More than 10,000 New Zealanders and 90 people from Japan, some teary eyed, stood in silence at a Christchurch park Wednesday while police officers and firefighters read out the names of all 185 people who died in a devastating earthquake one year ago.
The reading was followed by two minutes of silence at 12:51 p.m., the minute the magnitude 6.1 quake struck. It destroyed thousands of homes and much of downtown Christchurch, causing $25 billion in damage by the government's estimate. Family and friends of 24 of the 28 Japanese victims, who all died when the CTV building collapsed, were among the participants in a government-sponsored ceremony and offered a moment of silence. (Japan Times)
Christchurch remembers quake dead
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Dollar rises to 7-month high against Japanese yen
The dollar rose to a seven-month high against the Japanese yen, a week after the Bank of Japan announced a surprise increase of its economic stimulus program.
The dollar rose to 80.24 Japanese yen late Wednesday from 79.71 yen late Tuesday. The dollar rose as high as 80.40 yen, its highest point against the yen since July 11.
The Bank of Japan said on Feb. 14 that it would buy more government bonds while keeping short-term interest rates close to zero to boost the country's economy. (Seattle Times)
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Shark found in park was for 'photo shoot'
A dead shark that was found in Yoyogi Park in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, on Sunday was left there by a man who had photographed the creature and went home with the intention of retrieving it later, according to the police.
The police plan to not file charges of illegal dumping against the 25-year-old company employee from Minato Ward, after concluding he had not intended to leave the shark in the popular park.
A senior officer from Yoyogi Police Station said the man got the shark from a sushi restaurant in Shibuya Ward last Wednesday and kept it at a friend's house. (Yomiuri)
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Japan's Sky Tree tower gets its own promotional perfume
As Japan's tallest tower nears completion, the Tokyo Sky Tree is being promoted with a new perfume.
Cosmetics company Shiseido will release Tokyo Sky Tree Parfum as a limited run of 634 bottles, matching the tower's 634 metres.
The tower, the tallest in the world, is due to be completed this month and opened to the public in May.
The tower will carry TV signals for some of the country's major broadcasters.
It will have two observations decks open to the public. It was certified as the tallest freestanding tower by Guinness World Records in November 2011 after overtaking Guangzhou's Canton Tower.
Other promotional activities include the creation of a children's character known as "Sorakara-chan". (BBC)
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Govt in talks with U.S. to import natural gas
The government has asked the U.S. government to grant permission for the export of liquefied natural gas (LNG) produced in the United States to Japan, according to sources.
The government is trying to diversify energy supply sources to cope with shortfalls in energy supply after the shutdowns of nuclear reactors in the nation and the recent decision to reduce imports of Iranian oil.
The United States regards LNG as a strategic material and restricts exports of the product. (Yomiuri)
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Sumo: Japan's sumo belly flops to $50 million debt
Japan's ancient sport of sumo rang up debts of almost $50 million in 2011 after a match-fixing scandal which triggered a television black-out and a government warning.
"We find ourselves in an extremely difficult position," Japan Sumo Association (JSA) chairman Kitanoumi told reporters on Wednesday.
"We must face the problem and quickly restore the public's faith in sumo."
The JSA was forced to pull the plug on last March's spring tournament after a sting operation uncovered a match-fixing ring via texts left on mobile phones of wrestlers involved. (moneycontrol.com)
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HSBC to withdraw from Japan consumer banking, closing branches
HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe's largest bank, will withdraw from consumer banking in Japan, closing down six branches four years after starting the business.
HSBC will stop selling new investment products, including mutual funds, from March 8, and it will end operations in its branches in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya by July 31, the London-based bank said in the memo e-mailed to its customers yesterday and obtained by Bloomberg News. A spokesman in London confirmed the details of the e-mail. The U.K. lender is scaling back in parts of Asia, including Japan, South Korea and Thailand, as Chief Executive Officer Stuart Gulliver cuts costs and prepares for tighter capital rules. (sfgate.com)
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Making the case for Japanese small caps
"I'm convinced we're witnessing the lowest-risk, highest-reward trade in 61 years." That's what I told WSD Insider subscribers regarding Japan back in December 2011. Unsurprisingly, many balked at my assertion. Too many pundits for too long had been predicting the same turnaround for this country's stocks. And every time, one never materialized.
