Mon 25/12/2006 rci The Japanese government reportedly has considered developing a nuclear warhead. A Tokyo newspaper Monday cited an internal government document that had experts concluding it would take at least three to five years to make a prototype weapon at a cost of at least $1.5 billion US. The experts did not say whether Japan should develop nuclear weapons. As the only country ever attacked with atomic bombs, Japan for decades has adhered to a strict policy of not possessing or developing nuclear weapons. But several politicians have suggested Japan should at least debate the issue now that North Korea has conducted nuclear weapons tests.

Monday 06 November 2006 rci A bottlenose dolphin with an extra set of fins is getting a lot of attention. The four-finned dolphin was captured alive by fishermen off the western coast of Japan late last month. Japanese researchers believe its extra fins could be the remains of back legs. Fossil remains show dolphins and whales were four-footed land animals about 50 million years ago and share the same common ancestor as hippos and deer. Scientists believe they later adopted an aquatic lifestyle and their hind limbs disappeared. Odd-shaped protrusions have been found near the tails of dolphins and whales in the past. But the researchers believe this is the first time one has been found with well-developed, symmetrical fins. The dolphin is being held for study at an aquatic museum.

Tuesday 03 October 2006 Japan's new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, says he hopes to tour China and South Korea to repair damaged political relations. Unconfirmed news reports in Japan have indicated that Mr. Abe could visit his country's neighbours as early as this weekend. Mr. Abe says the door for a summit is "always open." The prime minister spoke in his first parliamentary debate since assuming office on Sept. 26. Mr. Abe again refused to say whether as prime minister he would visit the Yasukuni shrine to Japan's war dead, as journalists reported that he had done before. During the debate, he refused to confirm that those reported visits had even taken place.

Friday 15 September 2006 Japan's top court rejects appeal by cult guru
Japan's top court rejected an appeal by doomsday cult founder Shoko Asahara, a court official said Friday, reportedly finalizing his death sentence for the 1995 nerve-gas attack on Tokyo's subways.

Monday, September 11, 2006 Japan's economic prospects appear to be improving , doubtless attributable to the birth of the male heir to the Chrysanthemum throne.

Wednesday 06 September 2006 nyt Princess Kiko of Japan Has a Boy
By NORIMITSU ONISHI The birth of a male heir ends for now the debate over whether women should be allowed to ascend Japan's throne.

maisonneuve.org BABY TALK IN JAPAN
La Presse, the Citizen, the Post, the Star, CTV News and the Globe all go inside with the birth of the first male heir to Japan’s Chrysanthemum Throne in nearly four decades. In recent years, the fate of the world’s longest running monarchy became a question of national debate in Japan. The possibility of reforming the monarchy’s succession laws, which currently limit the throne to male heirs, was being discussed by the country’s top leaders, including Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. The impending crisis had even led some traditionalists to suggest that concubines should be reinstated in order to preserve the integrity of the throne. Under the media spotlight, the Imperial Household was forced keep the gender of Princess Kiko’s baby a secret in the months leading up to yesterday’s birth. For its part, the Post outlines how the royal drama placed enormous pressure on the wives of the two sons of Emperor Akihito. Japan’s imperial family traces its roots back some 1,500 years.

Monday 28 August 2006 Japan's foreign minister said Sunday a Sino-Japanese summit is likely to be held before the end of the year, regardless of who becomes the next Japanese prime minister. Taro Aso said Japan's current relations with China are pretty good except that there has been no summit meeting. China's leaders have refused to meet with President Junichiro Koizumi since April 2005 due to a row over his controversial visits to the Yasukuni war shrine. Mutual visits by leaders of the two countries have been suspended for nearly five years. Mr. Koizumi steps down in September.

Monday Apr 17, 2006 nyt Revival in Japan Brings Widening of Economic Gap There are increasing signs that Japan's growing economy is destroying one of the nation's most cherished accomplishments: egalitarianism.

