News - Fri 3 Sep 2010
Slow response made perfect storm worse
While the intense speculation that Toyota Motor Corp. may have covered up electronic defects appears to have ebbed, Japanese experts say the world's top automaker deserves a failing grade for its risk management, and the resulting damage to its reputation was worse than it should have been. They noted that the furor over the unintended acceleration issue may have been affected by multiple factors - overreaction by the U.S. media, a shift in the business environment, and the American political mood at the time.Views: 6
Reportage seems source-biased
U.S. and Japanese media gave widespread but contrasting coverage of the sudden-acceleration accidents involving Toyota Motor Co. vehicles, mainly in North America, with accounts by victims and allegations of safety flaws getting greater play on the other side of the Pacific compared with a muted approach here. U.S. reports at times cast the strong impression that Toyota design flaws were behind many of the accidents, although recent preliminary findings by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration pointed to the possibility that driver error was the cause of most of the reported deadly accidents so far investigated.Views: 22
Driver error findings valid: expert
The U.S. auto safety regulator's recent interim report that found driver error to be the probable cause of most of the sudden acceleration accidents it probed involving Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles confirms the warnings of an American psychologist and ergonomist that motorists failed to use the brakes. Richard Schmidt, a safety expert and professor emeritus of psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles, said in a recent telephone interview with The Japan Times that an avalanche of negative media exposure about Toyota's massive recalls spurred a spike in complaints in the past several months, causing undue damage to the carmaker's reputation.Views: 5
JAXA to expand Hayabusa tour
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said Wednesday it will allow museums to exhibit the small capsule released from the Hayabusa unmanned space probe and retrieved in June after a seven-year round trip to the asteroid Itokawa. In an effort to accommodate growing calls for more exhibitions, JAXA will accept applications through Sept. 30 from museums and other public entities that want to display the capsule, along with other items, including its Earth-descent parachute and a model of its heat-resistant exterior.Views: 14
Japan conspicuously absent from Forbes' top small, midsize Asia firms
SINGAPORE (Kyodo) Only two Japanese firms made it onto Forbes magazine's list Thursday of Asia's 200 top small and medium-size companies. The number of Japanese firms dwindled from 24 last year, according to Forbes' latest annual "Best Under a Billion" list that picks 200 firms from 13,000 listed Asia-Pacific companies with sales below $1 billion.Views: 22
Taiji dolphin hunt corrals 20 on Day Two; protesters absent
SHINGU, Wakayama Pref. (Kyodo) Taiji fishermen caught the first dolphins Thursday in their annual hunt, which kicked off the previous day. The annual hunt for dolphins, whales and other cetaceans off the Wakayama Prefecture whaling town involved a fleet of six boats, which left the port at around 5:30 a.m.Views: 5
Record 2,444 Internet crimes handled in first half
Police responded to a record 2,444 Internet crime cases nationwide in the first half of this year, a National Police Agency survey showed Thursday. The number, up 586, or 31.5 percent, from a year earlier, represented a new high since the NPA started gathering statistics for Internet crimes, defined as crimes that use a computer network, on a half-year basis in 2004.Views: 10
Study: 4% of school nurses favor cervical cancer vaccination
OKAYAMA (Kyodo) Only 4 percent of about 200 school nurses think it's appropriate to inoculate girls against cervical cancer at school, an Okayama University survey showed Thursday, apparently mirroring the teachers' concerns about their ability to deal with possible side effects. Mikiya Nakatsuka, a professor at the university and a member of the survey team, said, "I suppose many nursing teachers feel uneasy about providing explanations (about the disease or group vaccination) to parents or coping with side effects."Views: 12
NHK to resume live sumo coverage
NHK said Thursday it will resume live coverage of sumo when the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament gets under way in Tokyo on Sept. 12. Shigeo Fukuchi, chairman of NHK, said at a news conference that the broadcaster will resume live broadcasts because the Japan Sumo Association has pledged to sever ties with the yakuza and reform the sport, and viewers are demanding the return of live coverage.Views: 14
Legacy of Iraq war won't be winding down
NEW YORK - The withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq in what is euphemistically called the end of the Iraq war portends anything but the end of the conflict. The consequences of the war will be felt for many years to come. Former President George W. Bush and his advisers are to blame for engaging in a war that has ravaged Iraq and cost the United States not only economically but also the lives and well-being of hundreds of thousands of its soldiers.Views: 23
Failings of Indian infrastructure
