Wages in Japan rose in February
from a year earlier for the first time in nine months, while
overtime pay climbed for the fifth straight month, partly helped
by more working days in the month than last year, government
data showed on Tuesday.
Overtime pay, a barometer of strength in corporate activity,
climbed 3.4 percent in February from a year earlier, the fastest
pace of growth since the same month last year, the Labour
Ministry said.
(Reuters)
Japan wages rise 1st time in 9 mths, overtime pay up
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Reorganizing Japan's exchanges
The Noda Cabinet in early March submitted to the Diet a bill to help establish a unified exchange that will integrate stock, commodity and other exchanges. But even if the Diet passes the bill to revise the financial instruments exchanges law, the envisaged system will not guarantee automatic integration of the exchanges. (Japan Times)
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Olympus ex-CEO Woodford plans 'surprise': report
Michael Woodford, former president and chief executive officer of Olympus Corp, said Monday he is planning to launch a "surprise" action at an extraordinary shareholders meeting of the Japanese camera and medical equipment manufacturer slated for April 20, opposing a proposed new management lineup, Kyodo News reported.
"I'll announce that on the day. I'm not going to do it beforehand. It will be a surprise," Woodford said in an interview with Kyodo News.
(MarketWatch)
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Can Japan Firms Woo Foreigners?
Japanese companies, increasingly shifting overseas to offset a shrinking domestic market, are taking the first steps to hire foreigners after long resisting even modest changes to their uniform workplace culture.
But they are now confronting the question about just how drastic that change should be. Many Japanese companies say they want foreign workers, but few so far have been willing to overhaul the system - with unequal pay and few opportunities for promotions - that once dissuaded foreigners from joining in the first place.
(The Diplomat)
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Japan extends N.Korea sanctions ahead of rocket launch
Japan extended sanctions against North Korea by a year on Tuesday after the reclusive state said it would press ahead with a rocket launch in the face of international criticism.
Japan first imposed sanctions after North Korea tested a nuclear device and ballistic missiles in 2006 and have extended them each year since then.
(Reuters)
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Japan braces for stormy weather
Strong winds hit wide areas of western Japan on Tuesday, prompting the weather agency to warn people in other regions, including commuters in Tokyo, to brace themselves for gusts and possible disruptions of public transportation.
The winds disrupted operations of airplanes and trains, including shinkansen trains, mainly in western Japan in the morning, the operators said. A woman was killed in an accident in Ishikawa Prefecture which police say might have been caused by strong winds.
(Japan Times)
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Japanese computer programming language Ruby approved as global standard
The computer programming language Ruby, invented by a Japanese, has been approved by the International Organization for Standardization as a global standard, the government's Information-technology Promotion Agency said Monday. (Mainichi)
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Asia stocks rise on positive US factory report
Asian stocks rose Tuesday, lifted by a positive report on U.S. manufacturing, but shares in Japan sank as a strengthening yen hurt the country's powerhouse export sector.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.5 percent to 20,634.58, South Korea's Kospi added 0.9 percent to 2,047.14 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.3 percent to 4,343.20.
(Mainichi)
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Royal status of princesses could be limited to one generation after marriage to commoners
The government is considering limiting the royal status of princesses to one generation if they are to be allowed to create their own Imperial Family branches after marriage to commoners, government sources have revealed.
The move is aimed at appeasing those who are wary of princesses establishing new Imperial Family branches, which they fear would lead to allowing female members of the Imperial Family as well as those born between female Imperial Family members and non-Imperial men to accede to the Chrysanthemum Throne. Under the planned initiative, children born between princesses and commoners would not be given royal status.
(Mainichi)
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Peach Aviation tops passenger projection
Japan's first low-cost carrier, Peach Aviation Ltd., topped its projected occupancy rate in its first month of operations, according to CEO Shinichi Inoue.
The number of passengers in March came to about 67,000, with 83 percent of the seats filled on average, exceeding the anticipated range of between 75 and 80 percent, Inoue said Tuesday.