March 15, 2006 The Bank of Japan has dropped its super-easy monetary policy that they have kept for the last five years and will gradually raise interest rates by cutting, over several months, the excess cash in this banking system amid signs of economic recovery (2.7% G.D.P. growth in 2005 including 5½% in the fourth quarter) and emerging from deflation (inflation rising by 0.5% in January). The transition will be slow and the benchmark interest rate will remain near zero for some time. Price stability has been set between zero and 2%. Most analysts expect interest rates to be raised by year-end to ¼ of 1%. Wages are rising and the unemployment rate is near a seven year low and it has spurred consumer spending. The world’s second largest economy ($4.7 trillion) is moving towards the longest expansion since W.W.II. Economic growth is projected at 2% this year by the O.E.C.D. Japan is the most indebted country in the world at 170% of the G.D.P. That compares to 31% for Canada and 65% for the U.S. The Nikkei, after increasing 40% last year, is only up 1½% year to date. From Jacques Clément -Report

Tuesday Mar 14, 2006 rci In a rare referendum in Japan, an overwhelming majority of voters in the city of Iwakuni have rejected a plan to bring more planes and troops to a local U.S. Marine base. City residents were concerned that more planes would increase noise levels in their neighbourhood. The result of the city's referendum is not binding, but a rejection has made plans to relocate American forces in Japan more complicated. The two countries are also discussing how much Japan should pay to move 7,000 Marines from its southern island of Okinawa to Guam. Opposition from Iwakuni and other communities has hampered efforts to complete a plan to re-organize nearly 50,000 American troops in Japan. The two sides hoped to complete the plan by the end of this month.

8 Mar Wed1253 Japan: The world’s second largest economy has recovered strongly in the fourth quarter at 5.5% (annual rate) with strength in exports, business capital spending in machinery and equipment, consumer spending and consumer confidence at a fifteen year high and wages rising. There is speculation that Bank of Japan might end their five year monetary policy of holding interest rates near zero. I think that this may be premature (see November 23 write-up).Clément Outlook

Monday Jan 16, 2006 ts Diplomatic chill grips Asian giants
Senior Japanese and Chinese diplomats held unofficial talks in Beijing last week in the latest attempt to thaw the chill in the bilateral relationship. But the bilateral ties have deteriorated to the extent that the two countries can't even agree on meetings between their top leaders or the foreign ministers.

2005

Friday Dec 9, 2005 rci TOKYO: JAPAN BEEF RELAXES BEEF BAN
Japan is easing a two-year government ban on Canadian and American beef which was imposed more than two years ago because of mad cow disease. The announcement by Japan's Food Safety Commission allows for partial imports to resume this month. Canada was a minor beef exporter to Japan while the United States supplied about a quarter of total Japanese beef demand in 2003. The ban angered the United States. The U.S. Congress proposed retaliatory tariffs on Japanese products if it was not lifted by mid-December.

Friday Dec 9, 2005 This Market Is Sending a Signal
MONTREAL -- "Environmental effectiveness and minimum cost are two core building blocks for any long term modern climate policy," declared Olivia Hartridge, a representative from the Environmental Directorate of the European Commission. ....The problem is that it is not at all clear the EU ETS fulfills either goal.

Friday Dec 9, 2005 ec Confidence up, currency down
The yen continued to slide against a range of currencies, hitting an all-time low against the euro and a 32-month low against the dollar. Analysts reckon that individual Japanese investors, who have been moving their money into higher-yielding foreign assets, have played a role in the yen's recent fall.

1 December 2005 ind
JAPAN: Japan's retirement age is low, with most companies setting the mandatory age at 60, but the rapid aging of society is forcing changes. From 2005 to 2015, the number of Japanese aged 60 or older will increase by about 7.25 million, while those between the ages of 15 and 29 will decrease by about 3.81 million. This would mean one in three will be over 60 by 2015. Last year, the government required companies to gradually raise the retirement age by 2013.

