toshiki speed news press

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(Reuters, August 29, 2010. 19:42 JST)

(Reuters) – Nearly 70 percent of Japanese voters want Prime Minister Naoto Kan to win the party leadership against powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa, a survey showed on Saturday, a race that could create a policy vacuum and push the yen higher.

Ozawa, 68, a critic of Kan’s efforts to rein in Japan’s huge public debt, is challenging Kan in a September 14 Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) leadership vote as the country struggles with a surging currency and fragile recovery.

The winner will likely be prime minister by virtue of the Democrats’ majority in parliament’s powerful lower house.

Ozawa sharply criticized Kan for floating a possible rise in Japan’s 5 percent sales tax ahead of a July upper house election. Defeat in the poll cost the ruling bloc its majority in the chamber, forcing the DPJ to seek opposition help to pass bills.

Admirers have credited veteran lawmaker Ozawa with engineering the huge election win that swept the DPJ to power for the first time last year, but many voters are put off by his image as a scandal-tainted wheeler-dealer.

Many are also reluctant to see another change at the top. Kan, who took office in June after his predecessor suddenly quit, is Japan’s fifth prime minister in three years.

Only 15.6 percent of respondents backed Ozawa, who stepped down as party leader last year and as the DPJ’s No. 2 this year over political funding scandals, and faces possible indictment if a judicial panel of ordinary citizens rules he must be charged.

The poll by Kyodo News agency also showed support for Kan’s government had risen by more than 9 percentage points from a survey earlier this month to 48.1 percent.

Ozawa heads the biggest Democratic Party group, but besides DPJ parliamentarians, local lawmakers and party supporters can take part in the party leadership vote, so public opinion is likely to affect the outcome — at present difficult to predict.

Ozawa, a wily strategist known for making political waves, has been visiting key party support groups in the hope of winning their members’ backing.

The party battle is clouding the policy outlook as Tokyo scrambles to craft a package of steps to prop up a fragile, export-led economy after the yen hit a 15-year high against the dollar this week. The government is also keeping up pressure on the Bank of Japan (BOJ) to do more to fight deflation.

Kan vowed on Friday to take decisive measures when necessary to curb the yen’s rise, signaling a possibility of currency intervention. And the BOJ is examining holding an emergency meeting early next week to ease monetary policy, a source familiar with the matter said.

(By Linda Sieg, TOKYO | Sat Aug 28, 2010 6:08am EDT, Editing by Nick Macfie)

(Reuters, TOKYO | Sat Aug 28, 2010 6:08am EDT)

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(Reuters, August 26, 2010, 19:22 JST)

By Denis Dyomkin

SOCHI | Tue Aug 24, 2010 1:02pm EDT

Russia (Reuters Life!) – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev welcomed U2 frontman Bono to tea on Tuesday ahead of the group’s first ever Russian concert, and the Irish musician asked for Russia’s help in fighting AIDS.

“Taking care of people is not just what politicians do,” self-proclaimed rock music lover Medvedev told Bono, adding that U2’s music has united generations of people.

Their meeting on the sun-drenched veranda of Medvedev’s summer residence on the Black Sea comes a day before U2 take to the Moscow stage for their first ever performance in Russia.

Earlier this month in Italy, U2 resumed their 360 Degree Tour following a two-month absence while Bono recovered from a back injury.

Bono, sporting his trademark sunglasses and single earring, asked Medvedev to find a Russian firm to team up for his “Red” campaign, which raises money for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Brands Nike, Microsoft, Apple and Starbucks have sold red products and donated part of the proceeds to the charity.

“Maybe you can find a Russian company, a Red Russian company, it’s your color,” Bono told Medvedev, an apparent reference to the red flags and stars used by the Soviet Union.

Medvedev said he would think how Russia, which experts say has at least one million people infected with HIV, could contribute to the Red brand.

The two men also shared jokes about their tastes in music, with Bono declaring: “I come here to cross the great divide between me, a Led Zeppelin fan, and you, the Deep Purple fan.”

Medvedev, who has made much fuss of his devotion to the veteran British hard rock group, chuckled but replied in English that he also counted Led Zeppelin amongst his favorites.

Bono later said in a statement that he and the Kremlin chief had also discussed corruption as a means to ending poverty.

Since coming to office two years ago, Medvedev has vowed repeatedly to tackle Russia’s endemic corruption, though analysts say they have seen very little change so far.

