nearly three quarters of the hires joining the company this month were foreigners and Mikitani's pep talk at a welcoming ceremony this week was in English, the standard language at Rakuten — both rarities for usually insular Japanese companies.

The jump in overseas acquisitions by Japanese companies this year has come even though the global economy faces extremely uncertain times and Japan's own economy has reeled from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disasters.

Data compiled by Tokyo-based Recof Corp., which advises on acquisitions, found overseas takeovers and acquisitions by Japanese companies gained by 30 percent in number of deals in the first eight months of this year.

The jump was most pronounced in Asia, where the number of deals increased 50 percent year-on-year to 143, a record for the region, although the purchase prices were bigger for deals in the U.S., according to Recof.

Data from Dealogic shows that the value of overseas takeovers and acquisitions by Japanese companies in January through August more than doubled from a year earlier to $46.7 billion.

Among the biggest Japanese takeovers announced in recent months was Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.'s deal to buy Switzerland's Nycomed for $13.6 billion, giving Japan's biggest drugmaker coveted access to emerging markets.

Another was Tomy Corp.'s purchase of RC2, the U.S. maker of Chuggington and Thomas & Friends toys in an all-cash deal valued at about $640 million.

Online securities company Monex Group Inc. bought TradeStation Group, based in Florida, in a deal valued at up to $411 million. Brewers such as Kirin and Asahi have also been busy acquirers.

The yen's gains can also tip the scales in favor of manufacturing investments overseas.

Last month, Honda Motor Co. announced a $50 million investment to boost transmission production in the U.S., bringing the automaker's capital investment in Ohio to more than $400 million for this year.

Matt McCollister, a vice president at central Ohio's economic development panel, Columbus2020, said the strong yen came up often in meetings with Japanese executives as a solid incentive for overseas investment. He visited Japan recently to woo more investment to the state.

"I don't know that it's the primary catalyst, but it can definitely be a tipping point for a project, especially if there's one that has been under consideration," he said. "When you start to apply the currency differential, it may make more financial sense than it did a year ago."

Still, there is no doubt that the yen's unrelenting strength is the source of plenty of woe for many of the Japanese corporations that are global household names. It has also added to worries in Japan that more manufacturing could be shifted overseas, hollowing out industry and jobs.

Like other Japanese automakers, Honda has been hit hard. It says the yen erased 22.5 billion yen ($288 million) from its April-June operating profit. The Tokyo-based maker of the Odyssey minivan and Accord sedan had initially counted on the dollar trading at 80 yen this fiscal year through March 2012. The dollar is now hovering between 76 yen to 77 yen.

The automaker has been moving production to the markets where vehicles are sold. For the more specialized cars still being exported from Japan, pressure is on to cut costs to make the business worthwhile, sometimes delaying model launches until such cuts are achieved, Honda officials say.

Squeezing positives out of a strong yen is a change of pace for Japan which has been, up to now, obsessed with trying to prop up the dollar to protect its exporting giants.

Such efforts have proved largely futile in recent years against larger global developments that nowadays include the debt crisis in Europe and fears of another recession in the U.S.

Japan's finance ministry most recently tried to weaken the yen in August, by buying dollars. That did send the yen lower but the effect lasted only days.

For Rakuten, a robust yen is key to its ambitions to one day become the world's No. 1 e-commerce company.

In September, Rakuten announced an agreement to buy British e-commerce site Play.com for 25 million pounds (3.3 billion yen, $43 million), following the acquisition of PriceMinister of France and German online shopping mall Tradoria.

The moves add to an empire that now sprawls across 10 countries, including Japan, raking in 90.7 billion yen ($1.2 billion) in April-June sales, a quarterly record for Rakuten. Its business also includes Buy.com of the U.S. and a partnership with Baidu Inc. in China as well as ventures in Thailand, Russia, Taiwan and Indonesia.

Kevin M. Carroll, who runs EA International, an environmental engineering and consultancy company in Tokyo, says the shrinking Japanese population and the high labor costs as well as corporate taxes in Japan are making overseas growth even more crucial for Japanese companies.

The days when a big Japanese corporation could prosper just by catering to customers in Japan are long over, said Carroll.

"The strength of the yen in most foreign markets works for Japanese companies as it places them in the envious position of acquiring foreign firms or technologies at a discount," he said.

___

Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at http://twitter.com/yurikageyama


View the original article here

Japan to hold whale hunts despite activist threats (AP)

TOKYO – Japan will go ahead with its whaling program in the Antarctic later this year under heightened security to fend off activists who have vowed to disrupt the annual hunt, the country's fisheries minister said.

Japan's whale hunts have become increasingly tense in recent years because of clashes with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. The most recent expedition was cut short after several high-seas confrontations, and it was unclear whether the hunt would be held at all this year.

But fisheries minister Michihiko Kano said Tuesday that measures would be taken to ensure the whalers' safety, and that the hunt would go ahead. It is expected to begin in December.

"We intend to carry out the research after enhancing measures to assure that it is not obstructed," he said.

Commercial whaling has been banned since 1986, but Japan conducts whale hunts in the Antarctic and the northwestern Pacific under an exception that allows limited kills for research purposes.

Japan's government claims the research is needed to provide data on whale populations so that the international ban on commercial whaling can be re-examined — and, Japan hopes, lifted — based on scientific studies.

Opponents say the program is a guise for keeping Japan's dwindling whaling industry alive. The Sea Shepherd group, which is already rallying to block the upcoming hunt, has been particularly dogged in its efforts to stop the kills.

Last year's season was marred by repeated incidents with Sea Shepherd vessels, one of which sank after colliding with a Japanese ship. The boat's captain, New Zealander Peter Bethune, was later arrested when he boarded a whaling ship from a Jet Ski, and brought back to Japan for trial.

He was convicted of assault, vandalism and three other charges and given a suspended prison term. Bethune has since returned to New Zealand.

Sea Shepherd recently announced that it is calling its effort to obstruct the December expedition "Operation Divine Wind" — a reference to the "kamikaze" suicide missions carried out by the Japanese military in World War II.

Though vilified by anti-whaling organizations around the world, the government's strong pro-whaling position has the support of the Japanese public, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll conducted among 1,000 people in July and August.

Fifty-two percent favor it, 35 percent are neutral and 13 percent are opposed, the poll found. It has a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points.

Once a common item on school lunch menus, whale meat can be found in stores and restaurants in Japan. But, because of its relatively high price, it is generally regarded as a gourmet food by the public.


View the original article here

Japan to toughen security for Antarctic whaling fleet - Reuters

TOKYO | Tue Oct 4, 2011 7:38am EDT

TOKYO Oct 4 (Reuters) - Japan will toughen security around its whaling fleet in the Antarctic Ocean this winter, Fisheries Minister Michihiko Kano said on Tuesday, in response to anti-whaling protests at sea.

Last season, Japan cut short its annual whale hunt in the Antarctic after it was obstructed on the water by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

This year, Japan plans to send the Fisheries Agency's patrol ship to protect whaling crews, and other measures are also being considered, Kano told reporters. Whaling ships normally set sail from Japan around November and December.

"There is a premise that Japan aims to restart commercial whaling in the future and the nation needs to continue research whaling to achieve that," Kano said.

Australia immediately condemned Japan's decision to continue whaling, especially as the hunt will take place in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary established by the International Whaling Commission, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said in a statement.

Japan -- which along with Iceland and Norway is one of one three countries that hunt whales -- introduced scientific whaling to skirt the commercial whaling ban under a 1986 moratorium. It argues it has a right to monitor the whales' impact on its fishing industry.

Last year, Australia filed a complaint against Japan at the world court in the Hague to stop Southern Ocean scientific whaling. The decision is expected to come in 2013 or later. (Reporting by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Daniel Magnowski)


View the original article here

Noda seeks TPP policy by November summit

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will try to come up with a policy on joining negotiations for a trans-Pacific free-trade pact before he leaves for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Hawaii in November, sources said.

Noda will soon convene a meeting of his key Cabinet ministers to resume the coordination process for the talks, the sources said. The work on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, as the U.S.-led pact is called, was meant to be finished by last June but was suspended by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Noda's crew is apparently divided over the matter. Noda is apparently in favor of joining the talks, but Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Michihiko Kano is reluctant because the pact is certain to put pressure on Japan to open up its protected and politically sensitive agriculture market.

Among other key ministers, trade chief Yukio Edano, speaking to reporters during a visit to Singapore last month, supported joining the talks.

