Thousands of people staged anti-nuclear rallies in Tokyo and other Japanese cities Saturday, as radiation continued to leak from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant, three months after a powerful earthquake and tsunami triggered one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters. Also Saturday, embattled Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan visited part of the tsunami-damaged region […]
Japanese Nuclear Workers Exposed to High Radiation
Posted June 10th, 2011 at 6:30 pm (UTC-5)
Japan’s nuclear safety agency says two emergency workers at a crippled nuclear power plant have been exposed to more than twice the legally permitted level of radiation. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said Friday a third worker from the Fukushima plant is undergoing further tests after initial findings showed high exposure. The agency issued […]
Japan Economic Figures Confirm Technical Recession-
Posted June 9th, 2011 at 4:40 am (UTC-5)
The Japanese economy technically slipped into a technical recession in the first quarter of 2011 as a result of the March earthquake and tsunami, but new figures show the decline was smaller than initially reported. The Cabinet Office released figures Thursday showing the country’s gross domestic product shrank at an annual rate of 3.5 percent […]
Japanese PM Signals August Resignation as Likely Successor Emerges
Posted June 9th, 2011 at 3:50 am (UTC-5)
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan is signaling that he wants to keep his job at least through August. Mr. Kan survived a no-confidence motion last week only after promising to step down in the near future, and pressure has been mounting for him to resign this month. But the prime minister told a parliamentary committee […]
Stricken Japanese Conductor to Perform Comeback Concerts
Posted June 8th, 2011 at 9:15 am (UTC-5)
Acclaimed Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa, stricken last year with esophageal cancer, is set to perform a comeback concert in August with a series of opera performances in Japan. The 75-year-old maestro, who also underwent back surgery early this year, says he will conduct Japan’s Saito Kinen orchestra in late August for four performances at a […]
IMF Reverses Outlook on Japanese Economy, Urges Action on Debt
Posted June 8th, 2011 at 7:10 am (UTC-5)
The International Monetary Fund is urging Japan to adopt more aggressive measures to rein in the country’s massive public debt. The IMF issued a revised economic forecast for Japan Wednesday, saying its economy will shrink below one percent this year due to March 11 earthquake and tsunami. The fund had earlier predicted Japan’s economy would […]
Japan’s Mazda to End US production of Mid-Sized Car
Posted June 7th, 2011 at 10:35 am (UTC-5)
Japanese car maker Mazda says it has decided to stop building its mid-sized sedan at a plant in the United States jointly run with the Ford Motor Company. A Mazda spokesman said Tuesday the decision to halt the Detroit production of the Mazda6 model was made after a recent reassessment of the company’s global needs […]
Japanese Nuclear Panel Opens Probe Amid New Radiation Estimates
Posted June 7th, 2011 at 3:25 am (UTC-5)
The head of an independent panel examining the causes of Japan’s nuclear crisis is calling for greater awareness of the dangers of nuclear power. Yotaro Hatamura, a retired professor and recognized expert on human error, convened the commission in Tokyo for its first meeting Tuesday. He said nuclear power has a higher energy density than […]
US to Deploy Troubled Aircraft to Okinawa
Posted June 7th, 2011 at 2:40 am (UTC-5)
The U.S. military says it will deploy a controversial aircraft to an airbase in southern Japan by late 2012. A Defense Department spokesman says the V-22 Osprey aircraft will replace helicopters currently in use at the U.S. Marine Corps’s Futenma Air Station based on the southern island of Okinawa. U.S. officials are stressing the safety […]
Quake-Stricken Japan to Host 2012 IMF, World Bank Meetings
Posted June 7th, 2011 at 12:20 am (UTC-5)
The International Monetary Fund and World Bank have moved their 2012 annual meetings to Tokyo in a show of support for Japan’s efforts to recover from the nation’s most powerful earthquake. The Washington-based institutions said Monday the meetings were being transferred from Egypt, which had asked that they be moved because of political instability in […]
