The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday raised its growth estimate for Japan and the world economy this year and in 2013, due partly to eased risks in the eurozone, while prodding Japan and the United States to take additional monetary easing steps to support growth.
In its semiannual World Economic Outlook report, the IMF projected the Japanese economy will grow 2.0 percent this year in terms of inflation-adjusted gross domestic product, up 0.4 percentage point from its January estimate.
(Japan Times)
IMF boosts Japan's growth estimate
↧
↧
Fukushima miscarriage rate stable
Counter to rumor, Fukushima Prefecture has not seen rising rates of miscarriages or abortions due to radiation exposure - or fear of it - since the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11 last year, a survey reveals.
The finding suggests that radiation released from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, or stress related to it, has probably not seriously affected the physical or mental health of pregnant women in Fukushima.
(Japan Times)
↧
Teen prostitute case goes to prosecutors
Police have turned over to prosecutors a case of a brothel manager suspected of employing a 13-year-old junior high school girl as a prostitute in Kobe, sources said.
Chikara Kamimura, 44, already indicted for violating the prostitution prevention law, was quoted by the police as saying, "I didn't know she was younger than 18." The girl was quoted as saying, "I wanted money to play around."
(Japan Times)
↧
Edano apologizes for remarks on active reactors
Industry minister Yukio Edano apologized Tuesday for his recent remarks that the nation will be without operating nuclear reactors only "momentarily" from May 6, when the last currently active reactor goes offline for maintenance.
"I should have said (the number of operating reactors) will be zero at least for a while," Edano said at a news conference, referring to a speech he delivered Sunday in Tokushima Prefecture.
(Japan Times)
↧
Why good Wi-Fi is so hard to find in Japan
Friends visiting Japan often ask me why there are no, or very few, Wi-Fi hotspots available at hotels and cafes in Tokyo. They mention that in their countries, many places offer free Wi-Fi for guests - often it is completely open, or you simply need to ask the staff for the password.
(Japan Times)
↧
↧
1.8 million students take unified tests
Around 1.8 million sixth-grade elementary and third-year junior high school students nationwide took unified achievement tests Tuesday after they were suspended last year in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake.
The examinees were from 25,868 public and private schools.
(Japan Times)
↧
Activists start hunger strike against reactors
Around 10 members of a citizens' group began a hunger strike Tuesday in front of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to protest the government's plan to restart two reactors at the Oi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture.
The group plans to continue the hunger strike, with members taking turns for a few days or a week, until May 5, when the No. 3 reactor at Hokkaido Electric Power Co.'s Tomari plant, the only commercial reactor in Japan still operating, is scheduled to be taken offline for maintenance and inspections.
(Japan Times)
↧
Bank of Japan deputy signals further easing as rate review nears
The Bank of Japan is ready to ease monetary policy further if necessary to help the economy recover and escape deflation, a deputy governor said on Wednesday, giving the strongest signal yet for additional stimulus since its surprise February action.
(Reuters)
↧
Obama to welcome Japanese PM on April 30
United States (US) President Barack Obama will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda in Washington on April 30, for their first meeting since North Korea's rocket launch, the White House said on Tuesday.
(Straits Times)
↧
↧
Japan's overseas hunt grows
Fueled by the strong yen, cheap borrowing and ample cash, Japanese firms are going after everything from trading houses to pharmaceutical companies to technology companies.
Toshiba Corp.'s $850 million purchase of International Business Machines Corp.'s point-of-sale systems used in retail stores, announced Tuesday, brings the amount spent on outbound deals to $23 billion this year, according to data provider Dealogic. (Wall Street Journal)
↧
Tsunami simulations scare Japan
Japan's government is heeding a key message from last year's Tohoku earthquake and tsunami: the underwater faults that encircle the country can unleash much greater devastation than previously anticipated. Last week, the cabinet's disaster-management division briefed local officials on simulations that raise the spectre of waves even larger and more destructive than those last March, sending the officials scrambling to rethink their tsunami defence plans.
(nature.com)
↧
'Soapland' manager arrested for hiring 13-year-old girl
Police said Tuesday they have arrested the 44-year-old manager of a "soapland" in Kobe's Fukuhara district for hiring a 13-year-old girl.
According to police, Chikara Kamimura, the manager of the "soapland"-one of many Japanese euphemisms for sex clubs-was arrested on a charge of violating anti-prostitution laws, TV Asahi reported.
(Japan Today)
↧
Nikkei up 2 pct as Spain, global growth worries ease
Japan's Nikkei index rallied 2.1 percent on Wednesday on robust U.S. corporate earnings, firm demand for Spanish debt and an upbeat German economic sentiment survey, with signals that the Bank of Japan may take more easing steps also providing momentum.
Mike Newman, head of research at Macquarie in Japan, said investors need to be selective in picking stocks, however, as the first quarter rally has petered out.
(Reuters)
↧
↧
Japan study raises hopes of cure for baldness
Japanese researchers have successfully grown hair on hairless mice by implanting follicles created from stem cells, they announced Wednesday, sparking new hopes of a cure for baldness.
Led by professor Takashi Tsuji from Tokyo University of Science, the team bioengineered hair follicles and transplanted them into the skin of hairless mice.
(AFP)
↧
Noda leaps in with hint of buying Senkakus
The central government will consider buying the disputed Senkaku Islands, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said Wednesday, adding fuel to a fire already lit by Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara.
Noda's statement came after Ishihara dropped his bombshell Monday in Washington by revealing that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government is trying to buy the islands from its owner "to protect Japanese territory."
(Japan Times)
↧
Japan's Mitsubishi, Mitsui ink US gas deal
Japan's Mitsubishi and Mitsui said Wednesday they will import liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States, amid a push to boost energy sources after last year's nuclear crisis.
The country's two largest trading companies said they would each order 4.0 million tonnes of the gas annually from Cameron LNG, a unit of Sempra Energy, as early as 2016, reportedly the first such deal between Japan and the US.
(AFP)
↧
No monkeying around for Japan man, fastest on four legs
In the suburbs of Tokyo lives Kenichi Ito, the world's fastest man on four legs.
For nearly a decade, the 29-year-old Ito, long a fan of simians, has been perfecting a running style based on the wiry Patas monkey of Africa, winning himself a Guinness World Record in the process.
(Reuters)
↧
↧
Japan may foot 3.1 bil. dollars for U.S. marines' move
Japan may shoulder as much as 3.1 billion dollars (250 billion yen) in relocating U.S. Marine Corps personnel from Okinawa Prefecture to Guam, up 300 million dollars from an initial agreement in 2009, Japanese and U.S. government officials have announced.
(Yomiuri)
↧
Olympus seeks approval for board to move past $1.7 billion fraud
Olympus Corp. shareholders are being asked to vote on new management and let the company put behind it an accounting fraud that wiped $4.2 billion off its market value and sparked criminal probes in Japan and overseas.
(BusinessWeek)
↧
Burger King Japan lets you quintuple the bacon on your burger
Burger King's Japan restaurants recently introduced the option of super-sizing just the bacon portion of their famed Whoppers, according to a post on Gawker. For around 100 yen (which is about $1.25) customers can get an extra 15 strips of bacon on their burger. That's 500% more bacon.
(Time)
↧
More Pages to Explore .....