Singapore is one of nine countries engaged in the talks. Those countries have set a goal of achieving a broad accord for the TPP agreement when APEC's leaders gather for an annual summit starting Nov. 12.

Noda, who met with U.S. President Barack Obama last month in New York, is expected to clarify his government's stance on the U.S.-led trade initiative when he meets Obama again on the sidelines of APEC, the sources said.

KYODO

Business leaders in Kyoto on Sunday urged the government to make all-out efforts to lessen the severity of the disaster reconstruction tax it is planning.

"Honestly speaking, I cannot see how the government can impose heavier taxes on corporations while the economy is in such bad shape," Yoshio Tateishi, chairman of the Kyoto Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said at a meeting with economic and fiscal policy minister Motohisa Furukawa and members of local business groups.

The comment came as the government last week announced a plan to raise income, corporate and other taxes for a limited period to finance the reconstruction of disaster-hit areas and businesses in eastern Japan.

Tateishi said the government should reduce the rate of the tax hikes as much as possible by selling off assets and other means.

Furukawa said he would try.

"The government will do its best to reduce the rate of tax hikes," he said.

But "Japan is in the worst fiscal condition of all the developed countries, and we cannot achieve stable economic growth without addressing the problem," he added.


View the original article here

Citizen fund investments

More and more people are investing their money in citizens' funds. People can invest a small amount of money to help organizations that are tackling issues close to people, such as community building, nursing care support for the elderly and care of children after school classes are over.

Especially since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, citizens' funds have helped to prop up enterprises and to promote green energy development in the disaster-hit areas.

In the public sector, even when budgets are passed by the Diet or local assemblies, it is difficult for the central and local governments to act quickly. They have to clear legal provisions, and a lot of administrative documents must be prepared.

For example, the work to remove debris from the devastated areas has not gone smoothly. Even the Japan Red Cross Society is slow in delivering support money contributed by people to local residents who have suffered from the disasters and the Fukushima nuclear crisis.

In contrast, citizens' funds can effect prompt action. It does not take a lot of time to set up such funds, collect money from citizens and begin operations. Those interested in helping enterprises struck by the disasters can request explanations from them about their history, activities, determination and how funds will be operated. They can also get such information through the Internet.

Enterprises such as restaurants, fish stores, fish cake makers and soy sauce makers have established their own funds to collect investments from citizens so that they can reconstruct themselves financially and resume business operations.

Such funds first started in and around Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, and spread to Iwate Prefecture. They were able to start collecting investments within a month after they were established. Investors put up money ranging from several tens thousands of yen to around ¥100,000.

Even if only several thousand people take part, the amount invested can become surprisingly large.

If enterprises helped by such funds make profits, the invested money will be returned. Investors may also be able to get some perks. But if enterprises cannot make profits, the invested money will not be returned.

Citizens' funds can play a meaningful role. But investors must watch whether funds are operated properly. It is hoped that such funds will help strengthen civil society.


View the original article here

Japan's rivals look to lure away yen-harried firms

As the economy staggers under the weight of the strong yen, businesses in Japan are receiving much-needed offers of help, with a chance to reduce rent, pay fewer taxes and cut utility costs.

News photoSimple math: Employees monitor currency rates at a foreign-exchange office in Tokyo on Aug. 4. Strained by the rising yen, businesses are relocating to overseas markets out of necessity. AP PHOTO

The problem is that these offers are coming from Japan's neighbors, particularly China. Delegations from across Asia have spent recent months hosting seminars in Tokyo's upscale hotels and conference rooms, hoping to pluck away Japanese business by offering incentives that companies find increasingly difficult to resist.

Since June, recruiters from at least seven Chinese provinces have hosted events in Japan. Vietnam came with a 20-member mission. Myanmar sent more than 300 representatives. One official from Zheziang Province in China described it as a "rare opportunity" to lure Japanese businesses that are strained by the rising yen, high corporate taxes and a shrinking domestic market.

The prospect that companies big and small will relocate amplifies concerns about the world's third-largest economy as it tries to break a two-decade run of stagnation and rebuild its disaster-hit northeastern coastline.

Politicians and business leaders fear a scenario in which major manufacturers, though maintaining a baseline presence in Japan, will build factories overseas and depend increasingly on local suppliers in their new countries; then, the smaller Japanese companies that once depended on those manufacturers will cut costs to compete or move overseas themselves.

In his first major speech, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said last month that the soaring yen and the rise of emerging economies had created "an unprecedented industrial hollowing-out crisis" that could lead to lost jobs and weakened Japanese competitiveness.

"Japan is on the verge of suffering a major loss of national credibility due to the hollowing-out of its industries," Noda said.

Many companies say they have been approached with offers to begin operations overseas. The invitations, according to government data, come mainly from China and several Southeast Asian countries — especially Thailand and Singapore.

Firms have also received offers from provinces in South Korea, even though Seoul tried this summer to curb the recruitment of Japanese companies, thinking it inconsiderate in the aftermath of the March 11 disaster.

Attempts to poach Japanese companies is hardly new. Neither is Japanese interest in Asia's developing markets, with many export-reliant giants — Toyota, Panasonic and Sony — building regional networks. What was once a business opportunity, though, has turned into a business necessity; firms now relocate to China and Southeast Asia not merely to reach new markets but to offset the pain in Japan.

That pain comes largely from the yen, which has soared in value this year amid concern about the U.S. and European economies. Investors see the yen as a safe bet, and they have managed in a short time to transform its worth.

In April, the yen was valued at about 85 against the dollar. On Sept. 19, it was 75.94 against the dollar, a post-World War II high, and Japanese policymakers have been helpless to stem the rise. The strong yen makes Japanese exports more expensive overseas, and it pinches foreign-made profits when they are repatriated.

In a recent government poll of major manufacturers, one-third said they would face "serious profit decline" if the exchange rate held steady for the next six months.

The poll, conducted by the industry ministry, suggested Japanese companies will flee — quickly — if the Noda administration can't soon provide help. Of the 61 manufacturers surveyed, 28 said they would transfer production plants and research centers overseas if the yen held its value. One in five smaller businesses reported that they were already seeing a decline in demand because trading partners had moved overseas.

"The worst case is, a greater percentage of business will be done overseas," said Koichiro Otake, deputy director of the macroeconomic affairs division at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. "And that will lead to big, big problems for small and medium-size companies. They have two options. Either they follow suit and move overseas, or they go out of business."

Many economists in Tokyo say the hollowing-out process is already under way — and gaining momentum. They say a growing number of companies are finalizing plans not just to outsource their production, but to open new factories in foreign countries.

This summer, some of the biggest Japanese companies signaled their intention to bulk up beyond Japan, with Panasonic announcing a new procurement center in Singapore and telecommunications giant Softbank launching a data center in South Korea, citing the country's lower electricity costs.

But the woes go beyond the yen. Japan's corporate tax far exceeds levels in China and South Korea. So do its energy costs.


View the original article here

Unwary Japanese scammed in China

The Bund in Shanghai

SHANGHAI, China (majirox news) — Increasing numbers of Japanese are falling victim to scams in Shanghai, being lured into paying exorbitant charges for minimal services, according to Japanese consular officials.

This year alone there have been 70 Japanese who have fallen to Shanghai scams, costing them close on 10 million yen (around $130,000).

Most of the victims have been men, but some women have also fallen into the trap.

Japanese consulate officials said the majority of scams are being pulled off in restaurants, clubs and bars in popular tourist areas along the Bund.

Typical methods include approaching the Japanese traveler and speaking in Japanese, then inviting them to an establishment to eat or drink. The con artist will produce a bill with exorbitant charges, often with a menacing man standing around in the background to ensure payment is made.

Among the cases cited by the consulate was a man lured into a bar by a Japanese-speaking Chinese woman offering sympathy over the March 11 disasters, then charged the equivalent of almost 100,000 yen (around $1,300). When the woman apologized, saying she had no idea that she had brought the man to such an establishment, he agreed to go out with her again and was subsequently charged another similar amount for a meal.

Another man was forced to pay about 210,000 yen (around $2,800) for two beers.

Tags: Bund, China, con artists, Japapanese tourists, Shanghai

This entry was posted on 10/02/2011 at 1:30 pm and is filed under NEWS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.


View the original article here

Japan eyes private firms help on cyber attacks: report (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan plans to work more closely with private companies by sharing information on cyber attacks after defense contractor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was hacked, Nikkei business daily reported Sunday.

The government also aims to ratify an international treaty on online crimes, the Nikkei said without citing a source.