But guess what? This time - dare I say it - could end up being different. And that's because the specific Japanese stocks I recommended are showing signs of a breakout. They're on a record-setting tear, up 26 days in a row, in fact. It's not just a glitch, either. There's momentum, valuation and positive fundamentals driving it home. So, surprising as it might seem. (SeekingAlpha)
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Okinawa snow events halted after Japan radiation fears
Officials in Japan's Okinawa prefecture have been forced to cancel two children's snow events amid residents' fears the snow was radioactive.
About 600kg of snow had been flown into Naha city from north-eastern Japan.
Reports say that residents expressed fears the snow had been contaminated in the wake of the crisis at the tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant.
But officials said the snow was from an area 400km (248 miles) from Fukushima and had undergone several safety tests.
One of the cancelled events was due to take place on Thursday, at a children's hall in the Matsuo area of the city, with the second scheduled for Friday. (BBC)
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School yearbooks take on special significance
With school graduation season rapidly approaching, printing companies in areas struck by the Great East Japan Earthquake have been boosting production of school yearbooks under shortened deadlines.
The firms only started full-scale production of the yearbooks from the beginning of this year, mainly because many schools and photo studios lost images and relevant data in the disaster.
Sendai-based Saito Collotype Printing has received orders from about 3,500 schools nationwide, ranging from kindergartens to universities. (Yomiuri)
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Seabed near nuke plant to be paved
Tokyo Electric Power Co. has announced a plan to cover the seabed adjacent to the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant with a coating material composed of clay and cement as a new measure to prevent the spread of soil contaminated with radioactive substances.
According to TEPCO's announcement on Tuesday, the coating material will be placed in areas surrounded by breakwaters and silt fences that had already been installed. The work of laying the coating material on the seabed is set to be started later this month and completed in three to four months.
The coating material, which will be about 60 centimeters thick, will cover areas stretching along a total of 900 meters of shoreline to a distance of 80 meters out. The 72,000-square-meter area is equivalent to 5.5 times the field area of Tokyo Dome. (Yomiuri)
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Grandparents stifle grief to raise orphaned boy
In the three prefectures hardest hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake last March 11, 1,580 children lost either one or both of their parents, according to a health ministry survey of Iwate, Fukushima and Miyagi conducted at the end of last year.
According to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry's poll, most of those children are being cared for by relatives.
In Iwate Prefecture, 7-year-old Sora Sasaki from the coastal town of Sasaki lost his mother, Kanako, on the day of the disasters and is currently living with kin. His mother was raising him in a single-parent household; his father was out of the picture. (Japan Times)
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As Japan recovers, a generational rift opens
At age 39, Yoshiaki Suda, the new mayor of this town that was destroyed by last March's tsunami, oversees a community where the votes and influence lie among its large population of graying residents.
But for Onagawa to have a future, he must rebuild it in such a way as to make it attractive to his and future generations.
"That's the most difficult problem," Suda said. "For whom are we rebuilding?"
The rebuilding of Onagawa and the rest of the coast where the tsunami hit is a preview of what may be the most critical test Japan faces in the decades ahead. In a country where power rests disproportionately among older people, how does Japan, which has the world's most rapidly aging population, use its resources to build a society that looks to the future as much as the past? (Jakarta Globe)
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Sea Shepherd attacks Japan whalers again
Anti-whaling campaigners Sea Shepherd attacked a Japanese whaling ship in the Antarctic Ocean by firing paint bombs at it and trying to jam its propeller with ropes, Japan's whaling body says.
Activists from the group's main ship, the Steve Irwin, on Wednesday approached the Yushin Maru No.3 on dinghies, before also fired paint pellets, stink bombs and smoke flares, the Institute of Cetacean Research said.
