http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/japan-news/ en-us Fri, 1 Jan 2010 05:51:58 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418828/posts The United States is considering allowing Japan to take part in a multinational project to develop the F-35 next-generation stealth fighter, a press report said Tuesday. Washington may allow Tokyo to participate in the project even without assurances from Japan that it will procure the F-35, Kyodo News reported, quoting sources from both governments. The move is intended to clear the way for Japan to introduce the F-35 as its future mainstay fighter as countries not participating in the joint development would not be allowed to acquire it at an early date, Kyodo said. Tokyo's participation would be limited to... Space War http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418828/posts#comment Fri, 1 Jan 2010 05:51:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418788/posts DECEMBER 31, 2009 Bond Investors Bet on Japan's Day of Reckoning GREGORY ZUCKERMAN AND JOANNA SLATER Some hedge funds are starting to wager on painful times ahead for Japan, the world's second-largest economy. These investors, including some who made successful bets against risky mortgages and financial companies in recent years, anticipate trouble for Japan's financial system. Their concern: Government borrowing continues to climb while demand for the nation's debt could taper off. A collapse of the Japanese government-bond market "is going to happen; it's a question of when," said Kyle Bass, head of Hayman Advisors LP, a Dallas hedge fund,... Wall St. Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418788/posts#comment Fri, 1 Jan 2010 04:07:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2415436/posts Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's approval rating has shrunk with the public unconvinced by his explanation of his role in a political funding scandal, a media poll showed Saturday. The support rate for his centre-left government touched 47.2 percent, down 16.5 percentage points from a month earlier, according to the telephone poll conducted by Kyodo News on Friday and Saturday. The disapproval rate rose 13.0 points to 38.1 percent, Kyodo said. On Thursday, public prosecutors charged two of the premier's former aides without arrest for falsifying fund reports on his support group. - The indictments came after a difficult first... AFP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2415436/posts#comment Sat, 26 Dec 2009 20:44:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2415165/posts Yukio Hatoyama, the new Japanese Prime Minister, has stunned a nation already mired in huge public debt by unveiling the country’s biggest ever postwar budget: a 92.3 trillion yen (£630 billion) spending spree aimed at “saving people’s lives”. The unprecedented budget, which supposedly shifts Japan’s fiscal spending focus “from concrete to lives”, comes amid rising concern about the solidity of sovereign debt in the world’s second-largest economy. The new budget will require additional debt issuance of Y44.3 trillion — within the Government’s expected band, but still at a level that will raise Japan’s debt-to-GDP ratio to nearly 195 per cent.... The Times (UK) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2415165/posts#comment Sat, 26 Dec 2009 02:19:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414857/posts TOKYO — Two homemade mortar launchers found within possible striking distance of Naval Air Facility Atsugi on Wednesday are being investigated as a planned guerrilla attack, Japanese police said. The time-triggered devices contained projectiles and were found at 10:20 a.m. in a wooded area about 500 yards north of the main base gate in Ayase City by a Japanese neighbor, a Kanagawa Prefectural Police spokesman said Wednesday. No projectiles had been launched from the devices, the spokesman said. Further details on the launchers and whether the projectiles were explosive were unavailable Wednesday, according to the spokesman. Police suspect an attack... Stars and Stripes http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414857/posts#comment Fri, 25 Dec 2009 07:33:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413682/posts During a routine test on its Sienna minivan in April 2003, Toyota Motor Corp. engineers discovered that a plastic panel could come loose and cause the gas pedal to stick, potentially making the vehicle accelerate out of control. The automaker redesigned the part and by that June every 2004 model year Sienna off the assembly line came with the new panel. Toyota did not notify tens of thousands of people who had already bought vans with the old panel, however. It wasn't until U.S. safety officials opened an investigation last year that Toyota acknowledged in a letter to regulators that... LA Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413682/posts#comment Wed, 23 Dec 2009 14:03:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411539/posts Lawmakers and U.S. automakers are peeved with Japan, which has launched a cash-for-clunkers program that doesn’t accept American-made cars. Under Japan’s program, consumers who trade in a car at least 13 years old can get a tax cut of up to $2,800 toward the purchase of a new car. But the program excludes imported vehicles from companies that have low sales in Japan. That covers General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, according to the American Automotive Policy Council, which has pressed the Obama administration for action. U.S. producers are particularly irked since Japanese companies did well under the cash-for-clunkers program Congress... The Hill http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411539/posts#comment Sun, 20 Dec 2009 05:57:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411016/posts SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan — Two minesweepers that arrived here on temporary rotation last summer will make a permanent home in Sasebo, the U.S. Navy announced Wednesday. The USS Avenger and USS Defender, both from San Diego, will remain here after a review found it would be better to keep the two minesweepers in Sasebo rather than regularly rotate ships in from the United States, the Navy said. Both ships had been in Sasebo for about six months and will join the base’s two other forward-deployed