Tuesday Nov 15, 2005 rci OTTAWA: CANADA, JAPAN INCH TOWARD FREE-TRADE DEAL The Globe and Mail newspaper reports that Canada and Japan are taking cautious steps toward creating a free-trade accord. According to the newspaper, the two sides are ready to make public a "framework" accord to strengthen economic co-operation and will undertake a one-year joint study to examine the advisability of further lowering of trade barriers. The Globe cites Canadian officials as saying that both arrangements could be announced next week at the Asian-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit next week at Pusan, South Korea. Canada has been trying to diversify its international trade, more than four-fifths of which is with the U.S. Japan has advised Canada that it shouldn't forget Japan while trying to expand trade with China. However, the Japanese also have warned Canada that a free-trade accord would be domestically difficult politically because of the protection which Japanese farmers enjoy. Japan is already Canada's third-biggest trade partner after the U.S. and China.

Sunday Oct 30, 2005 nyt U.S. and Japan Agree to Strengthen Military Ties
By THOM SHANKER
Plans include the reduction by 7,000 of the number of marines on Okinawa and building a new generation of radar equipment in Japan as part of a missile defense system.

Tuesday Oct 18, 2005 nyt Pointless Provocation in Tokyo
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan has made a point of publicly embracing the worst traditions of Japanese militarism.

Tuesday Oct 18, 2005 rci Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has again angered Japan's neighbours by paying his fifth visit to the Yasukuni shrine to Japan's war dead. China, South Korea and Taiwan regard the shrine as a symbol of Japanese militarism. Several of those honoured at the shrine are war criminals. Both the Chinese and South Korean governments have summoned the respective Japanese ambassadors to protest anew. In Beijing, the foreign ministry called Mr. Koizumi's visit "outrageous" and warned that it has seriously harmed relations between China and Japan. Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing told the ambassador that the visit to the shrine is a "wrong action." In Seoul, a spokesman for President Roh Moo-Hyun, says the president may cancel a trip he had planned to make to Japan. As before, Mr. Koizumi rejected the criticism, saying that foreign governments shouldn't interfere in matters of "personal belief," claiming that the visit wasn't made in his official capacity.

Stephen S. Poloz VP EDC Economics Weekly Commentary
Germany, Japan and Reform Prospects - October 5, 2005 For years now, analysts have seen Germany and Japan as birds of a feather: ho-hum performers urgently needing reform. But recent political developments suggest that is about to change. Past issues | his WN page

Friday Sep 23, 2005 rci Sony Corp. announced on Thursday that it will cut costs by closing plants, selling unprofitable divisions and cutting 10,000 jobs, six per cent of its workforce worldwide by the end of 2008. Four-thousand jobs will be eliminated in Japan, and 6,000 others elsewhere. Sony now has 151,000 employees, including 1,000 in Canada.

Monday Sep 12, 2005 Junichiro Koizumi’s party has won a landslide victory in Japan’s election, as voters overwhelmingly endorsed the prime minister’s plan to privatise the country’s postal-savings bank, the world’s biggest financial institution. The outlook for other reforms, however, is less clear

Friday Sep 9, 2005 ec IJapan’s election
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party looks set to win this weekend’s election. Many of those who vote for the party will do so hoping that the prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, uses the opportunity to purge the LDP of recalcitrants and push through long-delayed reforms

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2005 nytIn Japan, a disconnected democracy Japan\'s democracy is East Asia\'s oldest, but its ruling party has held power almost as long as the Communist parties in China and North Korea.

The woodpecker and the lumberjack Japan's election Sep 1st 2005

Japan’s moment of truth? Aug 8th 2005

Wednesday Aug 3, 2005 nyt

INTERNATIONAL
	Interactive Feature: Asia's Giants Howard W. French of The Times talks about China and Japan, which find themselves playing out old grievances in a new era of direct rivalry and growing nationalism.