The United States has recently pressured Japan to take more action against cyber attacks after Mitsubishi Heavy, which works closely with Boeing, said in September network information such as IP addresses may have been leaked.

Tokyo is considering asking private companies including utilities, railway operators, defense contractors, automakers and electronics to sign an agreement with public bodies to share information on cyber attacks, the Nikkei said.

Once the agreement is in place, the government and the public bodies would then widely share information on such attacks without identifying which firms were targeted, the Nikkei said.

But Tokyo will not establish a new law requiring firms to report online breaches to the government as this would be too difficult, the Nikkei reported.

The government also plans to ratify the Convention on Cybercrime, a treaty dealing with network security breaches and other online crimes by establishing an international network to provide help to investigators globally, the Nikkei said.

Japan, which in 2001 signed the treaty initiated by the Council of Europe, is among the nearly 50 countries that have signed or ratified the treaty, but it has yet to bring this into force.

The government will hold a meeting Friday to boost information security, the Nikkei reported.

Mitsubishi Heavy has said it so far had not confirmed any leaks on its products or technologies. An outside contractor is now checking whether any sensitive data had been breached.

Rivals IHI Corp and Kawasaki Heavy Industries have also said they have received suspicious e-mails. It is unclear who was responsible for the attacks.

(Reporting by Yoko Kubota; Editing by Sugita Katyal)


View the original article here

2011年10月5日水曜日

Tepco concludes own crisis manual useless

An in-house report from Tokyo Electric Power Co. has concluded its emergency manual was useless for handling the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima power plant and that the widely held belief that a hydrogen explosion might have damaged the No. 2 reactor is false.

The report on Sunday indicates the manual was drafted on the assumption that the emergency generators — including the diesel backups — would keep the reactors' cooling systems running no matter what.

At the Fukushima No. 1 plant, however, none of the backup generators for stricken reactors 1 through 4 survived the March 11 tsunami.

According to the report, compiled by an intracompany investigative panel, Tepco first became aware large explosions had been heard at reactors 2 and 4 after 6 a.m. on March 15.

The utility then confirmed that the air pressure in an area near No. 2's containment vessel was falling and also that the upper part of the building housing the No. 4 unit had been seriously damaged.

Subsequent analysis of the data led Tepco to conclude an explosion had occurred at the No. 4 reactor, but it "erroneously recognized" that something akin to an explosion had possibly taken place at the No. 2 unit as well, the report said.

The buildings housing reactors 1 and 3 were destroyed by hydrogen explosions, while that of the No. 4 unit, which was idled for a regular checkup at the time, was also destroyed. The building for the No. 2 reactor still stands.

The draft report was drawn up by an in-house investigation team Tepco set up on June 11.

Tepco reportedly plans to publish the in-house report after submitting it to a panel of seven outside experts.

The Fukushima Prefectural Government is studying ways to estimate radiation contamination in beef cattle by analyzing blood samples, officials said.

The technique could eventually prove helpful in easing public food safety fears raised by the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the officials said Saturday.

At the moment, all testing is performed only after the animals have been slaughtered, and only on some of the meat, raising doubts over the reliability and sanitation of the testing regimen, and problems for cattle producers and meat processors alike.

Although all cattle raised within 30 km of the Fukushima No. 1 power plant and in other designated areas are subject to radiation tests at local slaughterhouses, farms in other parts can ship all their cattle out as long as one animal per farm passes the test.

In some cases, slaughterhouses in other prefectures are refusing to accept Fukushima cattle because of concerns that the screening process isn't stringent enough.

To dispel those concerns, the Fukushima Prefectural Government is trying to determine how amounts of radioactive matter in blood and meat are related.

The process involves taking about 100 milliliters of blood and samples of meat from about 30 beef cattle — many raised on farms in the hot zone around the crisis-hit power plant — and measuring any evidence of radioactivity using a germanium semiconductor detector.


View the original article here

Ex-Japan Official: Euro Pessimism Overdone - Wall Street Journal

TOKYO—The euro is undervalued against both the dollar and yen, said a former top Japanese currency official, arguing that speculation about a Greek default or German abandonment of the currency has become overly pessimistic, given European officials' determination to retain the euro zone.

"I believe the euro will recuperate its value as European officials muddle through the debt woes," said Makoto Utsumi, who was vice finance minister for international affairs between 1989 and 1991.

Jonathan Ernst/Reuters Former Japanese currency official Makoto Utsumi, right, with Bank of France Governor Christian Noyer in Washington last month

Known to be a close friend of Bank of France Governor Christian Noyer, a member of the European Central Bank's board of governors, Mr. Utsumi said in a recent interview that it was unlikely Germany or Greece would opt out of the common currency. "Staying on the team is in their national interest, and officials there are very much aware of that," he said.

Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the Eurogroup of regional finance ministers, on Tuesday said "everything will be done" to avoid a Greek default, though the group decided to postpone its decision regarding a bailout.

Mr. Utsumi, now president and chief executive officer of Japan Credit Rating Agency, estimated that if Germany were to return to its former currency, the mark, its value would rise by 30%, hitting the nation's exporters hard. Athens would have the opposite problem if it gave up the euro: The value of its currency would fall sharply, making it impossible to clear its debts, mostly denominated in euros.

The former official said Tokyo, seeking to help calm the region's debt storm, will likely buy more bonds issued by the European bailout fund. Japan has purchased 20% of the bonds issued in the European Financial Stability Facility's three offerings this year.

As of 0930GMT, the euro was at $1.3176 and ¥100.99, from $1.3175 and ¥100.96 in New York Monday. Mr. Utsumi declined to make specific currency forecasts, but suggested it may take some more time before the euro starts its recovery as he said "there is no clear-cut solutions to the debt problem."

Mr. Utsumi also said the yen is overvalued, but that because currency markets are driven mainly by factors in the U.S. and Europe there isn't much Japanese authorities can do to stem its rise. He said Japan should focus on maximizing the benefits of having a strong currency, such as by buying overseas resources.

Write to Takashi Mochizuki at takashi.mochizuki@dowjones.com


View the original article here

Japanese business confidence improves (AP)

By TOMOKO A. HOSAKA, Associated Press Tomoko A. Hosaka, Associated Press – Mon Oct 3, 12:50 am ET

TOKYO – A key central bank survey offered a cautiously optimistic assessment of corporate Japan, where business confidence is improving even as the global economy's prospects darken.

In the Bank of Japan's quarterly "tankan" survey of business sentiment released Monday, the main index for big manufacturers climbed back into positive territory as a recovery from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami took hold. The latest reading stood at 2, up from minus 9 three months ago.

The figure represents the percentage of companies saying business conditions are good minus those saying conditions are unfavorable, with 100 representing the best mood and minus 100 the worst.

The earthquake and tsunami disrupted parts manufacturing, leading to critical shortages for industries such as automobiles and electronics. The fallout extended worldwide, with the International Monetary Fund estimating that global car production tumbled up to 30 percent in the two months after the disaster.

The economic aftershocks dragged Japan back into recession and resulted in a sharp deterioration in confidence that sent the main tankan index to its lowest level in more than a year.

But factories have put supply disruptions largely behind them now. Industrial production figures last week showed that output had nearly recovered to pre-quake levels. Exports in August rose for the first time in six months.

Monday's numbers "clearly support our view that Japan's economy continues to recover, largely due to the improvement of auto sector, even with intensified headwinds from slower global growth and yen appreciation," said Masamichi Adachi, senior economist at JPMorgan Securities Japan, in a research note.

The mood among big non-manufacturers also climbed into positive territory to 1 from minus 5 in June.

Smaller enterprises improved as well, though they weren't feeling quite as optimistic. The confidence index for medium-sized manufacturers rose to minus 3 from minus 12. The small manufacturers' index stood at minus 11 from minus 21.

The future appears less certain. Companies in the tankan gave a mixed picture of the months ahead, reflecting deepening worries about global growth, Europe's debt problems and a persistently strong yen.

The IMF last month sharply downgraded its economic outlook for the United States and Europe through the end of next year. Its chief economist described the world economy as entering a "dangerous new phase."

What happens elsewhere matters to Japan because it relies heavily on exports to drive growth. Any slowdown in overseas demand could thwart progress made since the disaster.

Exporters are also grappling with a strong yen, which surged this year to post World-War II highs against the dollar as the U.S. central bank pursued stimulus policies that contributed to a weaker greenback. When the yen climbs, it reduces the value of exporters' overseas profits when repatriated to Japan.