(Writing by Amie Ferris-Rotman)

(Reuters, SOCHI | Tue Aug 24, 2010 1:02pm EDT)

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(Reuters, August 10, 2010, 23:10)

(Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan apologized on Tuesday for Korea’s suffering under colonization, despite concern the gesture could reignite calls for wartime compensation.

Kan is seeking to prevent ties with major trading partner South Korea from being dragged back into periodic disputes stemming from Japan’s often-brutal 1910-1945 colonization of the peninsula and a territorial row over nearby islets.

“It is easy for the side that inflicted the pain to forget, while those who suffered that pain cannot easily forget,” Kan said in a statement to mark the centenary of Japan’s annexation of the Korean peninsula on August 29.

“I express a renewed feeling of deep remorse and state my heartfelt apology for the tremendous damage and suffering caused by colonial rule.”

While Japan has apologized for its wartime actions, bitter memories still run deep among South Koreans who have been unhappy with comments from Japanese politicians and school textbooks that critics say whitewash its militaristic past.

Kan’s apology is in line with a landmark 1995 statement to Asian countries by then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of World War Two.

Lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties have worried that such an apology from Kan could lead to more compensation claims from wartime victims, but Kan said claims had been settled under a 1965 pact that established diplomatic ties.

AVOIDING ROWS

Tokyo’s relations with Seoul chilled during former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s 2001-2006 tenure when he repeatedly visited the Yasukuni Shrine, seen by Japan’s neighbors as a symbol of Japan’s past militarism.

Ties between Asia’s biggest and fourth-biggest economies have improved in recent years. South Korea was Japan’s third-largest export market in 2009 and the two sides have worked together to battle the global financial crisis.

They are also showing a united front on nuclear-armed North Korea. Tokyo has backed Seoul’s tough stance toward North Korea following the sinking in March of a naval ship blamed by the South on Pyongyang.

Kan also said in the statement he wanted to hand over documents from the 1392-1910 Joseon Dynasty to South Korea and vowed to further deepen ties. KHe said South Korean President Lee Myung-bak had welcomed the statement in a telephone call.

South Korean public reaction was more mixed.

“The offer to return the royal documents are just an exaggerated form of such repeated apologies that have no real content,” said Kim Tae-hyuk, 28, a company intern in Seoul.

“I would like to see Japan as a whole, including the opposition parties and the people, and not just the prime minister, give a sincere, heartfelt apology.”

(Additional reporting by Yeo-jung Chang in SEOUL; Editing by Edmund Klamann and Jonathan Thatcher)

(Reuters, TOKYO | Tue Aug 10, 2010 6:27am EDT)

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(Reuters, July 25, 2010, 11:50 JST)

July 21 (Reuters) – Japan’s ruling Democratic Party should not shy away from debate on raising sales tax in the country despite a major setback in this month’s upper house election, a senior party executive said on Wednesday.

The DPJ and its tiny partner lost their majority in parliament’s upper house after Prime Minister Naoto Kan floated a possible doubling of the 5 percent sales tax to curb the country’s massive public debt, and failed to persuade the public that he had a well-crafted plan for curing Japan’s economic woes.

The Democrats are still in power because they have a majority in the more powerful lower house, but they need allies to help pass bills in the upper chamber and press on with plans to rein in debt and generate economic growth.

“It’s not good for Japanese democracy if the ruling party shuns sales tax debate because that leads to an election defeat,” Goshi Hosono, the DPJ’s deputy secretary-general, said at a media luncheon on Wednesday.

“There may be other things for us to do before starting the tax debate, such as reducing the number of lawmakers and reforming the civil servant system,” he added.

“But we should not shun discussion on the sales tax.”

Japan’s overall public debt is the equivalent of twice the $5 trillion economy — by far the biggest in the developed world.

While many voters were put off by the abrupt way Kan broached the touchy topic, about 60 percent support his proposal to begin cross-party debate on tax reform, according to a poll by NHK public TV released on Tuesday.

Hosono also said the DPJ was willing to work with opposition parties to avoid policy paralysis. “Japan faces a lot of pressing issues in and outside the country. We cannot afford to allow national politics to come to a standstill,” he said.

“We would like to talk to opposition parties on each bill, so that we can work together on it, including a possible revision.”

Hosono dodged a question about whether party powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa, who many speculate will launch a leadership challenge to Kan in a September party election, would stage a comeback, but said cooperation among party members was vital.

The DPJ sidelined the former secretary general, viewed by many voters as an old-fashioned wheeler dealer, ahead of the election, but some political analysts say his politicking talents may be what the party needs to win new allies.