NEW DELHI - New Delhi at last has its proud defining modern monument at the very point of entry to India - a massive, sparkling new Terminal 3, which alone is the sixth-largest airport in the world. Remarkably, too, it was built on time, in three years by a public-private partnership, and on a $3 billion budget. Gone are the long snaking queues in sweaty air smelling of insecticide and worse: You can now get through immigration and customs in air- conditioned bliss at least as quickly as in Singapore, faster than in Hong Kong and far faster than in London, New York or Washington with their crumbling Third World infrastructure and officials with the charm of a fourth world dictatorship.Views: 5
Festival of manga, 'anime' opens in Kyoto
KYOTO - An exhibition of the latest manga, "anime," art and the next generation of electronic entertainment technology from Japan and abroad opened Thursday in Kyoto. Since 1997, the Cultural Affairs Agency has sponsored an international festival of Japanese and foreign manga and anime artists, as well as those artists working on modern designs or involved in entertainment.Views: 7
Kobe eyes tattoo ban at beach
KOBE (Kyodo) The Kobe Municipal Government man ban people with tattoos from a beach in Suma Ward following the recent arrests of college students for alleged marijuana possession during a music event at the beach, municipal officials said. The city intends to come up with a concrete plan this year, including establishing an ordinance, but banning tattooed people from a public beach is rare though not uncommon at commercial establishments, particularly bathing facilities.Views: 11
Keidanren, Zapatero push EU FTA
Japan and the European Union should start talks to conclude a free-trade agreement, Hiromasa Yonekura, chairman of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren), and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero agreed Thursday. Yonekura, chief of the country's most influential business lobby, called on Zapatero to support the launch of the FTA talks, to which the Spanish leader showed a positive stance.Views: 9
Japan, Caribbean nations discuss climate change, assistance for Haiti
Japan and 13 Caribbean nations agreed in Tokyo on Thursday to cooperate in curbing global warming and offering support to quake-hit Haiti among other issues at their first meeting in a decade, a Japanese official said. Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and his Jamaican counterpart, Kenneth Baugh, cochaired the one-day gathering, the second of its kind since a Tokyo meeting in November 2000, with Okada saying at the outset of the talks that Caribbean nations are "important partners" for Japan.Views: 30
Goldman grabs top share in underwriting
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is capturing a record share of Japan's equity underwriting market as foreign investment banks benefit from local companies selling a greater proportion of stock overseas. The New York-based firm has an 18.4 percent share excluding self-led offerings for the fiscal year that started April 1, its best showing since Bloomberg began compiling the data in 1999. Goldman Sachs worked on the $6 billion public offering of Inpex Corp., Japan's largest energy explorer, and Mizuho Financial Group Inc.'s $9 billion share sale.Views: 23
Mori seeks to quit LDP faction amid Abe row
Former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori submitted a letter of resignation Thursday to his Liberal Democratic Party faction, citing his displeasure with colleague Shinzo Abe, a former prime minister, sources said. Mori, 73, and Abe belong to the faction led by former Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura.Views: 16
Futenma plan OK: Ozawa
Democratic Party of Japan heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa on Thursday backpedaled from his claim the previous day that he had a new, specific plan for relocating U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma and basically said the pact reached in May to move the base to Nago, Okinawa, stands. Speaking to reporters in the first public debate with Prime Minister Naoto Kan ahead of the party's Sept. 14 presidential election, Ozawa also touched on his possible indictment over the mismanagement of his political funds, saying, "I will not evade (any charges)."Views: 9
Delta exec bullish on high-yen Japan biz
Delta Air Lines is upbeat about its business in Japan as new routes and the surging yen boost travel and help along the recovery in the industry, a top executive said Thursday. Delta, the world's biggest airline, is investing more than $1 billion in its global operations through 2013, and the robust results from its Japan business underline the soundness of such investments, Delta President Edward Bastian told reporters at a Tokyo hotel.Views: 23
Lawson shoots for 10,000 in China
CHONGQING, China (Kyodo) Takeshi Niinami, president of Lawson Inc., said Thursday the convenience store chain operator intends to raise the number of its stores in China to as many as 10,000 from some 300 at present over the next 10 years. The company, currently operating in Shanghai and Chongqing, hopes to expand into seven to 10 more cities, he said, citing Beijing, Tianjin and Guangzhou as possibilities.Views: 8
Maruzen, China firm to sell manga e-book content
Book retailer Maruzen Co. and major Chinese information technology firm Peking University Founder Group Corp. will launch in early October a business to sell electronic versions of manga and specialized books in the two countries, Maruzen said Thursday. Maruzen will translate manga into Chinese and provide the comics to its partner so Chinese people can read them on cell phones, while the Chinese firm will supply academic and other e-books to Maruzen.Views: 10
Destruction of discarded arms begins in China