Officials have expressed concern that the yen's prolonged strength could lead to a hollowing out of Japanese industry. Already, companies such as Nissan Motor Co. and Panasonic Corp. have announced plans to shift more production overseas.

The survey forecasts business sentiment among large manufacturers to rise to 4 over the next quarter. Medium-sized manufacturers also expect a slight improvement. But small manufacturers and non-manufacturers predict business conditions to either stay flat or deteriorate.

The tankan, which helps guide monetary policy, showed that large companies overall plan to boost capital spending by 3 percent this fiscal year through March 2012. The figure is down from 4.2 percent in the June survey.

Large manufacturing companies assume an average exchange rate of 81.15 yen per dollar for this fiscal year compared with current rate of around 77 yen. The discrepancy could mean firms will have to revise down revenue and profits forecasts later in the year.

The Bank of Japan surveyed 10,910 companies nationwide. About 99 percent responded.

The bank's next policy board meeting is scheduled for Thursday and Friday.

___

Follow Tomoko A. Hosaka at http://twitter.com/tomokohosaka


View the original article here

Japanese town still looking for a new home

KAZO, Japan — The town of Futaba is either a place without people or a group of people without a place. Japan's nuclear disaster contaminated the town's 20 square miles, leaving the land uninhabitable, perhaps for decades. The disaster also forced the evacuation of 7,000 people from the town, with many of them still living at an abandoned high school more than 100 miles from home.

For months, those people waited to hear about their chances of returning home. But now that a return to Futaba — on the doorstep of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant — seems almost inconceivable, town officials have recently composed a new plan: They'd like to rebuild Futaba somewhere else.

"What we are trying to do is unprecedented," said Oosumi Muneshige, a chief assistant to the mayor. "We're looking for a place where everybody can live together, basically a reconstruction of what we had before."

The possibility of re-establishing a town on new land, perhaps in a different prefecture (or state), creates a tangle of legal and funding questions that the central government has yet to sort through. But for evacuees, the possibility also reflects a welcome alternative to the purgatory of the past six months.

Japan's triple disaster — an earthquake, a tsunami, a series of meltdowns at a nuclear facility — left more than 300,000 people homeless, but it's those from Fukushima, the prefecture that is the site of the plant, who face the most distressing questions about where and how to rebuild.

Early in the crisis, tens of thousands who lived within 12 miles of the oceanside plant fled to the north, west or south. Roughly one in three stayed in safer, inland parts of Fukushima. One in every 12 wound up in Tokyo.

The municipal offices of the eight townships closest to the plant also relocated, opening temporary headquarters in whatever rented space they could find. But Futaba, along the Fukushima coast, was the only one of those townships to relocate to another prefecture, according to a recent research report on the nuclear emergency's diaspora. The town is operating on the second floor of a four-story school building in Kazo, with some employees stationed at wooden laboratory desks. Almost 800 Futaba evacuees live at the school, using classrooms for bedrooms.

When Futaba's people moved to this spot in late March, most hoped they would be going home. Then-Prime Minister Naoto Kan visited in mid-May, and evacuees pleaded for information about their chances. "That is the number one question I've received from everyone," Kan said. "Eventually, I should be able to clearly tell you."

Clarity emerged in August, when the government released a report on radiation readings in towns closest to the plant, with levels high enough to leave them off-limits for decades. Some residents were devastated by the news, evacuee Kyoko Izawa said. A few argued with their roommates, debating what it meant. For others, such as Izawa, 87, it merely confirmed what they had come to fear. If there would someday be a homecoming, she wouldn't live to see it.

"The government wants to buy land" from those within 12 miles of the plant, Izawa said. "But I will not sell it. If people can return 50 years from now, I want my grandson to have it."

Muneshige, the town official, still hopes Futaba residents can return decades from now to their original homes. But until then, he said, Futaba must find new land where residents can rebuild permanent lives. Finding that land could take time. No prefecture has come forward with an offer. Muneshige predicted Futaba will still be operating at Kisai High School into 2012.

"A lot of it is unknown," he said. "But no; we will not dissolve this town. We have to find a place where we can go back to the lives we had before March 11. That is a tremendous undertaking."

Before March 11, Futaba depended on the nuclear plant. Two of Fukushima Daiichi's six reactors were within the municipality. The town collected more than $200 million in subsidies, using the money to renovate infrastructure and build public facilities.

Now, the town's evacuees depend instead on the things that arrive at the school parking lot, unloaded from the backs of trucks. The classrooms where they sleep have TVs and refrigerators. Every day at 1:30 p.m., a new batch of donations arrives: underwear, instant noodles, origami paper.

Some evacuees have decided they want to start over alone, tired of waiting for the town to resolve its uncertainty. Others feel conflicted. "It's stressful living in a group," said Choji Omoto, 83.

Several weeks ago, Omoto had a stroke, which he attributes to stress. Then a friend took him house-hunting in an area just north of Tokyo. Omoto looked at two apartments. He loved the second one. Rent was $650 a month. The unit had two rooms and no stairs. "It was perfect," Omoto said. "It had sunshine. A supermarket across the road."

Only then did he drive back to Kisai High School and tell his neighbors about the possibility. They begged him not to go. You have friends here, they said. You'll be a transplant if you move.

Omoto spent almost 10 days thinking about the decision, and at one point, he called his real-estate agent and said he didn't want the apartment. Then he changed his mind once more.

"I couldn't do this anymore — the waiting," Omoto said. "I have to live my own life. I have to move on."

Special correspondent Ayako Mie contributed to this report.


View the original article here

Art thief hits museum men's room

KANAZAWA, Ishikawa Pref. — Part of a media installation created by a Swiss visual artist has been stolen from the men's room of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, museum officials said.

Police are investigating the disappearance of the piece of artist Pipilotti Rist's work.

The installation, entitled "You Renew You," is composed of an altar with an acrylic board and crystals and a video showing the conversion of food and drink within the body into blood and tears.

The museum said Saturday that a curator noticed around 8 p.m. Friday that the half-circle acrylic board had disappeared from the work, which was partly displayed in the men's room.

The artwork, which was paired with another installation in the women's bathroom, is worth about ¥15.6 million, and visitors were free to touch it, the museum said.

"This is shocking because we have been trying to create a museum that is open to people like a park," said Yuji Akimoto, the museum director. "We want the piece back as quickly as possible."

The museum, founded in 2004 by the city of Kanazawa, has attracted over 10 million visitors over the roughly seven years to August this year.


View the original article here

Japan nuke companies stacked public meetings

North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy

Updated October 03, 2011 11:00:46

An independent investigation in Japan has revealed a long history of nuclear power companies conspiring with governments to manipulate public opinion in favour of nuclear energy.

One nuclear company even stacked public meetings with its own employees who posed as ordinary citizens to speak in support of nuclear power plants.

"The number one reactor has been operating for 30 years and I've never had a problem selling my rice or vegetables because of fears of radiation," a man posing as a farmer told a gathering of citizens discussing a proposal to use plutonium fuel at the Genkai nuclear plant on the southern island of Kyushu.

The man was not a farmer at all. It turns out he is an employee of the Kyushu Electric Power Company, the operator of the Genkai nuclear plant.

In another meeting aired live on TV after the Fukushima meltdowns, the company asked viewers to email in questions.

But again, the questions were all written by the company and sent in by employees posing as ordinary citizens, and these emails urged the company to restart reactors left idle after the Fukushima disaster.

The head of an independent investigation panel, Nobuo Gohara, says the meetings were supposed to be an opportunity for the public to ask questions, but Kyushu Electric blatantly planted leading questions and favourable comments.

Not only that, the panel found that the utility also destroyed important documents relating to its investigation.

It also implicated the governor of the prefecture, saying Yasushi Furukawa was colluding with the nuclear company to manipulate public opinion.

"There's a lack of transparency between Kyushu electric and local officials," Mr Gohara said.

The panel recommended that the utility stop making political donations and refrain from buying tickets to political fundraisers and has called on the governor to disentangle himself from the nuclear company.

"I've been urged in the report to rethink my relationship with Kyushu Electric Power Company," Mr Furukawa said.

"So I will consider what an appropriate relationship should be."

The Kyushu Electric Power Company has promised not to rig, stage or manipulate public meetings ever again.

"This is the moment of truth for our company," said vice-president Yoshinori Fukahori. "We will do out utmost to prevent a recurrence."

But if you think this was a one-off case involving one Japanese nuclear power company, you would be wrong.