“He is a man who has been playing a very important role in Japanese politics and personally I learned a lot from him,” Hosono said. “What we have to do is to seek ways for all of us to join up.” (Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Linda Sieg)

(Reuters, TOKYO | Wed Jul 21, 2010 3:40am EDT)

Mysterious exhibition “Mystery of Human Body” is now at Niigata.

I phoned to Niigata police.

That exhibition is not in law.

Please stop.

I said to policeman.

He said “I stop the exhibition”.

Niigata is my home country.

Stop violence to Niigata.

(Toshiki Shirose)

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(Reuters, July 12, 2010, 2:14 JST)

(Reuters) – Japan’s ruling party, mauled in Sunday’s upper house election, faces an uphill struggle to win new allies to back its policies to cut back huge public debt and probably bitter infighting over whether the premier should quit.

Voters dealt Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s Democratic Party of Japan a stinging rebuke in the election, depriving the DPJ and its tiny ally of a majority less than a year after the Democrats swept to power with promises of change.

Media projections showed Kan’s Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) won fewer than 50 seats and its partner, the People’s New Party, none. That was fewer than projected for the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and far short of Kan’s goal of winning 54.

It leaves Kan vulnerable to a challenge from inside his own party, though he said he would stay in his job. Kan is already the fifth prime minister that the world’s second-largest economy has had in three years.

“I want to accept the election results sincerely and continue responsible policies with the feeling that this is a new start line,” Kan told a news conference. He added he felt responsible for failing to fully explain his call for debate on the sales tax but would continue to call for multi-party talks on the topic.

The DPJ won power in a historic landslide just last year, ousting the long-dominant conservative Liberal Democrats with promises to cut waste and focus spending on consumers.

But public backing nosedived due to indecisive leadership and mishandling of a feud over a U.S. airbase.

Public support for the DPJ rebounded when Kan took over last month, but tumbled almost as quickly after he floated a rise in the sales tax from 5 percent to help rein in debt.

Many voters accept the need for an eventual sales tax rise given a public debt already about twice the size of the $5 trillion economy, but the Democrats failed to convince voters they had a coherent plan to cure the country’s economic ills.

“Kan lost the election calling for a sales tax hike,” said Koichi Haji, chief economist at NLI Research Institute. “That is a huge setback for fiscal reform. Now the question is whether Kan can stay in power or not.”

NEED NEW PARTNERS

The Democrats still have a dominant grip on the more powerful lower house. But they will need to seek new partners to control the upper chamber, which can block bills, as they struggle to engineer growth and rein in a public debt.

Two of Kan’s LDP predecessors threw in the towel after less than a year in face of a similar divided parliament.

Japanese shares and government bonds may face initial selling pressure when markets open on Monday.

But longer term investors will eye which smaller parties the Democrats ally with, what policy compromises it makes, and whether that dilutes fiscal reform.

“It’s going to be a weak government ruling with a minority in the upper house because I don’t think anyone will join the coalition,” said Gerry Curtis, a Columbia University professor.

Kan is now at risk of a challenge from party powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa — a critic of his sales tax hike proposal — ahead of a September party leadership vote.

Kan said the Democrats would ask opposition parties to cooperate on a policy-by-policy basis rather than invite them into a formal coalition right away.

The leaders of two potential partners, the pro-reform Your Party and the Buddhist-backed New Komeito, swiftly rejected the idea of joining the government anyway, and LDP leader Sadakazu Tanigaki said his party was willing to talk about policies but ruled out any “grand coalition.

Analysts have said that opposition parties would drive hard policy bargains with the Democrats in exchange for any support, raising hopes among some experts that a deal with the Your Party would foster the deregulation many see as vital for growth.

(Writing by Linda Sieg; Additional reporting by Yoko Kubota, Kiyoshi Takenaka, Isabel Reynolds and Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Rodney Joyce and Jonathan Thatcher)

(Reuters, Chisa Fujioka and Yoko Nishikawa, TOKYO | Sun Jul 11, 2010 12:36pm EDT)

Tanabata (七夕 tanabata?, meaning “Evening of the seventh”) is a Japanese star festival, related to the Chinese star festival, Qixi．

It celebrates the meeting of Orihime (Vega) and Hikoboshi (Altair). According to legend, the Milky Way, a river made from stars that crosses the sky, separates these lovers, and they are allowed to meet only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the lunisolar calendar. The celebration is held at night.

