Fukushima water temps to be lower this year

Fukushima water temps to be lower this year A Japanese government minister says his country plans to bring water temperatures under control at the reactors of the tsunami-stricken Fukushima nuclear plant by the end of this year. Goshi Hosono's announcement confirmed plans from Japan giving a rough time frame for "Step 2" of the cleanup at the plant. Lowering temperatures below the boiling point at the reactors would reduce the danger of further meltdown and release of additional radioactivity from the fuel rods inside. Hosono also said Monday that the International Atomic Energy Agency plans a mission in October to help plan further decontamination of the accident region.
23 Sep A man found 10 million yen ($131,000) in cash Sept. 22 in a bag thrown away in a garbage dump at the city of Kasai in Hyogo prefecture, police said. The 56-year-old employee of a Kasai Municipal Government-run waste disposal center found the bag while separating garbage for the disposal. Center officials handed the bag into the police and will be entitled to claim the cash if its rightful owner does not emerge within three months. (majirox news)
22 Sep Following the request that the name Tokyo Electric Power Co. appear on a receipt for a sex club in Sapporo's Susukino red-light district earlier this month, the establishment has decided to ban patronage from that firm, reports daily tabloid Yukan Fuji (Sept. 17). On September 14, the fuzoku shop Olive Garden announced on its blog that it would not honor patrons hailing from TEPCO - in fact, it joked that the nuclear meltdown at Fukushima had sapped some of their virility in any case. (Tokyo Reporter)
22 Sep Mika Sato has found that two dolls resembling her 6-year-old daughter, who died in the March 11 tsunami, have helped soothe her emotional scars. "It was like my daughter came back to me," said Sato, 36, recalling the day earlier this month when she received the two dolls from the nonprofit organization Tamezo Club. Omokage bina are dolls that resemble people who have passed on. They are made by craftsmen who work from photographs of the deceased person. Since early August, Tamezo Club, a welfare services NPO based in Iwatsuki Ward, Saitama, has been donating them to people who lost loved ones in the March 11 disaster. (Yomiuri)
22 Sep A 71-year-old Japanese man died in Honolulu after falling off a trolley during a tour. The man, who name was not released, was taken to a hospital after falling Monday afternoon, where he was listed in critical condition and died later that day, police said. The man was standing next to an exit on the trolley and fell onto the road when the vehicle made a left turn out of a shopping center. A police spokeswoman said the accident is under investigation but that drugs and alcohol are not considered to be factors. The trolley was not speeding and traffic was moderate at the time, she said. (Japan Times)
21 Sep To promote forthcoming anti-gang legislation, the superintendent general of Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, Tateshi Higuchi, threw out the first pitch before the Yakult Swallows faced the Yomiuri Giants at Tokyo Dome last night, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Sept. 21). Beginning on October 1, business transactions between citizens and members of organized crime, such as the paying mikajimeryo (protection money), will be prohibited. The law will be enforced nationwide. (Tokyo Reporter)

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Japan's New Finance Minister Seeks Lower Corporate Tax -Kyodo - Wall Street Journal

SEPTEMBER 5, 2011, 8:36 A.M. ET

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

Japan's new finance minister, Jun Azumi, said Monday he wants to carry out a corporate tax cut as earlier proposed by the government and give incentives for Japanese firms to keep operating in the country despite the recent sharp rise of the yen, Kyodo News reports.

But Azumi, who took office Friday under new Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, suggested the government might need to raise the tax among others provisionally in order to secure funds for reconstruction work following the earthquake and tsunami that struck in March, for which the government is set to create a third ...

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

Japan's new finance minister, Jun Azumi, said Monday he wants to carry out a corporate tax cut as earlier proposed by the government and give incentives for Japanese firms to keep operating in the country despite the recent sharp rise of the yen, Kyodo News reports.

But Azumi, who took office Friday under new Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, suggested the government might need to raise the tax among others provisionally in order to secure funds for reconstruction work following the earthquake and tsunami that struck in March, for which the government is set to create a third ...

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Japan's lower house elects Noda new prime minister - BusinessWeek

TOKYO

Japan's lower house has elected former Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda as the country's new prime minister.