Another investigation has found that at least three other nuclear firms also rigged meetings in an attempt to manipulate public opinion and they did it in collusion with the Nuclear Safety Agency - the very government body supposed to keep them on the straight and narrow.

Tags: nuclear-energy, nuclear-issues, environment, nuclear-accident, disasters-and-accidents, japan

First posted October 03, 2011 09:09:34


View the original article here

Nuke plant has 38-hour margin for meltdown

Tokyo Electric Power Co. on Saturday released an estimate saying that if the water injections cooling its stricken Fukushima power plant are halted again, the fuel rods could start melting within 38 hours, unleashing another wave of cancerous radioactive fallout.

If the plant is hit by another quake and tsunami as powerful as the March 11 disasters, resuming water injections into reactors 1, 2 and 3 will take three hours at most, the beleaguered utility said.

The cores melted down after the plant's electricity and backup cooling pumps were knocked out by the quake and tsunami.

The estimate said the temperature of the fuel — which is believed to have solidified into a solid mass at the bottom of the pressure vessels — will rise about 50 degrees each hour until it hits its melting point of 2,200 degrees in about 38 hours.

The reactors will then start emitting massive amounts of radioactive fallout, raising levels around the premises to over 10 millisieverts — the threshold for evacuation.

Tepco, however, did not assess the likelihood of newly melted fuel leaking from the pressure vessel — which holds the core — to the containment vessel — the next layer of protection before the buildings, which are damaged.

If any component of the current makeshift water-pumping system is lost, Tepco said it can resume injections in about 30 minutes by activating emergency pumps that have been installed at an elevated position nearby. In the event of multiple functions being lost, the utility projected it will require about three hours to resume water injections.

Japan is attempting to tweak its nuclear evacuation protocol by adding a new, smaller type of danger zone, disaster minister Goshi Hosono said Saturday.

The establishment of a "precautionary action zone" during a nuclear incident would require all residents inside it to immediately leave. The PAZ would be smaller than the government's so-called emergency planning zones.

Under current disaster preparedness guidelines, the radius of the EPZ is between 8 and 10 km. This is being reviewed in light of the Fukushima crisis, which eventually forced the government to set up a no-go zone with a 20-km radius around the plant, and another advisory zone 20 to 30 km away weeks later.


View the original article here

Japan OKs refueling of U.S. aircraft

Japan has agreed with the United States to allow Air Self-Defense Force aircraft to conduct airborne refueling of U.S. military planes during joint drills, chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said Monday.

There were no rules on refueling by ASDF aircraft, and refueling in past exercises used to be "one-sided" from U.S. planes to Japanese aircraft, Fujimura, said.

The memorandum of understanding between the Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. military was signed last October based on an Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement. The pact stipulates reciprocal provision of supplies such as food, water and fuel between the countries' forces during joint activities.


View the original article here

Japan finmin calls for transparent Greek rescue plan (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi urged Europe on Tuesday to come up with a transparent scheme to resolve the Greek debt crisis, to help stabilize the world economy and keep the euro from weakening too much against the yen.

Azumi, speaking to reporters after a cabinet meeting, said he had told European Central Bank member Christian Noyer in a meeting on Monday that Europe must swiftly implement measures agreed in July to beef up Europe's bailout fund.

Governments in Europe are passing measures to expand the 440 billion euro ($590 billion) European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) bailout fund by allowing it to make precautionary loans, help recapitalize banks and buy government debt in the secondary market.

"I told Noyer that a sense of uncertainty cannot be dispelled unless (euro zone countries) show a process whereby they will immediately implement rescue measures agreed on July 21 through approval in parliaments of 17 member nations," Azumi told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

"To stabilize the world economy and halt the yen's excessive rises against the euro, I want (Europe) to make the Greek rescue scheme easy to understand and make its process more transparent for market players."

Azumi also said Tokyo share prices are undervalued when looking at Japanese listed firms' actual strength, and renewed a pledge to tackle the yen's rises, saying they are becoming a destabilizing factor for Japanese exporters.

The yen hovered at a 10-year peak of 101 against the euro on Tuesday and held firm against the dollar as fears of a Greek debt default prompted a massive flight to safety that offset worries about yen-weakening intervention by Japan.

The Nikkei average dropped over 2 percent on Tuesday to its lowest in six months below 8,360 as trading companies fell on weaker commodity prices and the financial sector was pressured by fears that Europe's debt crisis is spreading.

Despite ever deeper cost-cutting measures, Greece admitted on Monday that it will miss its fiscal deficit target this year, sparking fresh doubts over a planned second international bailout.

Azumi also said budget requests from Japanese ministries and government offices are expected to top 98 trillion yen ($1.278 trillion), a record amount, for the fiscal year from next April, due in part to calls for funding to rebuild areas devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto and Leika Kihara; Editing by Michael Watson and Chris Gallagher)


View the original article here

New standards to ensure safety may doom raw beef dishes

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Are Korean-style yukke raw beef dishes about to disappear from menus?

On Saturday, the government introduced stricter standards for restaurants serving raw beef after the deaths of four persons who ate yukke at restaurants in Toyama and other prefectures.

Some barbecue restaurants may take raw meat off their menus because it would cost more to prepare and prices could triple.

Under the new standards, restaurants will be obliged to heat the meat at 60 C to a depth of one centimeter or more for at least two minutes, and trim it with implements used exclusively for handling the meat.

Many restaurants will be forced to buy heat-treated blocks of meat from meat processors, increasing costs.

Violators of the new standards face such punishments as suspension of business, imprisonment for up to two years or a fine up to 2 million yen.

Shigeru Otaki, 43, who manages a barbecue restaurant in Naka Ward, Yokohama, has decided not to serve yukke raw beef for the time being.

"To meet the new standards, we'd have to increase our capital investment and cut off the portion of meat that had been heated," Otaki said. "If we do that, a plate of raw beef will cost about 4,000 yen, more than triple the current price. We can't offer [such an expensive dish] at our restaurant."

Hironori Ochi, 29, a company employee who visited the restaurant Friday, said: "It's a pity we won't be able to order raw beef. I don't think such strict standards are necessary for good restaurants [like this one]."

A barbecue restaurant in Toyama, which had offered a plate of raw beef yukke at 504 yen that had been discounted from 840 yen in September under the catchphrase "Sayonara yukke," started serving horse meat yukke from Saturday.

Obviously frustrated, the 39-year-old restaurant manager said, "We carried out thorough tests for bacteria and are confident in handling raw beef."

Even under the new standards, a number of restaurants want to keep raw beef yukke dishes on their menus because they are so popular.

A 61-year-old cook at a barbecue restaurant in Koto Ward, Tokyo, said, "We're thinking of offering [yukke] by raising the price by about 500 yen [per plate]."

Under previous regulations, restaurants were allowed to serve raw beef to customers by just trimming the surface of the meat. However, even if these rules were violated, no one was punished.

===

New rules 'too strict'

Because of the stringent new rules, Koji Nakai, executive member of All Japan Yakiniku Association, believes yukke dishes will disappear from menus for the time being. "[Under the new standards] the prices of yukke will be double or triple ," he said.

About 1,800 barbecue restaurants are members of the association.

After the new standards were disclosed on Sept. 12, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry received several hundred complaints and inquiries from barbecue restaurants about how the meat should be prepared.

The complaints included: "There's hardly any time to change our methods" and "The standards are too strict."

The ministry distributed documents to prefectural governments Wednesday explaining how the meat should be prepared.

The central government will determine whether the new standards are being observed by the end of the year. It also plans to revise the regulations by Oct. 1 next year to oblige local governments to issue permits to restaurants serving raw meat.

A senior ministry official said, "Many restaurants started offering raw beef when it became popular, even though there was a great danger that the meat contained toxins."

In an appeal for understanding, he said, "Safety must take precedence over a drop in supplies or a price increase."