mine ships, the USS Patriot and the USS Guardian. The change was not due... Stars and Stripes http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411016/posts#comment Sat, 19 Dec 2009 07:53:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2408740/posts SYDNEY (AFP) – Militant anti-whaling activists said they were dodging a Japanese surveillance ship in icebergs near Antarctica on Wednesday, following their first skirmish with whalers during the annual hunt. Paul Watson, who is leading a campaign to harass this season's hunt, said a ship loaded with Japanese security guards had been tailing his group since they left Western Australia on December 7. When they attempted to approach the Shonan Maru No.2 from behind an iceberg on Monday, Watson said the Japanese targeted them with two water cannon and tailed them for two hours in a high-speed pursuit. "We had... AFP via Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2408740/posts#comment Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:36:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2408505/posts God Bless those enterprising, digging Japanese journalists and their film crews.A hot one in North Korean black weapons smuggling case was captured for all of Japan to see last night at the 11 p.m. TV news on NNN Network.The pushy and curious Japanese journalists and cameramen with their long lenses (and fluent Farsi and Korean speaking investing staff in Tokyo), discovered some VERY interesting things about the North Korean aircraft stopped this week in Thailand with Ukranian crew flying weapons in violation of US sanctions. The flight crew has been very tight lipped, but the Japanese journalists nevertheless caught some... NNN (Nihon Television) Network, Japan (Evening News) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2408505/posts#comment Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:54:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2407123/posts 12/13/2009 German-made submarines in latest US arms package The United States is preparing to sell German-made submarines to Taiwan as part of its latest arms package. That's according to the US-based Foreign Policy magazine, which was quoted on the website of Hong-Kong newspaper Singtao on Sunday. Foreign Policy reported that the United States may make an announcement on its latest arms deal to Taiwan before next Friday, when President Barack Obama will attend the UN Climate Change summit in Copenhagen. The package is not expected to include F-16C/D fighter jets but should include 60 Black Hawk helicopters. News agency Reuters... Radio Taiwan International http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2407123/posts#comment Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:11:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406952/posts Todd Crowell Japan’s Covert Moves to Save The Endangered Tomahawk To listen to disarmament specialists, the country that is raising the most serious obstacles to new moves to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in defense strategy is Japan. Japan? Is this not the nation with the famous nuclear allergy? Is it not the nation that loudly reminds everyone that it is the only country on the globe to suffer an atomic attack? Is it not the country that loudly proclaims the “Three Noes” (Never to manufacture, possess or allow nuclear weapons onto its soil)? No country is more vocal... Asia Sentinel http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406952/posts#comment Mon, 14 Dec 2009 04:41:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406841/posts NAVAL AIR FACILITY ATSUGI, Japan — It all started four years ago with a Tickle Me Elmo doll. Petty Officer 1st Class Nathan Grant figured he’d do his part to support the Toys for Tots drive at Whidbey Island, Wash., and he tossed the doll into his shopping cart. Then he eyed a few more toys, thinking he could help more children. "If you give one toy to one kid in an orphanage, that can change that child’s world," said Grant, now working for Commander Fleet Air, Western Pacific. "But if you can give hundreds of toys, that can have... Stars and Stripes http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406841/posts#comment Mon, 14 Dec 2009 00:30:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406297/posts The visiting head of Japan's ruling party apologized Saturday for wrongdoings his country committed during its colonization of Korea in the early half of last century. Speaking at a South Korean university ahead of his dinner meeting with President Lee Myung-bak later in the day, Ichiro Ozawa also called for increased cooperation among his country, China and South Korea in dealing with regional instabilities. Yonhap http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406297/posts#comment Sat, 12 Dec 2009 22:25:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406080/posts EXCERPTS: . . .the ice extent in the Arctic sea was significantly reduced in the 2007 summer and recovered after that. Since the amount soot should be proportional to that of sulfate, also the amount soot transported to the Arctic may have a peak in 2007, and may explain the dramatic reduction of the sea ice extent; the soot deposited onto the ice surfaces absorbs sun light of Arctic summer, gives heat to the ice, and lets it melt. This process should be particularly effective during summer of the Arctic when the sun does not set. . . .Thus, I... Climate Science Blog: via Watts Up With That? http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406080/posts#comment Sat, 12 Dec 2009 15:05:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2405896/posts Japan's Crown Princess Masako has said she will keep working to fight her stress problems. The 46-year-old royal - who is married to Crown Prince Naruhito - said she has been working with medical professionals to solve her illness. Royal Watch News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2405896/posts#comment Sat, 12 Dec 2009 02:36:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404331/posts A Chinese national who is believed to have manipulated her fingerprints to slip past Japan's fingerprint identification system has been arrested for violating the Immigration Control Law, the Metropolitan Police Department's Organized Crime Control Bureau announced on Monday. mainich