Contents [hide] 1 History 2 Story 2.1 In fiction 3 Customs 4 Date 5 Festivals 6 Sendai Tanabata Festival 7 G8 summit 8 See also 9 References 10 External links

[edit]

History

The festival originated from The Festival to Plead for Skills (乞巧奠; きっこうでん), an alternative name for Qi Xi, which was celebrated in China and also was adopted in the Kyoto Imperial Palace from the Heian Period. The festival spread to the general public by the early Edo period, became mixed with various Obon or Bon (盆）traditions (because Bon was held on 15th of the seventh month then), and developed into the modern Tanabata festival. In the Edo period, girls wished for better sewing and craftsmanship, and boys wished for better handwriting by writing wishes on strips of paper. At this time, the custom was to use dew left on taro leaves to create the ink used to write wishes. Incidentally, Bon is now held on 15 August on the solar calendar, close to its original date on the lunar calendar, making Tanabata and Bon as further separate events.

The name Tanabata is remotely related to the Japanese reading of the Chinese letters 七夕, which used to be read as “Shichiseki” (しちせき). It is believed that a Shinto purification ceremony existed around the same time, in which a Shinto miko wove a special cloth on a loom called a Tanabata 棚機 (たなばた) near waters and offered it to a god to pray for protection of rice crops from rain or storm and for good harvest later in autumn. Gradually this ceremony merged with 乞巧奠（きっこうでん, (The Festival to Plead for Skills) and became Tanabata 七夕. Oddly the Chinese writing 七夕 and the Japanese reading Tanabata (たなばた) joined to mean the same festival, although originally they were two different things, an example of ateji.

[edit]

Story

Like Qi Xi and Chilseok, Tanabata was inspired by the famous Chinese folklore, The Princess and the Cowherd.

The most popular version is as follows:[1][2][3][4]

Orihime (織姫 Weaving Princess?), daughter of the Tentei (天帝 Sky King, or the universe itself?), wove beautiful clothes by the bank of the Amanogawa (天の川 Milky Way, lit. “heavenly river”?). Her father loved the cloth that she wove and so she worked very hard every day to weave it. However, Orihime was sad that because of her hard work she could never meet and fall in love with anyone. Concerned about his daughter, Tentei arranged for her to meet Hikoboshi (彦星 Cow Herder Star?) (also referred to as Kengyuu (牽牛?)) who lived and worked on the other side of the Amanogawa. When the two met, they fell instantly in love with each other and married shortly thereafter. However, once married, Orihime no longer would weave cloth for Tentei and Hikoboshi allowed his cows to stray all over Heaven. In anger, Tentei separated the two lovers across the Amanogawa and forbade them to meet. Orihime became despondent at the loss of her husband and asked her father to let them meet again. Tentei was moved by his daughter’s tears and allowed the two to meet on the 7th day of the 7th month if Orihime worked hard and finished her weaving. The first time they tried to meet, however, they found that they could not cross the river because there was no bridge. Orihime cried so much that a flock of magpies came and promised to make a bridge with their wings so that she could cross the river. It is said that if it rains on Tanabata, the magpies cannot come and the two lovers must wait until another year to meet.

[edit]

In fiction

It is said that Tanabata asked Mikeran to weave one thousand sandals and bury them under the bamboo tree and they’d surely meet again. Mikeran wove the sandals and buried them under the bamboo tree as Tanabata had asked. When the tree grew, Mikeran climbed up to find that he was one step short. In his haste, he used only one less sandal, causing the tree to grew one step short. Mikeran called out to Tanabata and she came and lifted him up. Mikeran’s father wasn’t pleased so he gave Mikeran the difficult job of watching a melon field for three days and nights without touching a single melon. Mikeran however grew very thirsty watching the melons that he touched one. The melon immediately turned into a flowing river forever separating Mikeran and Tanabata. Tanabata pleaded with her father to let her see Mikeran again. Feeling sorry for his daughter, he allows them to see each other on the 7th day of the 7th month.[5]

The following variation of the story is known in China and Japan: A young farmer named Mikeran discovered on his farm a robe which, unbeknownst to him, belonged to a goddess named Tanabata. Soon after, Tanabata visited Mikeran and asked if he had found it. He lied and told the goddess that he hadn’t but would help with her search. Eventually the pair fell in love, were wed and had many children. However, one day Tanabata noticed a piece of cloth which had once belonged to her robe on the roof of Mikeran’s hut. His lie discovered, Tanabata agreed to forgive him on the condition that he weave a thousand pairs of straw shoes, but until that time, she would leave him. Mikeran was unable to weave the shoes in his lifetime and thus never met Tanabata again. However, it is said that the pair meet once a year when the stars Altair and Vega intersect.^[citation needed^]

