Toyota Motor Corp.'s Prius hybrid topped the February sales rankings in Japan, retaining first place for the ninth consecutive month, with its sales nearly doubling from a year earlier to 35,875 units, industry bodies said Tuesday.
Honda Motor Co.'s Fit subcompact came in second with sales of 24,973 units, up 48.0 percent, followed by Daihatsu Motor Co.'s minivehicle Mira, which posted sales of 22,023 units, marking a 3.2-fold year-on-year increase, according to data compiled by the Japan Automobile Dealers Association and the Japan Mini Vehicles Association. (Japan Times)
Toyota Prius hybrid remains top seller
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Discount overseas parcel service eyed
Japan Post Service Co. on April 1 will launch a new international parcel delivery service about 20 to 40 percent cheaper than its existing Express Mail Service, to target online auction service users.
The move announced Monday is in line with the company's plan to increase international postal transactions amid the stagnant domestic market. The "international e-packet" service will be offered for items weighing up to 2 kg auctioned in Japan via international e-commerce sites and shipped to foreign buyers. (Japan Times)
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Volcker rule may 'harm' sovereign debt markets
Bank of Japan Deputy Gov. Kiyohiko Nishimura has voiced concerns that Washington's plan to introduce the so-called Volcker rule could negatively impact the liquidity of sovereign debt markets.
"If the Volcker rule were to be strictly implemented as proposed, it could adversely affect the liquidity of overseas sovereign debt," Nishimura said in a speech Monday in Washington.
While U.S. government bonds and most other government entity debts are exempt from the restrictions to be imposed under the proposed financial regulation, the government bonds of foreign countries are not, including Japan, and European nations, he said. (Japan Times)
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Japanese researchers develop fingerprint-free tablet touchscreens
Researchers at one of Japan's top industrial units, Toray, have come up with a solution to modern-life's little annoyances -- greasy, fingerprint-smeared tablet touchscreens.
Using nanotechnology that Toray claims can easily be applied in phone or tablet touchscreen manufacturing, scientists discovered a minutely and randomly wrinkled surface that makes human finger marks hard to stick to. The Japanese are not the only ones on the trail of annoying grease marks. US-based computer accessories maker Targus already has a line of fingerprint-resistant screen protectors on the market for phones and plans to launch one for the iPad in April. Like the Japanese invention, Targus's new film works on having a microscopically moulded uneven surface. (tabtimes.com)
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Has the earth moved under Japan's atomic industry?
A leading Japanese seismic expert may have thrown a spade into plans to bring back online at least one reactor complex located in the heart of the country's so-called "nuclear Ginza" in rural Fukui prefecture.
Yuichi Sugiyama, the head of a research team at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, has asserted a fault line running up against the Tsuruga nuclear plant is much longer and more dangerous than previously believed. That could delay a restart of Tsuruga's twin reactors by calling into question current safety standards.
It may also stymie efforts to bring online 11 other reactors in Fukui prefecture and plants elsewhere in Japan. (Wall Street Journal)
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Fukushima farmers in two-front war
Radioactive realities and radioaction rumors continue to plague farmers in Fukushima Prefecture a year into the crisis that started last March 11 when a megaquake and monster tsunami put a local nuclear plant on a path to three reactor meltdowns.
Many farmers had to give up growing and just get away, particularly those in the immediate fallout zone of Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 power plant. They left their fields to whither and their livestock to fend for themselves.
But there are others trying every means possible to remain in farming and overcome the crisis. (Japan Times)
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Japan's nuclear mobsters escape tsunami pain
A year after an earthquake in Japan touched off the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl, here's the question on my mind: Who's going to jail?
The news media are asking the obvious and safe questions ahead of March 11: How well did the government respond? Whither the devastated northeast? What's the economic effect? When might the 52 of 54 nuclear reactors mothballed since then reopen?