The less powerful upper house, controlled by the opposition, still needs to vote. If it rejects Noda, the lower house will vote again, where Noda is virtually assured of winning again. The vote took place Tuesday.

Noda, seen as a fiscal conservative, will face a host of daunting problems, including the post-tsunami recovery, nuclear crisis, sluggish economy and yen's surge.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's prime minister and his Cabinet resigned en masse on Tuesday ahead of a vote in parliament to install former Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda as the country's new leader.

Noda, seen as a fiscal conservative, will face a host of daunting problems, including how to fund the recovery from Japan's devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the ongoing nuclear crisis touched off by the disaster, and the rapid strengthening of the nation's currency on international markets.

Noda was elected Monday to head the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, virtually insuring that he would be named prime minister in the parliament vote expected later Tuesday. He succeeds the unpopular Naoto Kan, who quit after 15 months in office.

He must seek to unify the fractious ruling party and restore public confidence in politics amid widespread disgust over squabbling in parliament and perceived lack of leadership in the wake of the triple disaster.

Noda is a "moderate voice" in the ruling party, Sheila Smith, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, wrote in a comment. "He has a steady temperament and a reputation for fairness in a party where loyalties have been severely tested of late."

On Monday, Noda defeated Trade Minister Banri Kaieda -- who was backed by an influential party powerbroker -- in a run-off election 215-177 among ruling party members of parliament after none of the initial five candidates won a majority in the first round.

After the vote Noda, 54, called for party members to put aside differences and "sweat together for the sake of the people."

He will become Japan's sixth prime minister in five years. The last five have each lasted about a year.

Noda supports free trade and building a stronger partnership with the United States, but given the pressing needs at home, "diplomacy is not likely to be at the top of his priority lists," Smith wrote.

Noda has angered China and South Korea for comments about convicted wartime leaders revered at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, where the souls of all Japan's war dead are enshrined. Earlier this month, he reiterated his claim that the wartime leaders had paid their debts and should no longer be seen as war criminals. He made similar comments in 2005.

Yasukuni visits by postwar politicians have often enraged Japan's neighbors, who bore the brunt of Japan's colonial aggression and are sensitive to any efforts by Japan to whitewash its past. Noda made his comments in response to a reporter's question on the Aug. 15 anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender. He and the rest of Prime Minister Naoto Kan's Cabinet chose not to visit the shrine this year.

China's official news agency warned Noda on Monday to not to ignore Beijing's "core interests" or seek to portray it as a threat to regional peace and stability. In a harshly worded editorial, Xinhua demanded Noda not visit Yasukuni and said Tokyo must recognize China's claim over Japanese-controlled islands known as Senkaku, or Diaoyutai in Chinese.

The two countries got into a spat last year when a Chinese fishing boat captain was arrested -- and later released -- by Japan after his boat sailed close to the islands.

Noda will likely be preoccupied with tackling the huge tasks at home. Nearly six months after the quake-spawned tsunami devastated Japan's northeastern coast, dozens of towns are still cleaning up and struggling to come up with reconstruction plans. The nuclear plant in Fukushima has displaced about 100,000 people, and the quake-prone country is also striving to hammer out a clear stance on the future of nuclear power generation.

Japan's economy, the world's third-largest, has been sluggish for the last 20 years and its population is aging, putting a greater tax burden on the younger generation.

As finance minister, Noda has been battling the yen's recent rise to record highs against the dollar, which hurts Japan's exporters. Earlier this month, he authorized Japan's intervention in global currency markets to try to weaken the yen.

Noda has also said Japan must rein in its huge deficit -- twice the country's gross domestic product -- and has voiced support in the past for raising the country's 5 percent sales tax, but has toned that down lately.

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Associated Press writer Eric Talmadge contributed to this report.

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Asian Shares End Mostly Lower; Japan Exporters Remain Under Pressure - Wall Street Journal

By V. Phani Kumar in Hong Kong and Virginia Harrison in Sydney

HONG KONG (MarketWatch)--Most Asian markets surrendered gains to end lower Monday as worries about the European debt crisis and global economic outlook kept investors on edge.