View the original article here

Japan's hula girls reopen resort near Fukushima

Japan's hula girls reopen resort near Fukushima Japanese hula girls, who helped revive a former coal mining town as a Hawaii-themed spa, have returned to the resort as it reopened nearly seven months after it was damaged by the March 11 earthquake. They danced to 21 songs, often in tears, in a "Polynesian Show" as some 700 guests cheered at the Spa Resort Hawaiians, 180 kilometres north of Tokyo, as it reopened for business on Saturday, according to local media. The resort has attracted an annual 1.5 million visitors in recent years, including many from China and South Korea. But it is expected to struggle for survival due to fears over radiation from the tsunami-crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant 50 kilometres away. (Sydney Morning Herald, Oct 03)
4 Oct It's a familiar nighttime routine: You are out in Shimbashi, drunk, and the last train has passed. What to do? While pondering the predicament a young Chinese gal materializes on a nearby corner. "Excuse me, sir?" Thus begins a survey of quickie sex services from weekly tabloid Shukan Asahi Geino (Sept. 15), which finds that prices are plummeting in the current deflationary environment. "We can get you a room for 5,000 yen," she continues. "Ah, but I've only got 3,000 yen," the crafty writer counters. In Tokyo's entertainment areas, below-the-belt services for 5,000 yen are in abundance, but many lucky lads are getting away with much less. (Tokyo Reporter)
4 Oct The Asahi beer is ice-cold. Naoki Doi takes sips from it between bites of curry. The bespectacled tour guide has asked me and my family to eat fast: he's taking us around some of Kyoto's outstanding shrines and temples, and there's a lot of them to see. He is, he says, relieved to have some business again. In March this year, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off the coast of East Japan, sending a devastating tsunami towards the shore. The tsunami wiped out entire towns across the country's Pacific coast, and caused a meltdown at the Fukushima Daichi nuclear plant. But while Japan has rebuilt large parts of the damaged areas, tourism in the country took a huge hit. Kyoto may be 500 miles south of Fukushima Prefecture, but it still felt the impact. (guardian.co.uk)
4 Oct More and more riders of fixed-gear bikes--racing bicycles without brakes--are being ticketed by police for riding on public roads. Riding a bicycle without brakes on a public road is a violation of the Road Traffic Law. The number of cases in which police have taken action against such bicycles--known as "fixies" in the West and "piste bikes" in Japan--has also increased. "Piste" is a French word meaning race track. Piste bikes have fixed gears directly linking the rotation of pedals to the rear wheel and are primarily used for track racing. (Yomiuri)
3 Oct Increasing numbers of Japanese are falling victim to scams in Shanghai, being lured into paying exorbitant charges for minimal services, according to Japanese consular officials. This year alone there have been 70 Japanese who have fallen to Shanghai scams, costing them close on 10 million yen (around $130,000). Most of the victims have been men, but some women have also fallen into the trap. Japanese consulate officials said the majority of scams are being pulled off in restaurants, clubs and bars in popular tourist areas along the Bund. (majirox news)
3 Oct The town of Futaba is either a place without people or a group of people without a place. Japan's nuclear disaster contaminated the town's 20 square miles, leaving the land uninhabitable, perhaps for decades. The disaster also forced the evacuation of 7,000 people from the town, with many of them still living at an abandoned high school more than 100 miles from home. For months, those people waited to hear about their chances of returning home. But now that a return to Futaba - on the doorstep of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant - seems almost inconceivable, town officials have recently composed a new plan: They'd like to rebuild Futaba somewhere else. "What we are trying to do is unprecedented," said Oosumi Muneshige, a chief assistant to the mayor. "We're looking for a place where everybody can live together, basically a reconstruction of what we had before." (Seattle Times)

View the original article here

Citigroup faces regulatory scrutiny in Japan: source (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) – Citigroup is being investigated by Japanese regulators for possible infractions related to its marketing of financial products and could face its third major punishment in Japan in 7 years, a source with knowledge of the matter said.

Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA) is probing whether Citigroup failed to offer sufficient explanations to customers about investment trusts, which are similar to mutual funds in the U.S., and other financial products, the source said.

The regulator is also looking at whether controls against money laundering were sufficient, following punitive action in recent years for lax oversight in that area, the source said.

The FSA plans to order Citigroup to report on its legal compliance and will then decide whether it deserves to be punished. Possible sanctions include having some operations suspended for a certain period of time, the source said.

The source spoke on condition of anonymity because the probe into Citigroup specifically has not been made public.

No one at the FSA, which carries out routine inspections on all banks, could be immediately reached for comment.

"It is a matter of public record that the FSA is conducting an inspection and we don't comment on conversations with our regulators," a spokeswoman for Citigroup in Japan said without elaborating.

News of the probe was first reported by Dow Jones.

Sanctions would come as a fresh blow to Citigroup, which had its name tarnished in Japan in 2004 when regulators forced it to close its private banking business due to lax controls in the prevention of money laundering.

It was punished again in 2009 for the same violation and forced to suspend retail bank marketing activities for a month.

(Reporting by Noriyuki Hirata, Taiga Uranaka and Junko Fujita; Editing by Nathan Layne)


View the original article here

Nissan Leads Asian Carmaker Gains - Bloomberg

Enlarge image Nissan Leads Asian Carmaker Gains Nissan Leads Asian Carmaker Gains The company, Japan’s second-largest automaker, said its Nissan-brand cars rose a combined 32 percent.

The company, Japan’s second-largest automaker, said its Nissan-brand cars rose a combined 32 percent. Photographer: Tim Rue/Bloomberg

Asian Automakers' Sales, Consumer Confidence Oct. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Jessica Caldwell, an analyst at Santa Monica, California-based Edmunds.com, talks about the outlook for Asian carmakers. Nissan Motor Co. posted U.S. sales gains in September as the two largest Asia-based auto brands, Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., still struggled to deliver enough vehicles to dealerships. Caldwell speaks with Susan Li on Bloomberg Television's "First Up." (Source: Bloomberg)

Enlarge image Nissan Leads Asian Carmaker Gain Nissan Leads Asian Carmaker Gain Hyundai, South Korea’s largest automaker, sold 52,051 vehicles, up 12 percent from a year earlier.

Hyundai, South Korea’s largest automaker, sold 52,051 vehicles, up 12 percent from a year earlier. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) and Honda Motor Co., still struggling to deliver enough vehicles to dealers, lost share of the U.S. market as Nissan Motor Co. grew more than expected and industrywide sales were the best since April.

Toyota, held back by tight supplies of Prius hybrids and Tundra pickups, sold 17 percent fewer vehicles, reducing its share to 11.5 percent from 15.3 percent a year earlier, according to researcher Autodata Corp. Honda’s 8 percent drop in deliveries cut its share by 1.7 points to 8.5 percent.

Inventory at Toyota was about 40 percent less at the beginning of the month than a year earlier, said Bob Carter, group vice president of U.S. sales. The automaker, Asia’s largest, returned to full production last month after output was disrupted by Japan’s March 11 earthquake, and supply of some models is recovering more slowly than anticipated.

“The worst is behind us, and we expect to exceed year-ago sales levels beginning in October with continued growth throughout the fourth quarter,” Carter said in a conference call yesterday.

Output is rising at Toyota and Honda’s North American plants after being slowed for five months by parts shortages due to the March earthquake.

Nissan, with fewer suppliers affected, has said its North American plants have been at full output since about June. The Yokohama-based carmaker, Japan’s second-largest, boosted U.S. sales 25 percent last month from a year earlier.

U.S. Automakers

Hyundai Motor Co. (005380) and affiliate Kia Motors Corp. (000270), South Korea’s two biggest carmakers, joined Toyota and Honda in missing consensus estimates for September sales as industrywide deliveries gained 9.9 percent, led by volume gains for General Motors Co. (GM), Ford Motor Co. (F) and Chrysler Group LLC, majority owned by Fiat SpA. (F) The U.S.-based companies had increases of 20 percent, 9 percent and 27 percent, respectively.

September light-vehicle deliveries rose to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 13.1 million, according to Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey-based Autodata Corp. The average estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was for a 12.8 million pace. The rate is the highest since April’s 13.2 million, when lost output caused by Japan’s earthquake and tsunami began crimping supply of parts and finished cars.

Toyota and Honda “still don’t have quite the selection of vehicles needed,” said Jessica Caldwell, an analyst at Santa Monica, California-based Edmunds.com. “Their cars are being produced again, but you still have to have selection consumers want. It will take time to get back to a normal level.”

Overall U.S. sales should benefit from rising inventory at Toyota and Honda dealerships, said Paul Taylor, chief economist for the National Automobile Dealers Association.

“A complete inventory makes for stronger sales overall,” Taylor said. “There’s pent-up demand, and it’s based on need, not necessarily on discretionary consumption.”

Toyota fell 2.5 percent to 2,568 yen at the 11 a.m. trading break in Tokyo, compared with a 1.6 percent drop in Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average. Honda dropped 4.1 percent, and Nissan declined 1.9 percent. Hyundai fell 3.1 percent to 204,500 won in Seoul, while Kia lost 3.6 percent.

Japanese and South Korean automakers sold 445,891 new cars and trucks in the U.S. last month, up 0.9 percent from a year ago, trailing the 9.9 percent industrywide increase.