This barrage of "anniversary" articles misses the point. Anniversaries commemorate events in the past, ones for which there is a modicum of closure. Radiation is still venting into the air around Fukushima. Makeshift equipment, some held in place by tape, is keeping vital reactor systems operating. Is Japan's 3/11 history? Not unless we change the definition. (Bloomberg)
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Japan zoo tries to drum up alligators' interest in sex
A Japanese zoo has turned to rhythmical banging on traditional drums in a bid to encourage some enthusiasm for sex among lust-lacking alligators.
Zookeepers said Wednesday they hoped the low booming sound produced by large Japanese "taiko" drums would spur lethargic Chinese alligators to begin mating because of its similarity to the animals' natural pre-coital cry.
"After listening to the drum performance, the female alligator Susu cried a few times but the male, Yoyo, appeared not to be interested," said Hideaki Yamamoto from Sapporo's Maruyama Zoo. (AFP)
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Golf: Masters gives exemption to Ryo Ishikawa
Ryo Ishikawa no longer has to worry about trying to qualify for the Masters. The 20-year-old from Japan received a special invitation for the second time.
Augusta National chairman Billy Payne says the Masters historically invites international players to expand the major's global reach. He says Ishikawa will help increase interest in Japan and throughout Asia.
Ishikawa has won nine times on the Japan Golf Tour. He also received an invitation in 2009 when he was 17. He was the second-youngest player to compete in the Masters. (Fox News)
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Nikkei down for third day, investors sell blue chips
Japan's Nikkei average fell for the third session on Wednesday as fears that Greece may not meet its bond swap deadline sapped risk appetite, while Brazil's weaker annual growth added to fears of a slowdown in the global economy.
Investors offloaded Tokyo's exporters, taking profit in blue chips that had stellar performances in February and shifting their attention to domestic-focused companies. (Reuters)
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Don't break the bank: Japan's superb cheap eats
Eating on the cheap in Japan doesn't have to mean scrounging for samples on the food floors of department stores or surviving on convenience-store onigiri rice balls -- though these are time-tested options for those who find themselves cash-strapped and famished.
There's plenty of great Japanese food that does not require taking out a second mortgage, if you know where to look. What applies in Tokyo generally follows in the rest of the country. Food prices reflect real estate overheads. Taking Tokyo as the first stop for most tourists, you're far more likely to find affordable fare in the blue-collar areas to the north and east of the city (such as Ikebukuro, Ueno, Senju), districts with high concentrations of students (Yoyogi, Waseda) and suburban shopping streets with old-school mom-and-pop diners. (CNN)
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How Starbucks tries to fit in on a sacred street
When it decided to open its first outlet close to the entrance to a shrine in Japan, Starbucks Coffee Co. adopted a sound strategy: It toned down its presence in the culturally sensitive neighborhood.
Worshipers on the main street leading to the Dazaifu Tenmangu shrine in Dazaifu, Fukuoka Prefecture, could be forgiven for thinking the building with traditional woodwork has some connection to the centuries-old site. The building is the work of renowned Japanese architect Kengo Kuma.
Even the everpresent green sign with the siren is tastefully tucked away inside. It is a formula that has been used by Starbucks and other fast food outlets in other countries. (Asahi)
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Doctors remove fluid from emperor's chest
Doctors on Wednesday conducted a procedure to remove fluid from Emperor Akihito's chest, the Imperial Household Agency said.
The emperor, 78, was discharged from hospital last Sunday after undergoing heart bypass surgery, but he was becoming short of breath while walking and not showing much appetite, the agency said, according to TBS.
The procedure, in which fluid was removed with the use of a needle, was carried out at the palace hospital by doctors from the University of Tokyo and Juntendo University, who performed the heart bypass surgery on Feb 18. (Japan Today)
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A year on - no tsunami-hit community has clear plan to move to high ground
Despite government efforts to relocate households inland or to higher ground following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, none of the affected municipalities has drawn up the necessary plans, a Kyodo News tally showed Wednesday.