"Weak growth outlook remains the headwind for risky assets. We expect no lasting respite from the ongoing risk aversion until a clear direction on additional [U.S. Federal Reserve] stimulus emerges and until [there's a] significant reduction in euro-zone debt anxiety," said Prakash Sakpal, an economist at ING Financial Markets Research.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average ended 1.0% lower, as hopes that authorities would ...

By V. Phani Kumar in Hong Kong and Virginia Harrison in Sydney

HONG KONG (MarketWatch)--Most Asian markets surrendered gains to end lower Monday as worries about the European debt crisis and global economic outlook kept investors on edge.

"Weak growth outlook remains the headwind for risky assets. We expect no lasting respite from the ongoing risk aversion until a clear direction on additional [U.S. Federal Reserve] stimulus emerges and until [there's a] significant reduction in euro-zone debt anxiety," said Prakash Sakpal, an economist at ING Financial Markets Research.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average ended 1.0% lower, as hopes that authorities would ...

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Lower yield on U.S. Treasuries hampers BOJ effort to rein in yen

The Bank of Japan, struggling to keep the strengthening yen from derailing efforts to repair the economy, is facing a new challenge — the shrinking yield gap between two-year sovereigns and Treasuries.

The extra yield that two-year Treasuries offer over similar-maturity Japanese notes fell Tuesday to the least since 1992.

BOJ Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa said Aug. 4 that there is a "relatively high" correlation between that rate gap and the dollar-yen rate, as falling yield premiums in the U.S. dampen dollar-buying demand from Japanese investors.

The BOJ may need to lengthen the maturity of bonds in its asset purchase program to stop the yen's appreciation, according to Mizuho Securities Co. The BOJ, whose policy rate is already near zero, bolstered stimulus by ¥10 trillion on Aug. 4, the same day Japan intervened in the currency market for the first time since March.

"It's significant that Gov. Shirakawa discussed the Japan-U.S. interest rate gap, and specifically the two-year term, at a time when the yen is strengthening," said Naomi Hasegawa, a senior bond strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co.

The difference between the U.S. and Japanese two-year yields narrowed to a 19-year low of 3.7 basis points Tuesday.

U.S. two-year Treasury note yields dropped to a record low of 0.1568 percent after the Fed pledged Aug. 9 to keep its benchmark interest rate at an all-time low at least through mid-2013 to aid the economy's recovery. It was at 0.1869 percent Tuesday, while Japanese two-year notes yielded 0.15 percent, according to Bloomberg data.

The BOJ could increase the remaining maturity of government bonds it buys under its asset-purchase program to between two to three years from up to two years now, said Yasunari Ueno, chief market economist at Mizuho Securities.

It could also lower the 0.1 percent rate the BOJ pays banks for keeping funds in its accounts, encouraging them to invest and lend more, he said.

Buying longer bonds would be in line with the recommendations of the International Monetary Fund, which last month said the central bank could "ward off deflation risks and support the recovery" by increasing purchases of government bonds with maturities of three years or more.

The BOJ raised by ¥5 trillion a fund to buy assets such as government debt, corporate bonds and real estate investment trusts, while also boosting by the same amount on Aug. 4 a program to encourage banks to lend. Two-thirds of the ¥15 trillion asset-buying program is earmarked for buying Japanese government debt.

In expanding its stimulus measures this month, the BOJ said there is "high uncertainty" surrounding the economic outlook. Companies cut production and consumers held off from making purchases after March 11.

The economy shrank at a 1.3 percent annual pace in the three months through June, the third-straight quarter of declines, the Cabinet Office said Monday. It will probably rebound in the second half, according to a Bloomberg survey.

A climbing yen is an additional risk for Japan's export-dependent recovery. The yen strengthened to as much as 76.31 per dollar on Thursday, near the postwar high of 76.25 in March that prompted the Group of Seven nations to jointly sell yen.

"There's a limit to how much the two-year rate could fall if the BOJ continues to pay a 0.1 percent interest on deposits, since banks may keep their money in the BOJ account, said Mizuho Securities' Ueno.

Still, reflecting the continued decrease in short-term market rates, the spread between the BOJ's target of unsecured overnight call rates and three-month euroyen futures narrowed to a nine-month low of 20 basis points from a peak of 31.5 basis points in December.

The yield on Japan's benchmark 10-year bond was little changed at 1.035 percent Tuesday.

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