Toyota said sales of its Toyota, Lexus and Scion brand vehicles totaled 121,451 last month, down from 147,162 a year earlier. The carmaker’s 17 percent sales drop exceeded a 15 percent decline that was the average expectation of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

The company has more than a 20-day Prius supply at the start of October, the highest “I can remember,” Carter said.

At Honda, the 8 percent sales decline exceeded the 6.1 percent drop that was the average of five analyst estimates. Still, that was an improvement from the previous four months, when deliveries slid at least 20 percent for Tokyo-based Honda.

The company is scheduling overtime shifts at U.S. assembly plants to rebuild inventory, Ron Lietzke, a spokesman, said in a Sept. 28 phone interview.

“Predicting future sales is always risky, but supply of new vehicles is coming into dealerships,” John Mendel, Honda’s executive vice president of U.S. sales, said via e-mail.

“We’re optimistic that our fourth-quarter sales will be back to normal levels and, given economic stability, we could exceed last year’s sales,” Mendel said.

Nissan’s 25 percent sales gain compared with the 18 percent average of five analyst estimates. The company said its Nissan- brand cars rose a combined 32 percent, led by the new Versa compact.

With vehicle production and inventory recovering for Toyota and Honda, the fourth quarter may be the year’s strongest for auto sales, Al Castignetti, Nissan’s vice president of U.S. sales, said in a phone interview.

“Inventory levels for all manufacturers are going to get back to normal, and people who have been sitting on the fence are likely to get back in the market,” he said. “If we have another month like September, I’d say all bets are off.”

Nissan’s September market share gained 1.1 percentage points to 8.8 percent, according to Autodata. The company’s U.S. sales so far this year have risen 15 percent compared with declines of 8.9 percent for Toyota and 5.8 percent for Honda.

Nissan “increased not only year over year, but month over month, not an easy thing to do,” Caldwell said. “They’re strong from an inventory standpoint, relative to Toyota and Honda, and have been aggressive about getting that message out.”

Hyundai sold 52,051 vehicles, up 12 percent from a year earlier. The gains were led by its revamped Elantra small car, the new Veloster hatchback and Santa Fe and Tucson sport-utility vehicles. Kia sold 35,609 vehicles, up from 30,071 a year earlier.

Combined sales for the two Seoul-based partners, which operate separately in the U.S., totaled 87,660 for the month, or 14 percent more than a year ago. That was less than the 20 percent average of three estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Both companies said sales were their best ever for the month.

Japan’s Mazda Motor Corp. (7261) said deliveries rose 37 percent last month, its biggest increase this year. Subaru, the auto brand of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (7270), reported a 2.3 percent sales drop for the month, citing tight supplies of its all-wheel drive cars and wagons.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (7211) posted a 17 percent increase and Suzuki Motor Corp. (7269)’s sales grew 23 percent.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alan Ohnsman in Los Angeles at aohnsman@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jamie Butters at jbutters@bloomberg.net


View the original article here

Japanese economy rebounding - TheChronicleHerald.ca

Fish market workers land bonitos at a port in tsunami-affected Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. (Koji Ueda / AP)
Fish market workers land bonitos at a port in tsunami-affected Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. (Koji Ueda / AP)

TOKYO — A key central bank survey offered a cautiously optimistic assessment of corporate Japan, where business confidence is improving even as the global economy’s prospects darken.

In the Bank of Japan’s quarterly "tankan" survey of business sentiment released Monday, the main index for big manufacturers climbed back into positive territory as a recovery from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami took hold. The latest reading stood at 2, up from minus 9 three months ago.

The figure represents the percentage of companies saying business conditions are good minus those saying conditions are unfavourable, with 100 representing the best mood and minus 100 the worst.

The earthquake and tsunami disrupted parts manufacturing, leading to critical shortages for industries such as automobiles and electronics. The fallout extended worldwide, with the International Monetary Fund estimating that global car production tumbled up to 30 per cent in the two months after the disaster.

The economic aftershocks dragged Japan back into recession and resulted in a sharp deterioration in confidence that sent the main tankan index to its lowest level in more than a year.

But factories have put supply disruptions largely behind them now. Industrial production figures last week showed that output had nearly recovered to pre-quake levels. Exports in August rose for the first time in six months.

Monday’s numbers "clearly support our view that Japan’s economy continues to recover, largely due to the improvement of auto sector, even with intensified headwinds from slower global growth and yen appreciation," said Masamichi Adachi, senior economist at JPMorgan Securities Japan, in a research note.

The mood among big non-manufacturers also climbed into positive territory to

1 from minus 5 in June.

Smaller enterprises improved as well, though they weren’t feeling quite as optimistic. The confidence index for medium-sized manufacturers rose to minus 3 from minus 12. The small manufacturers’ index stood at minus 11 from minus 21.

The future appears less certain. Companies in the tankan gave a mixed picture of the months ahead, reflecting deepening worries about global growth, Europe’s debt problems and a persistently strong yen.

The IMF last month sharply downgraded its economic outlook for the United States and Europe through the end of next year. Its chief economist described the world economy as entering a "dangerous new phase."

What happens elsewhere matters to Japan because it relies heavily on exports to drive growth. Any slowdown in overseas demand could thwart progress made since the disaster.

Exporters are also grappling with a strong yen, which surged this year to post World-War II highs against the dollar as the U.S. central bank pursued stimulus policies that contributed to a weaker greenback. When the yen climbs, it reduces the value of exporters’ overseas profits when repatriated to Japan.

Officials have expressed concern that the yen’s prolonged strength could lead to a hollowing out of Japanese industry. Already, companies such as Nissan Motor Co. and Panasonic Corp. have announced plans to shift more production overseas.

The survey forecasts business sentiment among large manufacturers to rise to 4 over the next quarter. Medium-sized manufacturers also expect a slight improvement. But small manufacturers and non-manufacturers predict business conditions to either stay flat or deteriorate.

The tankan, which helps guide monetary policy, showed that large companies overall plan to boost capital spending by three per cent this fiscal year through March 2012. The figure is down from 4.2 per cent in the June survey.

Large manufacturing companies assume an average exchange rate of 81.15 yen per dollar for this fiscal year compared with current rate of around 77 yen. The discrepancy could mean firms will have to revise down revenue and profits forecasts later in the year.

The Bank of Japan surveyed 10,910 companies nationwide. About 99 per cent responded.


View the original article here

Japan puts NKorean defectors on plane to Seoul (AP)

TOKYO – Nine North Koreans who defected to Japan have been flown to South Korea for resettlement.

The group was put on a flight out of Japan on Tuesday. Japanese authorities said they had requested to be sent to South Korea, and Tokyo decided to honor that request for humanitarian reasons.

The nine said they departed North Korea on Sept. 8. By the time they were spotted by Japan's Coast Guard about a week later, they had only a small amount of rice, some pickled vegetables and snacks. They had run out of drinking water.

North Korean defectors typically cross over the North's porous border with China or drift in boats over the Yellow Sea dividing line between North and South Korea, but they rarely come as far as Japan.


View the original article here

New rice 10%-20% more expensive

The Yomiuri Shimbun

This year's new rice is 10 percent to 20 percent more expensive on average than last year's crop, it has been learned.

A major reason for the increase is believed to be the efforts of wholesalers to purchase rice free of radioactive substances.

According to a list of new-rice dealings between the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JA) and wholesalers for the Sept. 26-Oct. 2 period, the largest price increases were for the Haenuki brand in Yamagata Prefecture and the Kinuhikari brand in Shiga Prefecture.

Both brands jumped 21 percent in price with the former brand selling for 14,500 yen per 60 kilograms and the latter for 14,800 yen.

The well-known Uonuma Koshihikari brand of rice grown in Niigata Prefecture costs 22,000 yen per 60 kilograms, an increase of 5 percent. Many other brands are 10 percent to 20 percent more expensive.

JA is involved in 60 percent of rice transactions.

The rise in prices is reflected in stores, with one large Tokyo supermarket saying the retail price of new rice is about 200 yen more per five kilograms than last year's rice.

Preliminary tests carried out by the central government for radioactive substances have detected 500 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram in rice grown in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima Prefecture, the prefecture that hosts the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

As 500 becquerels is the provisional upper limit in the government's guidelines for radiation in rice, prices may rise further depending on future test results.

A rice production index released by the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry on Sept. 15 indicated that the amount of rice produced this year is about the same as in normal years.