[edit]

Customs

In present-day Japan, people generally celebrate this day by writing wishes, sometimes in the form of poetry, on tanzaku (短冊 tanzaku?), small pieces of paper, and hanging them on bamboo, sometimes with other decorations. The bamboo and decorations are often set afloat on a river or burned after the festival, around midnight or on the next day. This resembles the custom of floating paper ships and candles on rivers during Obon. Many areas in Japan have their own Tanabata customs, which are mostly related to local Obon traditions. There is also a traditional Tanabata song:

Sasa no ha sara-sara (笹の葉　さらさら)

Nokiba ni yureru (軒端にゆれる)

Ohoshi-sama kira-kira (お星様　キラキラ)

Kingin sunago (金銀砂子)

Translation:

The bamboo leaves rustle,

shaking away in the eaves.

The stars twinkle;

Gold and silver grains of sand.

[edit]

Date

The original Tanabata date was based on the Japanese lunisolar calendar, which is about a month behind the Gregorian calendar. As a result, some festivals are held on July 7, some are held on a few days around August 7, while the others are still held on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the traditional Japanese lunisolar calendar, which is usually in August in the Gregorian Calendar.

The Gregorian dates of “the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the Japanese lunisolar calendar” for the coming years are:

• 2010-08-16
• 2011-08-06
• 2012-08-24 (The Chinese date is 2012-08-23 because of the time difference.)
• 2013-08-13
• 2014-08-02
• 2015-08-20
• 2016-08-09
• 2017-08-28
• 2018-08-17
• 2019-08-07
• 2020-08-25

[edit]

Festivals

Large-scale Tanabata festivals are held in many places in Japan, mainly along shopping malls and streets, which are decorated with large, colorful streamers. The most famous Tanabata festival is held in Sendai from August 6 to August 8. In the Kantō area, the biggest Tanabata festival is held in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa for a few days around July 7. A Tanabata festival is also held in São Paulo, Brazil around the first weekend of July.

Although Tanabata festivals vary by region, most festivals involve Tanabata decoration competitions. Other events may include parades and Miss Tanabata contests. Like other Japanese matsuri, many outdoor stalls sell food, provide carnival games, etc., and add to the festive atmosphere.

Tokyo Disneyland often celebrates the Tanabata Festival featuring a greeting parade with Mickey as Altair and Minnie as Vega.^[citation needed^]

[edit]

G8 summit

In 2008, the 34th G8 summit in Toyako, Hokkaido coincided with Tanabata.[6] As host, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda invited the G8 leaders to participate in the spirit of the festival. They were each asked to write a wish on a piece of paper called tanzaku, to hang the tanzaku on a bamboo tree, and then to take the necessary actions to change the world for better.[7] As a symbolic gesture, the actual writing and the act of hanging up that note is at least a first step.[8]

The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs made colored strips of paper and a bamboo tree for G8 wishes available in Roppongi during the summit.[9]

Protesting organizations in Sapporo during the G8 summit also tried to use the spirit of Tanabata to focus attention on a somewhat different set of wishes. Non-governmental organizations like Oxfam, and CARE International set up an online wish petition campaign to coincide with the G8 Summit and Tanabata.[10]

Outside Japan, Fukuda’s timely gesture had unanticipated consequences. For example, the Indian nationally circulated newspaper, The Hindu picked up on this festival theme by printing an editorial featuring unconventional Tanabata wishes.[11]

Fukuda also invited his fellow citizens to try turning off the lights in their house and stepping outside to enjoy with their family the sight of the Milky Way in the night sky.[12] On July 7, the Japanese Ministry of the Environment anticipated that over 70,000 facilities and households across Japan would switch off their lights from 20:00 to 22:00 as a symbolic step and as a wish for the future.[13]

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(Reuters, July 4, 2010, 1:24 JST)

(Reuters) – Shouts, a scuffle and flag-waving protesters greeted the Japanese opening of “The Cove,” a controversial Oscar-winning documentary about a grisly annual dolphin hunt.

The movie, which shows dolphins being herded into a cove and then slaughtered, has met with fierce opposition in Japan from groups who say it is “anti-Japanese” and an affront to traditional culture.

Dozens of police and more than 50 protesters, both for and against the screening, faced off in front of a cinema in Tokyo’s trendy Shibuya district.

“Don’t bully the fishermen!” read one banner. Another protester waved the Japanese Imperial flag.