(Japan Times)
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Police officer found dead in apparent suicide in Okinawa
A police officer was been found dead in a police station in Nago, Okinawa, on Wednesday, police said Thursday.
The man's coworkers reportedly heard a gunshot at about 12:45 p.m., TV Asahi reported. They found the 36-year-old officer, bleeding from the head with a firearm by his side. He was taken to hospital where he died a short time later.
(Japan Today)
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Japan's giant pandas mate sparking hopes of summer cubs
Male panda Eimei, 19, and the female Rauhin, 11, spent three days together in the same pen at Adventure World in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture.
The pair mated four times during their stint together raising hopes of a new generation of pandas at the zoo, according to reports in the Yomiuri newspaper.
(telegraph.co.uk)
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Japan expected to pass $1.1 trillion budget
Japan was expected to pass a 90.3 trillion yen ($1.1 trillion) budget on Thursday, with about half the spending financed by new bonds that will add to Japan's massive debt mountain.
The country's ruling centre-left Democratic Party rammed the draft budget for the next fiscal year through the lower house of parliament earlier this month, over objections from opposition parties.
(AFP)
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Japan's tsunami-hit nuclear plant leaks radioactive water into ocean again
The operator of Japan's tsunami-hit nuclear plant says tons of highly radioactive water appears to have leaked into the ocean from a purification unit.
The leak comes as Tokyo Electric Power Co. struggles to keep the melted reactors cool and contain radiation and raises concerns about its ability to keep the plant stable. Similar leaks have occurred several times since last year, and officials say they do not pose an immediate health threat.
(Washington Post)
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Japan tsunami town bound to Chile by smiling statue
The small Japanese fishing town of Minami Sanriku is half a world away from Chile, but the two places share a bond that crosses a vast ocean: Moai statues.
For two decades an enigmatic smiling face, carved locally in the mould of an Easter Island Moai, kept watch over what residents of Minami Sanriku came to know as Chile Plaza.
But when the huge waves of last March's tsunami swamped the town, the statue, like hundreds of buildings, was toppled, its two-metre head knocked off its body. (AFP)
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Tokyo stocks drop on renewed concern over European debt crisis
Tokyo stocks dropped for the third consecutive session Thursday, with the benchmark Nikkei index closing at a one-month low, on renewed fears about the eurozone sovereign debt crisis and its impact on the global financial system.
After losing more than 230 points in the previous session, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended down 52.38 points, or 0.53 percent, from Wednesday at 9,767.61, the lowest close since March 7 when it finished at 9,576.06.
(Mainichi)
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PAC-3 deployment in Okinawa complete
The Self-Defense Forces on Thursday completed the deployment of its ground-based Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptors in Okinawa Prefecture to prepare for North Korea's rocket launch next week.
The interceptor missiles have been deployed in four locations in Okinawa: Naha and Nanjo, as well as Miyako and Ishigaki islands.
(Japan Times)
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Webb hopes for progress on Futenma
U.S. Sen. Jim Webb expressed hope in Tokyo Thursday that the contentious relocation of the Futenma air base will move forward now that Japan and the United States have agreed to delink the issue from the transfer of thousands of marines to Guam.
(Japan Times)
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Two arrested after exporting luxury cars to Pyongyang
A used car salesman and an antique dealer were arrested Thursday on suspicion of violating trade sanctions by exporting luxury cars to North Korea.
Hideaki Abe, 54, and Kiyoshi Komatsu, 61, allegedly exported three Mercedes-Benz vehicles and a BMW between May and June 2009 from Kobe to North Korea through Dalian, China, according to the Hyogo Prefectural Police.
(Japan Times)
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Lone farmer in no-go zone sticks to defiant existence
Townspeople in Tomioka, Fukushima Prefecture, used to take pride in a 2.5-km stretch of 300 cherry trees that reached full bloom and created a canopy of blossoms every April in Yonomori Park.
Before the massive quake last year, the town had around 15,000 residents. But now Naoto Matsumura, 52, is the only one left. He decided to stay where he grew up even after the entire town ended up in the exclusion zone set up April 22 because of the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant.
(Japan Times)
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