BEIJING (Kyodo) Japan has begun destroying chemical weapons abandoned in China by the Imperial Japanese Army at the end of World War II, Hideo Hiraoka, senior vice minister of the Cabinet Office, announced Wednesday in Nanjing. Hiraoka, a Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker, said during a ceremony that the Japanese government will continue taking measures to speed up the destruction of abandoned munitions, the state-controlled Xinhua news agency reported.Views: 8
Mr. Kan vs. Mr. Ozawa
After some meanderings, the campaign for election of the next president of the Democratic Party of Japan officially started Wednesday, with Prime Minister Naoto Kan and former DPJ Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa vying for the post. As Japan is facing serious problems in the economy and in other fields, and since the DPJ head becomes prime minister, the two politicians must clearly present their grand vision of the future of Japan, road maps toward that goal, and policy measures to solve the problems assailing the country in that process.Views: 20
Owada bid for ICJ re-election OK'd
A national group of judges endorsed Wednesday a bid by International Court of Justice President Hisashi Owada to seek re-election as a judge of the world court in a fall 2011 poll, the Foreign Ministry said. The 77-year-old former diplomat and father of Crown Princess Masako who has been serving as an ICJ judge since 2003 won approval for his re-election bid by the members of the national group of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. He assumed the presidency of the international judicial body in February last year.Views: 14
Summers to visit China to discuss economy: White House
U.S. National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers will travel to China from Saturday to discuss a wide range of bilateral and international economic issues with Chinese officials, the White House said Thursday. During his three-day visit to Beijing, Summers is expected to hold talks with Chinese leaders and policymakers, including Vice Premier Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo, the White House said.Views: 14
Toshiba to launch iPad rival tablet in Europe, other areas Oct.-Dec.
Toshiba Corp. said Thursday it will start marketing the Folio 100 touch-display tablet with a wide range of online connectivity functions including music downloads and storage, and ebook reader, in Europe, the Middle East and Africa between October and December. Toshiba is also considering marketing the product in Japan and the United States, but the timing of its release in the two markets has yet to be decided, the consumer electronics manufacturer said.Views: 16
Tokyo stocks edge higher as U.S. data ease economic worries
Tokyo stocks rose modestly Friday morning as better-than-expected U.S. housing and employment data eased concerns about the global economy ahead of the release of closely watched job numbers. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average climbed 34.79 points, or 0.38 percent, from Thursday to 9,097.63. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange gained 3.08 points, or 0.38 percent, to 822.50.Views: 22
Tokyo stocks edge higher as U.S. data ease economic worries
Tokyo stocks rose modestly Friday morning as better-than-expected U.S. housing and employment data eased concerns about the global economy ahead of closely watched job numbers. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average gained 34.79 points, or 0.38 percent, from Thursday to 9,097.63.Views: 29
Tokyo stocks open higher after economic worries ease
Tokyo stocks opened higher Friday after better-than-expected U.S. data eased worries about the global economy and drove up shares on Wall Street. In the first 15 minutes of trading, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average gained 57.30 points, or 0.63 percent, from Thursday to 9,120.14.Views: 9
Key 10-year JGB yield hits 1.5-month high
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Japanese government bond briefly hit the highest intraday level in one and a half months Friday morning as investors continued to sell bonds amid speculation about an increase in fiscal spending and bond issuance. The yield on the No. 310, 1.0 percent issue, the main barometer of long-term interest rates, rose to as high as 1.130 percent, the highest level since mid-July, before ending morning interdealer trading down 0.005 percentage point from Thursday's close to 1.105 percent.Views: 27
Dollar traded at the lower 84 yen range in early Tokyo deals
The U.S. dollar traded in the lower 84 yen range early Friday in Tokyo, up slightly from its level in New York overnight. At 9 a.m., the dollar fetched 84.35-47 yen against 84.22-32 yen in New York and 84.14-17 yen in Tokyo at 5 p.m. Thursday.Views: 8
Dollar stuck in lower 84 yen in Tokyo before U.S. jobs data
The U.S. dollar moved narrowly in the lower 84 yen range Friday morning in Tokyo as market players hesitated to move actively before the release of U.S. employment data later in the day. At noon, the dollar fetched 84.34-35 yen against 84.22-32 yen in New York and 84.14-17 yen in Tokyo at 5 p.m. Thursday.Views: 10
Toshiba recalls notebook computers due to burn hazard concern
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada on Thursday announced a voluntary recall by Toshiba Corp. of its notebook computers due to possible burn hazard concern. Subject to the recall are Satellite T135, Satellite T135D and Satellite ProT130 notebook computers sold from August 2009 through August 2010, totaling about 41,000 units globally.Views: 29