“Australia kills a total of 3 million kangaroos per year, but yet no one does anything about it,” said 62-year-old Nobuo Kikuchi as he held a sign saying “Stop Racial Discrimination against Japanese.”

“What I would like to know is why the Japanese have become a target.”

Fears that protests might inconvenience moviegoers prompted cancellations at two cinemas in Tokyo and one in Osaka that had originally planned to screen the film, according to Unplugged, the Japan distributor.

Directed by former National Geographic photographer Louie Psihoyos, the documentary follows eco-activists who struggle with Japanese police and fishermen to gain access to a secluded cove in Taiji, southern Japan, long known as a whaling center.

Moviegoers took the controversy in stride, with some saying they just wanted to know what was going on.

“Japanese killing and eating dolphins is a true fact but yet many don’t know much about it. This is why we want to learn about it and see this film,” said Tetsushi Matsuoka, 33.

Japan has long maintained that killing and eating whale is a cherished cultural tradition, and conducts annual hunts under the name of research whaling.

New Zealander Pete Bethune is currently under trial in Tokyo for boarding a Japanese vessel in an attempt to stop Japan’s annual whale hunt in the Antarctic. A verdict is due on July 7.

In the version of the film screened in Japan, the faces of fishermen and others in Taiji are blurred to hide their identity.

A statement from the cinema said they were “relieved.”

“We’d really like to thank the movie theatres and staff who worked hard for this opening, despite the controversy,” Takeshi Kato of Unplugged said in a statement.

Eighteen other cinemas across Japan plan to screen the movie at a later date.

(Reuters, Chris Meyers, TOKYO | Sat Jul 3, 2010 3:19am EDT)

Energy

-0.13%

Renewable Fuels, Integrated Oil & Gas, Oil & Gas Transport

Basic Materials

+0.19%

Chemicals Diversified, Aluminum, Construction Materials

Industrials

-0.04%

Industrial Machinery & Equipment, Construction & Engineering

Cyclical Goods & Services

-0.44%

Auto & Truck Manufacturers, Homebuilding, Cons Electronics

Non-Cyclical Goods & Services

-0.68%

Brewers, Personal services, Food Distn & Convenience Stores

Financials

+1.38%

Banks, Diversified Investment Services, Property & Casualty Ins

Healthcare

+0.23%

Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology & Medical Research

Technology

-0.74%

Semiconductors, Computer Hardware, IT Services & Consulting

Telecoms

+0.07%

Integrated Telecoms, Wireless Telecoms

Utilities

+0.24%

Electric, Gas, Water

Sector Percentage changes powered by Thomson Reuters Indices and Thomson Reuters Business Classification.

(Reuters, June 27, 2010, 9:52 JST)

(Reuters) – Japan will start talks with India over a civil nuclear energy deal, Foreigner Minister Katsuya Okada(Earth Breaker) said on Friday, a move that would give Japanese firms access to the rapidly growing market amid rising global competition.

WORLD | JAPAN

Firms from countries such as the United States, France and Russia have scrambled for a foothold in energy-starved India’s civilian nuclear market, worth about $150 billion, after a 2008 U.S. nuclear accord opened up global access to it.

India, Asia’s third-biggest economy, aims to double the share of nuclear power on its grid to more than 8 percent over two decades. Nuclear energy is also being touted as a way for the world’s fourth-biggest emitter to curb fossil fuel emissions.

Major Japanese firms have partnered with companies abroad and engage in joint development for nuclear reactors, such as Hitachi Ltd’s cooperation with General Electric and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries with France’s Areva.

But Japanese companies currently cannot access the Indian market due to a lack of legal framework.

“There are projects that suppliers of other countries are involved in (in India) that require Japanese technologies. That is a point of consideration,” Okada told a news conference.

A deal between Japan and India would allow Japan to conduct nuclear trade with India, the foreign ministry official said, adding that the United States and France have big expectations for a pact.

The 2008 civil nuclear accord between the United States and India ended the nuclear isolation India had experienced since its 1974 atomic test and gave it access to U.S. technology and fuel, while also opening up the global market to India.

Japan, the world’s only country to suffer atomic attacks, had been cautious about negotiating a nuclear pact with India, which is not a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

But Okada said Japan cannot go against the international trend, referring to a 2008 decision by a group of major nuclear suppliers to lift a ban on nuclear trade with India.

The first round of negotiations will be held in Tokyo on June 28-29. It is unclear how long it will be until an agreement is reached, an official at the ministry said.