According to the Food Marketing Research and Information Center, a number of districts begin shipping their rice in early October, and supplies will be sufficient.

Based on this prediction, rice prices among dealers may stabilize, industry sources said.


View the original article here

Support rate for Cabinet slides to 54%

The public support rating for Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's Cabinet has fallen to 54.6 percent, down from 62.8 percent after it was launched on Sept. 2, a Kyodo News poll showed Sunday.

About 27.8 percent of those polled over the weekend didn't support the Cabinet.

The poll, conducted Saturday and Sunday, indicated that the public is split over a plan to raise taxes to help rebuild areas affected by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, with 46.2 percent in favor and 50.5 percent opposed.

But a clear majority backed the outline of the third extraordinary budget for fiscal 2011, which includes measures to support reconstruction from the disasters, with 63.2 percent for it and 30.3 percent opposed.

Noda has called on the opposition parties to jointly launch policy-coordinating talks on the third extra budget. But given voters' reluctance to accept tax hikes, Noda is expected to have a tough time negotiating financing measures for reconstruction.

The poll also showed an overwhelming majority of 86 percent believe that Ichiro Ozawa, a former leader of Noda's ruling Democratic Party of Japan, should give sworn testimony in the Diet over a political funds scandal that recently resulted in the conviction of three of his former secretaries.

The DPJ's support rating meanwhile stood at 27.1 percent, with the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party at 23.2 percent, the poll said.

On the long-standing issue of relocating U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa Prefecture, the poll said that 32.5 percent want the base pulled from Japan, followed by 26.6 percent who support for the current plan to transfer it to Nago in northern Okinawa.

The survey was conducted by calling random, computer-generated phone numbers and drew valid responses from 1,012 eligible voters.

Meanwhile on Sunday, LDP President Sadakazu Tanigaki reiterated the party's demand that Ozawa be summoned to testify at the Diet, hinting that the party may not agree to start deliberations on the third extra budget unless that happens.

"It's better if we can avoid making (the summoning) a precondition," Tanigaki said on an NHK news program.

"But you need to settle this issue so that we can start deliberations comfortably" at the Diet, Tanigaki said.


View the original article here

Report of long-range plutonium find tardy

The science ministry was tardy when it reported last week for the first time that traces of plutonium fallout were found outside the Fukushima No. 1 power plant's compound through tests conducted in June, a nuclear expert said Monday.

The plutonium traces, which are too low to present a hazard to human health, were found at six spots far away from the plant's premises.

A soil contamination map released Friday by the science ministry shows that plutonium drifted as far as 45 km northwest from the crippled plant to the village of Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture.

In late March, plutonium and strontium isotopes were reportedly found in soil at Fukushima No. 1 based on tests by Tokyo Electric Power Co.

It is not clear what caused the plutonium, a heavy element, to drift so far.

"The results came too late. The government should have conducted the tests much earlier," said Michiaki Furukawa of the nonprofit Citizens' Nuclear Information Center, a noted antinuclear group based in Tokyo.

The largest amount of plutonium-238 detected was 4 becquerels per square meter in the town of Namie, 24 km northwest of the plant. As for plutonium-239 and -240, the largest combined amount found was 15 becquerels per square meter, the ministry's report said.

If someone lives for 50 years in an area contaminated with 4 becquerels of plutonium-238, his total dose would be 0.027 millisieverts, the report said. The area with 15 becquerels would provide a cumulative dose of 0.12 millisievert, it said.

A cumulative dose of 100 millisieverts increases one's cancer risk by 0.5 percent, scientists say.

"Plutonium won't do harm unless it gets into people's bodies. And from the amount detected, (that) possibility is very low. People shouldn't be concerned about it," said Furukawa.

Plutonium-239 has a half-life of 24,000 years and plutonium-238 about 88 years. Plutonium-240 has a half-life of about 6,600 years.

Unlike cesium, which emits gamma rays, plutonium emits alpha rays, which can be stopped by skin or clothing but pose a greater risk to cellular material within the body.

Furukawa said when plutonium is inhaled it may stay in the lungs for a very long time. But because the amount found was very low, the chance of inhaling it is very small, he said.

As for strontium, the amount detected was, on average, less than 1 percent of the radioactive cesium, the ministry report said.

The largest strontium amount was 5,700 becquerels per sq. meter in the town of Futaba, about 3 km north of the power plant, Friday's report said. Someone living in the area for 50 years would get a cumulative dose of 0.12 millisieverts, it said.

Strontium-90, which has a half-life of 29 years, is known to accumulate in the bones when ingested or inhaled. But the small amount of strontium-90 that was detected is also not worth worrying about, Furukawa said, emphasizing that the biggest risk is being posed by cesium isotopes.

The ministry said it has no plans to expand its checks beyond the survey's current 100-km radius, which means that Tokyo — whose massive population could magnify the consequences of any results — will be excluded.

Although it would be better if the government conducted more soil tests outside that range, it would be very difficult because conducting an analysis of strontium and plutonium takes much longer than it does for cesium, Furukawa said.


View the original article here

Japan brings new law to curb drug smuggling

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

View the original article here

Tokyo, Okinawa usher in antigang legislation

Tokyo, Okinawa usher in antigang legislation Local ordinances prohibiting companies from trading with organized crime syndicates will be put into force Saturday in Tokyo and Okinawa with the expectation of stopping their cash flow funds and eventually putting the mob out of business. Some legal experts welcome the moves by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Okinawa Prefectural Government, but they also urge local police to properly disclose to the general public detailed information about gangs so they can avoid trading with them and provide concrete examples of cases being banned by the new ordinances.
4 Oct It's a familiar nighttime routine: You are out in Shimbashi, drunk, and the last train has passed. What to do? While pondering the predicament a young Chinese gal materializes on a nearby corner. "Excuse me, sir?" Thus begins a survey of quickie sex services from weekly tabloid Shukan Asahi Geino (Sept. 15), which finds that prices are plummeting in the current deflationary environment. "We can get you a room for 5,000 yen," she continues. "Ah, but I've only got 3,000 yen," the crafty writer counters. In Tokyo's entertainment areas, below-the-belt services for 5,000 yen are in abundance, but many lucky lads are getting away with much less. (Tokyo Reporter)
4 Oct The Asahi beer is ice-cold. Naoki Doi takes sips from it between bites of curry. The bespectacled tour guide has asked me and my family to eat fast: he's taking us around some of Kyoto's outstanding shrines and temples, and there's a lot of them to see. He is, he says, relieved to have some business again. In March this year, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off the coast of East Japan, sending a devastating tsunami towards the shore. The tsunami wiped out entire towns across the country's Pacific coast, and caused a meltdown at the Fukushima Daichi nuclear plant. But while Japan has rebuilt large parts of the damaged areas, tourism in the country took a huge hit. Kyoto may be 500 miles south of Fukushima Prefecture, but it still felt the impact. (guardian.co.uk)
4 Oct More and more riders of fixed-gear bikes--racing bicycles without brakes--are being ticketed by police for riding on public roads. Riding a bicycle without brakes on a public road is a violation of the Road Traffic Law. The number of cases in which police have taken action against such bicycles--known as "fixies" in the West and "piste bikes" in Japan--has also increased. "Piste" is a French word meaning race track. Piste bikes have fixed gears directly linking the rotation of pedals to the rear wheel and are primarily used for track racing. (Yomiuri)
3 Oct Increasing numbers of Japanese are falling victim to scams in Shanghai, being lured into paying exorbitant charges for minimal services, according to Japanese consular officials. This year alone there have been 70 Japanese who have fallen to Shanghai scams, costing them close on 10 million yen (around $130,000). Most of the victims have been men, but some women have also fallen into the trap. Japanese consulate officials said the majority of scams are being pulled off in restaurants, clubs and bars in popular tourist areas along the Bund. (majirox news)
3 Oct The town of Futaba is either a place without people or a group of people without a place. Japan's nuclear disaster contaminated the town's 20 square miles, leaving the land uninhabitable, perhaps for decades. The disaster also forced the evacuation of 7,000 people from the town, with many of them still living at an abandoned high school more than 100 miles from home. For months, those people waited to hear about their chances of returning home. But now that a return to Futaba - on the doorstep of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant - seems almost inconceivable, town officials have recently composed a new plan: They'd like to rebuild Futaba somewhere else. "What we are trying to do is unprecedented," said Oosumi Muneshige, a chief assistant to the mayor. "We're looking for a place where everybody can live together, basically a reconstruction of what we had before." (Seattle Times)

View the original article here