The whalers responded with a water cannon, the institute said, describing what is becoming increasingly routine exchanges between whalers and activists on the high seas. (MSN)
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Japan says planning to give IMF up to $50 bn
Japan said Thursday it may provide up to $50 billion to the International Monetary Fund to help fight Europe's debt crisis, but the exact figure is yet to be decided.
"Japan is studying the specific figure it will provide to the IMF but it won't be possible for us to reach agreement by the time the finance minister attends the G20 meeting this weekend," said a finance ministry official.
The IMF -- which along with the European Central Bank and EU makes up the "troika" of bailout contributors -- said in January it was seeking to increase its lending capacity by up to $500 billion to confront the debt crisis. (AFP)
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Hope fades for lone pine tree survivor of Japan's tsunami
Very little was left standing in the Japanese city of Rikuzentakata after a huge tsunami tore through nearly a year ago. Even the centuries-old pine forest by the sea that had long been a symbol of the city was obliterated.
But amidst the destruction that killed about one in 12 of the city's residents, one lonely pine tree out of more than 60,000 has clung to life along the ravaged coast. It came to embody residents' hopes for renewal.
But now the 250-year-old pine tree is dying, a victim of the salt water left in the ground by the tsunami. There has been talk of preserving it where it stands, even if it were to die, as a memorial but that could cost up to 300 million yen ($3.7 million) and looks unlikely to happen given the need for much more pressing reconstruction work. (Reuters)
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Amazon.com Japan pulls all whale meat products
The Internet retail giant Amazon.com has responded to a public outcry against whale meat sales on its Japanese website by removing more than 145 food products from the site overnight.
The products made from the meat of whales, dolphins and porpoises were removed within 24 hours after a campaign launched yesterday by the Environmental Investigation Agency and Humane Society International quickly gathered worldwide momentum.
Tens of thousands of people took action via Twitter, Facebook and HSI's online petition and thousands more sent protest emails to Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of the Seattle-based business. (ens-newswire.com)
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No. of crimes by foreigners in Japan drops 12.7% in 2011
The number of crimes by foreigners uncovered by police across Japan in 2011 dropped 12.7 percent from a year earlier to 17,286, a preliminary National Police Agency survey showed Thursday.
The number of foreign nationals the police questioned, arrested and sent papers on to prosecutors last year also fell 15.2 percent from 2010 to 10,061. Both numbers have been on a declining trend after peaking in 2005, according to the survey.
Foreigners with permanent residence status are not included in the data.
Among the crimes committed by foreigners, the number of fake marriage cases soared 26.1 percent in 2011 to 193, with the number of foreign nationals investigated by police in those cases also rising 17.6 percent to 554. (Mainichi)
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Japan royal heir suggests easier load for emperor
Japan's crown prince believes efforts should be made to reduce the burden on his ailing father, Emperor Akihito, as the 78-year-old monarch recovers from heart bypass surgery.
Crown Prince Naruhito said that as Akihito gets older it is increasingly important to ensure that his official duties are not too heavy. Naruhito, the heir to the throne, made the comment in a news conference to mark his 52nd birthday on Thursday.
Akihito underwent the surgery on Saturday and remains in the hospital but is reportedly in good spirits. Emperors in modern Japan reign until they die. Naruhito refrained from commenting on whether that should be changed. (NPR)
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Japan to develop 'Tsunami-proof lifeboat'
Local authorities in western Japan will start a new project to develop a lifeboat which is able to float on rising "tsunami" waves as one of the evacuation measures, local press reported.
The project is initiated by Shikoku Region Transport Bureau, the regional subordinate organization of Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. The south coast line Shikoku Island is directly facing the Pacific Ocean.
The planned lifeboat will be about 5 meters long and would be made of glass-fiber reinforced plastic. It will be set at public buildings in the coastal areas, such as schools, hospitals or local community houses and accommodate 20 to 50 people in case of tsunami, the report said. (China Daily)
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