Direct Middle East talks resume in Washington
The leaders of Israel and the Palestinians opened their first direct talks in 20 months Thursday in Washington, with an eye to striking a peace deal within one year. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held a face-to-face meeting, along with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the State Department.Views: 25
Netanyahu, Abbas agree to meet again after reopening of direct talks
The leaders of Israel and the Palestinians opened their first direct talks in 20 months Thursday in Washington and agreed to hold their second talks in the Middle East on Sept. 14-15, U.S. special envoy for Middle East peace George Mitchell said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held a face-to-face meeting at the State Department, along with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.Views: 7
Problems found in farm ministry's oversight of food labeling
The internal affairs ministry has found problems with the farm ministry's food labeling oversight system and urged it Friday to take corrective steps over a spate of mislabeling cases in Japan since 2007. The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry looked at inquiries carried out by nine of the farm ministry's local offices into suspected mislabeling cases in 2006 and 2007.Views: 19
URGENT: Japan slaps additional sanctions against Iran over nuke program
The Cabinet of Prime Minister Naoto Kan approved Friday a set of additional sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, including a freeze on the assets of those linked to nuclear development and tighter supervision of financial transactions. The seven-point sanctions were introduced in addition to measures announced in August in line with a U.N. Security Council resolution adopted in June. The move signals Japan's willingness to work closely with the United States and the European Union in taking punitive actions against Iran. ==KyodoViews: 19
Sharp to launch 3-D LCD TVs in Europe
Sharp Corp. said Thursday it will start marketing its 3-D liquid crystal display televisions in Europe in early September. It plans to launch 46-inch and 60-inch models of Aquos Quattron 3-D series with its innovative four-color LCD panel technology in such European countries as Britain and Germany, the Osaka-based company said. Expected market prices are not available.Views: 7
N.Y. stocks rise on hopes for U.S. economic outlook
New York stocks advanced Thursday, with the key Dow index rising for the third straight day to hit another two-week high, on renewed optimism about the U.S. economic outlook. The 30-issue Dow Jones Industrial Average, which jumped 254.75 points Wednesday, rose a further 50.63 points to finish at 10,320.10, its highest closing since Aug. 18.Views: 19
URGENT: Japan's corporate capital spending falls 1.7% in April-June
Japan's corporate capital spending for all industries in the April-June quarter fell 1.7 percent from a year earlier, the Finance Ministry said Friday. Manufacturers' spending on plant and equipment dropped 10.5 percent, while spending among nonmanufacturers climbed 3.4 percent, according to the ministry survey.Views: 13
Japan's corporate capital spending falls 1.7% in April-June
Japan's corporate capital spending fell 1.7 percent in the April-June quarter from a year earlier for all industries, partly because of cautiousness among automakers and others about future demand in and outside the country, the Finance Ministry said Friday. Overall capital expenditure, excluding the financial and insurance sectors, came to 8,364.8 billion yen, dropping for the 13th straight quarter. But the decline was slower than the 11.5 percent drop in the previous period.Views: 26
Gold futures hit 2-month high above $1,253 in N.Y.
Gold futures rallied Thursday to hit a two-month high above $1,253 an ounce in New York on buying by risk-averse traders. Gold futures for December delivery climbed $5.30 from the previous day to $1,253.40 an ounce, the highest finish since late June.Views: 8
French news agency AFP mulls directly serving end readers
French news agency AFP is considering directly serving end readers with its news content via the Internet and other means, its president said in an interview with Le Monde. In the French paper's Friday edition, Emmanuel Hoog unveiled the plan -- a turnaround from the international news agency's conventional services catering only to contracted media organizations such as newspaper and TV companies.Views: 25
Barneys New York dept. store to open in Fukuoka next year
An outlet of the Barneys New York upscale department store will open in the city of Fukuoka in fall 2011, its Japan operator said Thursday. The new outlet, due to open in a commercial building in the Tenjin shopping and entertainment district, will use four floors and space of 2,600 square meters to offer high-class imported brands and goods, Barneys Japan Co. said.Views: 5
Hiroshima epicenter's prewar landscape restored through CG
A documentary movie that uses computer graphics to recreate the Hiroshima City area that became the epicenter of the 1945 atomic bombing was previewed Friday at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. The 60-minute movie, ''Unrecognized Loss: A Message from Hiroshima,'' shows a bustling downtown with cafes and movie theaters in central Hiroshima, in the former Nakajima district known today as Naka Ward. A 30-minute version of the movie was shown in May at the U.N. review conference for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in New York.Views: 20