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka and Yoko Kubota; Editing by Erica Billingham)

(Reuters, TOKYO, Fri Jun 25, 2010 7:29am EDT)

Energy

-0.13%

Renewable Fuels, Integrated Oil & Gas, Oil & Gas Transport

Basic Materials

+0.19%

Chemicals Diversified, Aluminum, Construction Materials

Industrials

-0.04%

Industrial Machinery & Equipment, Construction & Engineering

Cyclical Goods & Services

-0.44%

Auto & Truck Manufacturers, Homebuilding, Cons Electronics

Non-Cyclical Goods & Services

-0.68%

Brewers, Personal services, Food Distn & Convenience Stores

Financials

+1.38%

Banks, Diversified Investment Services, Property & Casualty Ins

Healthcare

+0.23%

Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology & Medical Research

Technology

-0.74%

Semiconductors, Computer Hardware, IT Services & Consulting

Telecoms

+0.07%

Integrated Telecoms, Wireless Telecoms

Utilities

+0.24%

Electric, Gas, Water

Sector Percentage changes powered by Thomson Reuters Indices and Thomson Reuters Business Classification.

(Reuters, June 27, 2010, 7:14 JST)

(Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan of a wax museum apologized to the residents of Okinawa on Wednesday for the concentration of U.S. military bases on the island, in an effort to soothe local anger that contributed to his predecessor’s fall.

WORLD | JAPAN

Kan took over earlier this month from Yukio Hatoyama, who quit after sparking public outrage for breaking a promise to move a U.S. airbase off the southern island, reluctant host to about half the 49,000 U.S. military personnel in Japan.

The dispute over where to relocate the U.S. Marines’ Futenma airbase has distracted Washington and Tokyo as the close allies try to cope with an unpredictable North Korea and a rising China.

It has also hurt the popularity of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) with voters ahead of a July 11 upper house election, which it needs to win for smooth policymaking, including efforts to rein in huge public debt.

“I want to express my gratitude for the fact that this burden contributes to the peace and security of the Asia-Pacific region,” Kan said at ceremony to mark the 65th anniversary of the Battle of Okinawa at the end of World War Two, in which about 150,000 Okinawan men, women and children were killed.

“I promise to seriously try all the more to reduce Okinawa’s burden related to the U.S. bases and eliminate the associated dangers.”

Kan, visiting Okinawa for the first time as prime minister, spoke at a memorial park where rows of black stones are engraved with names of those who died in the 82-day battle — civilians and soldiers on both sides.

Kan has made fiscal reform a top priority ahead of the election, but opposition parties have used the base dispute to blast the DPJ’s diplomatic policies since the party took power for the first time last year.

WRANGLING

After months of wrangling, Japan and the United States reached an agreement shortly before Hatoyama quit for the two sides to go ahead with a 2006 deal to shift the Futenma airbase to a less crowded part of Okinawa.

Kan has said he will stick to the agreement, but keeping the base on the island, strategically located close to Taiwan and the Korean peninsula, faces strong resistance from residents who complain of noise, pollution and crime associated with bases.

“I hope that in this milestone year, Okinawa’s excess base burden will be alleviated in a way that the people of Okinawa can see with their own eyes,” Okinawa governor Hirokazu Nakaima said at the ceremony.

Nakaima later told Kan in a meeting that it would be difficult to keep the airbase on Okinawa, Kyodo news agency reported.

Kan, who has said U.S.-Japan ties are the core of Tokyo’s diplomacy, is expected to touch on the issue when he meets President Barack Obama on the sidelines of a summit of G8 and G20 leaders this weekend in Canada.

Hatoyama had raised the hopes of Okinawa residents before the DPJ’s landslide election win last year that Futenma could be moved off the island, but he failed to find a replacement site elsewhere in Japan or outside the country.

Washington and Tokyo have agreed to work out by the end of August a detailed plan, including a relocation site, but Japan’s defense minister has already expressed doubts over how smoothly the deal can be implemented.

An election for the governor of Okinawa is due in November and the result could also affect the airbase deal, coming near the time when Obama is expected to visit Japan for an Asia-Pacific leaders’ summit.