Sunday Jul 17, 2005

More mountains to climb

Thursday Jul 7, 2005 rci Meanwhile, the prime minister, Mr. Martin, raised the beef issue on the sidelines of the G-8 summit with his Japanese counterpart, Mr. Koizumi. Japan was one of the countries which also banned Canadian beef two years ago. Mr. Martin failed to persuade him to reopen them. Mr. Koizumi explained only that Japanese have an acute awareness of food safety. Both prime ministers did agree that their countries will co-operate more closely in combating such disease as bird influenza and SARS. Japan culled 25,000 chickens after a bird-flu outbreak on a poultry farm last month, while a outbreak in Canada last year affected dozens of farms. See WN BIRD FLU

Tuesday May 10, 2005 Japan and China on Saturday took some small steps to ease tension that has led to their worst diplomatic relations in decades. Part of their diplomatic dispute revolves around China's insistence that Japan apologize for its military action in China before and during the Second World War. Mass demonstrations were held in China last month to protest against a new Japanese history textbook that the demonstrators said ignored the truth. Meeting in Kyoto, the two countries' foreign ministers agreed to study their joint histories. But Japan's foreign minister, Nobutaka Machimura, said that some Japanese lawmakers were concerned about Chinese textbooks that had what he said were "extreme expressions... about Japan's international contribution after the war." China's foreign minister also made a faint warning to Japan's prime minister to stop make annual pilgrimages to a shrine for Japanese war dead.

Apr 21, ec
China and Japan Managing unrest
CHINA'S leaders are at last showing some disapproval of the anti-Japanese protesters who have staged large, sometimes violent, demonstrations in a dozen cities over the past three weekends. But the biggest outpouring of xenophobic unrest in China for more than six years looks likely to rumble on. If so, further damage will be done not only to China's relations with Japan, but also to its efforts to convince its neighbours that its economic rise poses no threat to their security.

Sunday Apr 24, 2005 Russia and Japan continued their difficult debate on Friday about the plan to convey oil from Siberia to East Asia. The debate continued in Tokyo between Japan's foreign minister, Nobutaka Machhimura, and Russia's industry and energy minister, Viktor Khristenko. They talked about the agreed plan to build an oil pipeline to bring untapped oil from Siberia to a port in the south of that region and from there to Japan. That country and Japan had lobbied furiously in Russia over the pipeline's destinations. Both countries need the oil. The official decision favours Japan. But the Russians have said that the beginning of the project to build a pipeline stretching more than 4,000 kilometres might start with the construction of a branch line that would convey the oil to China. Japan has responded by threatening to withdraw its financing for the pipeline. The cost of the pipeline is estimated at $15 billion US. After the talks between Mr. Khristenko and Mr. Machhimura, the Russian minister said only that the final details concerning the pipeline remain to be worked out.

Wednesday Apr 13, 2005 China has expressed opposition to Japan's campaign to occupy a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao made public that opposition during his visit to India. Mr. Wen says that only a country which accepts the truth about its history deserves a Council seat. Last weekend, the Chinese government tolerated a demonstration by students protesting against what they considered a whitewash of Japanese history during World War II expressed in a new Japanese schoolbook. Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Monday rejected the idea that the schoolbook had led to the protests in China. He says that the Chinese authorities have the responsibility to protect Japanese nationals in China. The Japanese government has demanded financial compensation for the damage which protesters on Sunday did to its embassy in Beijing. Japan's foreign minister, Nobutaka Machimura, is going to visit Beijing on Sunday.

So hard to be friends Mar 23rd 2005

Sunday Feb 13, 2005 bca
The December Leading Diffusion Index rose modestly, in line with expectations, reinforcing the prior reading and indicating that growth is no longer decelerating. However, the dip in the Leading Composite Index paints a less positive picture, and points to little, if any, rise in output in the months ahead. These readings are consistent with the message from the stock-to-bond ratio, which has been trending sideways in recent months. Further evidence that the economy is bottoming should put a floor under both stock prices and bond yields, but upside is limited until the business cycle begins to strengthen anew.

Monday Dec 27, 2004 globeJapan slow to catch on to smart transport
Japan boasts some of the latest technology in zapping computerized data to millions of cars, but few are using it