In November, the central government introduced expanded measures to cover all project expenses. But local authorities are struggling to make progress amid hurdles including staff shortages, geographical constraints such as the lack of suitable highland for building homes, and difficulty in building consensus among residents. (Japan Times)
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Pixar's BRAVE in Japan - new scenes!
Brave is making its way across the globe as Japan gets its first glimpse of the movie trailer. Opening in 3D and 2D theatres in North America on June 22nd, the animated adventure takes on a new twist in the trailer created for Japanese audiences.
The trailer has several new scenes from the film and takes on a new tone which is completely different from the one created for American audiences. In the new clip, a story emerges about the forest and its delicate balance with the Kingdoms it surrounds. Merida, voiced by Kelly Macdonald, is out to challenge her destiny and the traditions of her Kingdom but in doing so, she unleashes a curse upon herself and her land. (boomtron.com)
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Rebuilding Japan: After the deluge
On a cold February day, the northeastern Japanese city of Sendai is a snow-covered wasteland. It might pass for out-of-season farmland were it not for the chunks of grey concrete arrayed in rectangles, reminders that houses once stood here.
The signs of devastation are all around, although eerily tidied up. Inside one abandoned house that is missing its first-storey walls, dishes have been neatly stacked on a shelf, perhaps by a compassionate rescue worker. The remnants of cars - 240,000 were washed away or destroyed - and other metallic wreckage are compressed into neat blocks and stacked. Nearby lie piles of uprooted trees that were supposed to provide protection against a tsunami, but instead became lethal battering rams in the raging water. A solitary street sign lies on the ground by the beach, warning of the risk posed by such events. (nature.com)
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Label scents global success with Japan band Perfume
The world's biggest record label says it is trying something a little different as it seeks the elusive "holy grail" for Japanese pop -- global chart success. In what is billed as a first for Universal, it has just released Perfume's number one album "JPN" on iTunes in 50 countries. Universal Music Group plans to celebrate their "Japan-ness." Kato said the trio -- Nocchi, Kashiyuka and Aa-Chan -- may learn English over time, enabling them to express themselves overseas, but for now they would play on the image of "mysterious, futuristic, robotic, doll-type girls, well choreographed with laser beams." (Reuters)
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Thai PM in Japan vows no more flood chaos
Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Wednesday pledged floods would never again disrupt business in the kingdom as she sought to reassure investors during a trip to Japan.
The Thai premier said she had ordered the establishment of schemes to help companies get back on their feet from the disaster that knocked businesses sideways last year.
"I have reaffirmed to the Japanese government and business leaders that the Royal Thai government is committed to ensuring that the devastation caused by such disasters will never happen again," she told reporters in Tokyo during a joint press conference with her Japanese opposite number. (Reuters)
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Insight - Japan missed tsunami wake-up call for change
Japan's mammoth government debt keeps piling up while critical decisions get pushed back, referred to various panels, lodged in elaborate rituals of "consensus-building" or political horse-trading in a gridlocked parliament.
Mainstream political parties, torn by conflicting group loyalties, proved incapable of setting aside their differences and providing the leadership for which the public longs.
Instead, politicians reverted to business as usual: parliamentary trench warfare and the annual "ditch the prime minister" exercise that gave Japan its sixth leader in five years and now threatens to block vital tax and welfare reforms. (Reuters)
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Japan prosecutors charge key figures in Olympus scandal
Tokyo prosecutors on Wednesday charged Olympus Corp and six key figures in the $1.7 billion accounting fraud at the camera and endoscope maker, tightening their case in the investigation of one of Japan's biggest corporate scandals.
Prosecutors charged ex-chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, former executive vice-president Hisashi Mori and former auditor Hideo Yamada with inflating the company's net worth in financial statements for the fiscal years ended March 2007 and 2008, in violation of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law.
(Reuters)
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