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)

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Japan finmin calls for transparent Greek rescue plan

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)

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Japan opposition calls for defence minister to quit

Japan opposition calls for defence minister to quitBy Shigemi Sato (AFP) – 1 day ago 

TOKYO — Japan's main opposition party called for the new defence minister to resign on Saturday for referring to himself as an amateur shortly before he took office, but there was a poll boost for the new premier.

Yasuo Ichikawa told Japanese media just before his formal appointment to the defence brief: "I am an amateur concerning security", comments that the opposition Liberal-Democratic Party said proved he was not qualified for the job.

"For that comment alone he deserves to be discharged from his ministerial post," said LDP policy chief Shigeru Ishiba, a former defence minister.

He said the wisdom of new Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda in appointing Ichikawa was also "put into question".

But there was better news for Noda as Kyodo news agency reported a public approval rating of 62.8 percent on Saturday, compared with 15.8 percent for his predecessor Naoto Kan in late August.

The cabinet announced on Friday by Noda, Japan's sixth new leader in five years, featured untested talent in key posts including the finance and foreign ministries.

Ichikawa, 69, who worked in the farm ministry for 25 years before entering politics, said his comment had been misinterpreted.

"I meant to say that most of the people are amateurs and it is important to pursue security policies from the people's viewpoint," he said late Friday.

But the controversy refused to go away on Saturday, with LDP policy expert Ichita Yamamoto joining calls for Ichikawa to quit as soon as possible.

"We feel very anxious leaving Japan's national defence to a person with such an attitude," Yamamoto said.

The ruling Democratic Party of Japan have been at odds with the United States over a huge US military presence in Okinawa since it ended the LDP's long domination of Japanese politics in 2009.

Noda's two predecessors have failed to resolve the issue with the key ally due to Okinawa islanders' resistance to the planned transfer of a US Marine Corps air station from a growing urban area to a scenic stretch of shore.

Major newspapers on Saturday noted that Finance Minister Jun Azumi, 49, and Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba, 47, are "unknown quantities" with little experience in the fields related to their jobs.

But they also commended Noda for allocating cabinet posts to strike a balance among quarrelling factions within his party.

The business daily Nikkei said the line-up "emphasised a balance of power" after a leadership battle between supporters and enemies of veteran powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa, who has been indicted in a political funding scandal.

Two members from Ozawa's group joined the cabinet.

"There is no room for futile confrontation within the party," the daily said, citing crucial issues such as the recovery from the March earthquake and tsunami, emergency at the disaster-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant and economic strife.

The influential Asahi Shimbun said Noda, a former finance minister, may have proven his reputation as a "candidate from within the finance ministry" by appointing two figures close to the ministry in his cabinet.

The appointments showed the Noda government's readiness to follow the finance ministry's drive for tax increases to solve the public debt problem, Asahi said.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved. More »

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Japan opposition calls for defence minister to quit - AFP

Japan opposition calls for defence minister to quitBy Shigemi Sato (AFP) – 9 hours ago 

TOKYO — Japan's main opposition party called for the new defence minister to resign on Saturday for referring to himself as an amateur shortly before he took office, but there was a poll boost for the new premier.

Yasuo Ichikawa told Japanese media just before his formal appointment to the defence brief: "I am an amateur concerning security", comments that the opposition Liberal-Democratic Party said proved he was not qualified for the job.

"For that comment alone he deserves to be discharged from his ministerial post," said LDP policy chief Shigeru Ishiba, a former defence minister.

He said the wisdom of new Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda in appointing Ichikawa was also "put into question".

But there was better news for Noda as Kyodo news agency reported a public approval rating of 62.8 percent on Saturday, compared with 15.8 percent for his predecessor Naoto Kan in late August.

The cabinet announced on Friday by Noda, Japan's sixth new leader in five years, featured untested talent in key posts including the finance and foreign ministries.

Ichikawa, 69, who worked in the farm ministry for 25 years before entering politics, said his comment had been misinterpreted.

"I meant to say that most of the people are amateurs and it is important to pursue security policies from the people's viewpoint," he said late Friday.

But the controversy refused to go away on Saturday, with LDP policy expert Ichita Yamamoto joining calls for Ichikawa to quit as soon as possible.

"We feel very anxious leaving Japan's national defence to a person with such an attitude," Yamamoto said.

The ruling Democratic Party of Japan have been at odds with the United States over a huge US military presence in Okinawa since it ended the LDP's long domination of Japanese politics in 2009.

Noda's two predecessors have failed to resolve the issue with the key ally due to Okinawa islanders' resistance to the planned transfer of a US Marine Corps air station from a growing urban area to a scenic stretch of shore.

Major newspapers on Saturday noted that Finance Minister Jun Azumi, 49, and Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba, 47, are "unknown quantities" with little experience in the fields related to their jobs.

But they also commended Noda for allocating cabinet posts to strike a balance among quarrelling factions within his party.

The business daily Nikkei said the line-up "emphasised a balance of power" after a leadership battle between supporters and enemies of veteran powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa, who has been indicted in a political funding scandal.

Two members from Ozawa's group joined the cabinet.

"There is no room for futile confrontation within the party," the daily said, citing crucial issues such as the recovery from the March earthquake and tsunami, emergency at the disaster-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant and economic strife.

The influential Asahi Shimbun said Noda, a former finance minister, may have proven his reputation as a "candidate from within the finance ministry" by appointing two figures close to the ministry in his cabinet.

The appointments showed the Noda government's readiness to follow the finance ministry's drive for tax increases to solve the public debt problem, Asahi said.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved. More »

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Official calls for better sentiments between Chinese, Japanese people - Xinhua

BEIJING, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- Wang Chen, director of China's State Council Information Office, on Sunday called for more efforts to improve the sentiments between the Chinese and Japanese people.

"People-to-people exchanges are heart-to-heart exchanges, which is playing an increasingly important role in the bilateral ties between China and Japan," said the official, adding that those are the best ways to deepening understanding, trust and good feelings between nations.

Wang made the remarks at the 7th annual Beijing-Tokyo Forum held in Beijing to promote understanding and strengthen ties between the two nations.

China and Japan have witnessed great leaps of people-to-people exchanges over the past decades since the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1972, Wang said.

A total of 5.7 million Chinese and Japanese people visited each other's country in the year of 2010, compared to some 10,000 when the relationship was normalized, according to the official.

"We need to make more efforts to increase dialogue and exchange between the people of the two countries from all walks of life, to make more people become staunch supporters and enthusiastic participants in advancing the China-Japan relations," said the official.

Days before Sunday's forum, a public opinion poll on Chinese and Japanese's views of each other's country was released, showing that 28.6 percent of grassroots Chinese citizens have positive views on Japan, while 20.8 percent of Japanese have positive views on China.

The forum gathered some 300 participants from various circles in the two countries and they conducted dialogues on issues covering politics, economy, media and security.

The forum, held annually since 2005, is jointly organized by China's biggest English newspaper, China Daily, and Genron NPO, a Japanese think tank.

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