Friday Dec 10, 2004 ,
OPEC, inflation, Japan Stephen Poloz,
Duration:57m 27s

Sunday Nov 14, 2004 bcaJapan: Economic Momentum Continues To Fade

incredible shrinking country Nov 11th 2004

JAPAN COUNTS COST OF TYPHOON TOKAGE Rescuers in Japan are still searching for 15 people missing after what the government is calling the worst typhoon to hit the islands in 25 years.
At least ten people were killed by a powerful earthquake in northern Japan on Saturday. More than 500 others were injured. Thousands of people were left without power and telephone services in the region, and many were without gas and water supplies. The initial shock measuring 6.8 struck in the early evening and was centred in Niigata prefecture, a mountainous area about 250 kilometres north of Tokyo. Roads caved in at many places and some houses collapsed. There were fears that some people were buried alive. Two railway cars of a high-speed bullet train were derailed, but no one was injured. It was the first time that the famous train had been derailed since service began 40 years ago. The initial shock and several aftershocks also shook buildings in Tokyo. No injuries or major damage were reported there, and Tokyo's international airport continued to operate. But as night progressed, government officials said that the lack of electric power and threat of more aftershocks created a dangerous situation.

Oct 23, 2004 The United States declined on Saturday to consider the latest conditions for resuming international talks on North Korea's nuclear program. One day earlier, North Korea set three conditions. It wanted the United States to drop what it called a hostile attitude to the talks. It also wanted the United States to join other countries that were offering to pay compensation for halting nuclear development. And it wanted to open a discussion on the nuclear program in South Korea. In reaction, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said that the conditions should be presented to all five other members of the talks. He suggested that if North Korea returned to the talks, it might win its demands. He was speaking shortly before arriving in Tokyo. On Saturday, North Korea threatened to double its nuclear capability if the United States maintained its hostility.

Sunday Oct 24, 2004 JAPAN TO EASE U.S. BEEF BAN
Negotiators have struck a deal to allow limited imports of American beef into Japan for the first time since Tokyo closed its lucrative market over fears of mad cow disease.

Stephen S. Poloz VP EDC Economics Weekly Commentary
Japan Hoping History Does Not Repeat - September 1, 2004
Japan’s economy is growing again. But doubts linger about the sustainability of the upturn, given the persistence of Japan’s structural problems. Past issues

Tuesday Jul 13, 2004 cbc
JAPAN PREMIER LOSES GROUND IN UPPER HOUSE
ELECTIONS: POLLS Japan's ruling coalition suffered an electoral setback, losing more seats than expected to the opposition Democratic Party in elections to parliament's upper house, exit polls suggested on Sunday.
Polls predicted that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party would fall short of its target of winning 51 of the 121 seats up for grabs in the triennial poll.

Tuesday Jul 13, 2004 Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's ruling coalition clinched a majority in the upper house of Parliament in elections Sunday. However gains by the opposition signalled discontent with the prime minister's cuts in pension benefits and deployment of troops to Iraq. Citing voting samples, Japan's major TV networks reported late Sunday that Mr. Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party and coalition partner Komeito party won at least 59 of the seats under contention, ensuring their dominance of the upper house. But the opposition Democratic Party boosted its standing in the chamber by at least 12 seats, taking at least 50, according to preliminary results. Official results are expected during the day Monday.

Wednesday April 7, 2004 wn
Wednesday Night Salon # 1153 [Comments from the room] Japan is worrisome –it will eventually have to debase its currency to get out of the crushing debt load (currently 24% GDP spent on interest payments …. Biggest boondoggle of all time waiting to happen… Buy Japanese stocks,- the stock market could well go higher as the yen goes down…. The world needs to inflate the global economy; Japan may be a beneficiary.

Thursday Apr 1, 2004 ec
The unstoppable, surging yen The yen is surging again. Will the Japanese authorities halt its rise? Can they?
“THIS intervention is stupid,” said Fumihiko Igarashi, an opposition politician in Japan’s lower house of parliament. “It’s a fight we can’t win.” Indeed, on the day he spoke, Wednesday March 31st, the Japanese monetary authorities ceded one round in their fight with the currency traders. They watched the yen strengthen past ¥105 to the dollar, having intervened furiously in the markets only last month to keep it from crossing that threshold. The defeat became a rout as the yen pushed on to reach a four-year high, at ¥103.4 to the dollar. Traders and analysts are now anticipating the day when the yen is worth a full cent.

Monday Jan 19, 2004 ts
Land of the rising divorce
As stigma fades in Japan, rates climb
Couples splitting after 20-plus years

2003