http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404331/posts#comment Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:01:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2405452/posts Boeing said Thursday evening that the first flight of its 787-8 long-range jet is set for 10 a.m., Dec. 15 in Everett, Wash. The first of six test airplanes, ZA001, is due to take off from Payne Field next to the airplane's final assembly factory north of Seattle. Chief Pilot Michael H. Carriker and copilot Randall Neville will conduct low- and high-speed taxi tests that take the airplane to the threshold of flight in preparation for Tuesday's events. Once airborne, Carriker and Neville are not expected to return ZA001 to Everett. They will land at Boeing Field in Seattle, headquarters... Aviation Week http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2405452/posts#comment Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:25:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2405128/posts Canada’s Macleans news site recently published an article titled “Darwin movie too evolved for U.S. audiences”. The article refers to the decision of US film distributors to “pass” on the film “Creation”—the dramatized story of Charles Darwin’s struggle while writing the Origin of Species. The refusal to distribute a film premiered and acclaimed at the Toronto Film Festival seems to have again roused the Canadian media’s scorn of the “backward Americans” of which—according to Gallup—only 39% believe Darwin and his evolutionary theory. It is interesting how very differently the Canadian and world media treated America during WW II when far... CMI http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2405128/posts#comment Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:40:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404407/posts Japanese researchers said on Thursday they had found a way to make plant leaves absorb more carbon dioxide in an innovation that may one day help ease global warming and boost food production. The Kyoto University team found that soaking germinated seeds in a protein solution raised the number of pores, or stomas, on the leaves that inhale CO2 and release oxygen, said chief researcher Ikuko Hara-Nishimura. "A larger number means there are more intake windows for carbon dioxide, contributing to lowering the density of the gas," she told AFP by telephone. Another effect is higher starch production in photosynthesis,... news.ninemsn.com.au http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404407/posts#comment Thu, 10 Dec 2009 09:00:50 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2402818/posts TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's government agreed on a $81 billion stimulus package on Tuesday, aimed at preventing the economy from tipping back into recession as deflation persists and a strong yen threatens exports. Economists said the 7.2 trillion yen plan, equal to about 1.5 percent of gross domestic product, would not provide a significant lift to an economy dependent on overseas demand for machinery, electronics and cars. While several other economies are already debating phasing out economic stimulus deployed to fight the financial crisis, Japan continues to struggle amid chronically weak consumer demand and falling prices. The budget underscores the... Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2402818/posts#comment Tue, 8 Dec 2009 14:33:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2402023/posts Introductory Remarks: On December 7, 1941, U.S. military installations at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii were attacked by the Imperial Japanese Navy. Could this tragic event that resulted in over 3,000 Americans killed and injured in a single two-hour attack have been averted? After 16 years of uncovering documents through the Freedom of Information Act, journalist and historian Robert Stinnett charges in his book, Day of Deceit, that U.S. government leaders at the highest level not only knew that a Japanese attack was imminent, but that they had deliberately engaged in policies intended to provoke the attack, in order to draw... The Independent Institute http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2402023/posts#comment Mon, 7 Dec 2009 15:25:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2401852/posts SIXTY-EIGHT years ago tomorrow, Japan attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. In the brutal Pacific war that would follow, millions of soldiers and civilians were killed. My father — one of the famous flag raisers on Iwo Jima — was among the young men who went off to the Pacific to fight for his country. So the war naturally fascinated me. But I always wondered, why did we fight in the Pacific? Yes, there was Pearl Harbor, but why did the Japanese attack us in the first place? ... The one who had the greater effect on Japan’s... The New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2401852/posts#comment Mon, 7 Dec 2009 05:17:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2401576/posts CHEVRON has won a coup for its Wheatstone liquified natural gas development, signing up Tokyo Electric Power to a $90 billion supply agreement that will also see the utility take an equity stake in the project. TepCo has signed a heads of agreement for the annual delivery of 4.1 million tonnes of LNG for up to 20 years from Wheatstone, accounting for almost half of the initial yearly production capacity of 8.6 million tonnes. The Australian http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2401576/posts#comment Sun, 6 Dec 2009 17:39:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2401468/posts US OIL giant Chevron Corp has sealed a massive $90 billion contract - the biggest energy deal in Australian history - to supply natural gas to Tokyo Electric Power Company and sell the Japanese utility a stake in its Wheatstone project. The nation's latest trade coup - struck on the eve of the international climate change conference in Copenhagen - comes as Asian countries scramble to lock in long-term supplies of LNG ahead of an anticipated surge in demand for the low-emissions fuel. Chevron announced on the weekend it had signed an agreement with Tokyo Electric to deliver 4.1 million... Herald Sun http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2401468/posts#comment Sun, 6 Dec 2009 14:07:44 GMT