(Additional reporting by Linda Sieg and Yoko Kubota; Editing by Michael Watson)

(Reuters, Chisa Fujioka, TOKYO, Wed Jun 23, 2010 4:16am EDT)

Energy

-0.13%

Renewable Fuels, Integrated Oil & Gas, Oil & Gas Transport

Basic Materials

+0.19%

Chemicals Diversified, Aluminum, Construction Materials

Industrials

-0.04%

Industrial Machinery & Equipment, Construction & Engineering

Cyclical Goods & Services

-0.44%

Auto & Truck Manufacturers, Homebuilding, Cons Electronics

Non-Cyclical Goods & Services

-0.68%

Brewers, Personal services, Food Distn & Convenience Stores

Financials

+1.38%

Banks, Diversified Investment Services, Property & Casualty Ins

Healthcare

+0.23%

Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology & Medical Research

Technology

-0.74%

Semiconductors, Computer Hardware, IT Services & Consulting

Telecoms

+0.07%

Integrated Telecoms, Wireless Telecoms

Utilities

+0.24%

Electric, Gas, Water

Sector Percentage changes powered by Thomson Reuters Indices and Thomson Reuters Business Classification.

(Reuters, June 26, 2010, 6:18 JST)

WRAPUP 1-Japan ruling party support leaps on new leader-poll

(For more stories on Japanese politics click [ID:nPOLJP])

BONDS | GLOBAL MARKETS

* Ruling party support leaps to 36.1 pct in poll

* PM-elect picks fiscal conservative Noda as finmin

* Party kingpin Ozawa could prove headache

By Isabel Reynolds

TOKYO, June 5 (Reuters) – Support for Japan’s ruling Democratic Party leaped to 36.1 percent in a poll published by Kyodo news agency on Saturday after the appointment of a new leader in the run-up to an upper house election.

The figure was up 15.6 percentage points on a poll carried out at the end of May before unpopular prime minister Yukio Hatoyama stepped down and was replaced as party head, and thus premier, by Naoto Kan.

Kan, 63, will become Japan’s fifth prime minister in three years, taking over as the country struggles to rein in a huge public debt, engineer growth in an ageing society, and manage ties with security ally Washington and a rising China.

Kan’s rise and his cabinet line-up, set to be announced on Tuesday, could spell bolder steps to contain a public debt twice the size of the economy. But he faces opposition from many in his party before the election, expected in July.

He has picked Katsuhiko Noda as finance minister, Kyodo said, a choice that will be welcomed by the bond market because he favours fiscal discipline and has supported the idea of capping new debt issuance for next year.

Satoshi Arai, a former aide to the outgoing Hatoyama, is to become national strategy minister, Kyodo said. Kan will keep Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and Defence Minister Toshimi Kitazawa, but plans to replace eight cabinet members, the agency said.

In the Kyodo telephone poll carried out on Friday and Saturday, 57.6 percent of respondents said they had high expectations of Kan, a fiscal conservative with a reformist image.

That compares with just 19.1 percent of respondents to a similar question posed in the May poll on expectations of Hatoyama, Kyodo said.

Nearly 33 percent of respondents said they planned to vote for the Democrats in the upper house election, compared with 23.4 percent for the main oppposition Liberal Democratic Party, which had been in the lead in the previous poll, Kyodo said.

OZAWA PROBLEM

Unlike many recent premiers, Kan has no connection with a political dynasty. That could appeal to voters weary of leaders from well-to-do backgrounds who prove inept at governing. [ID:nTOE65301B]

He got his start in politics as a student activist, later joining small political parties before helping to found the then-opposition Democratic Party in 1996.

But among Kan’s biggest immediate headaches may be Ichiro Ozawa, the former party secretary general widely seen to have held sway over Hatoyama’s government from behind the scenes.

Kan has made clear he wants to sideline the 68-year-old Ozawa. Funding scandals linked to him, over which three of his current and former aides were indicted, were one of the main reasons for the Democrats’ loss of voter support.

Many of Ozawa’s supporters backed Kan’s rival for the top party job and on Friday he hinted he would not fade away.

“I’m sorry I did not come to the forefront this time,” the Yomiuri newspaper quoted him as telling supporters, some of whom had urged him to stand against Kan.

“But the real contest comes in September,” he added, referring to the next party leadership election.

Ozawa is known as a master campaign strategist, but is reluctant to promise bold fiscal reform steps such as raising the sales tax ahead of the upper house poll.

The Democrats have a large lower house majority and will run the government whatever the outcome of the July upper house poll. But the ruling bloc needs to win a majority in that chamber to ensure that legislation is enacted smoothly. (Editing by Ron Popeski)

(Reuters, Sat Jun 5, 2010 4:34am EDT)

Result: Denmark 1 Japan 3 (Honda 17, Endo 30, Okazaki 87; Tomasson 81)

Result: Cameroon 1 Netherlands 2 (Eto’o 65 pen; Van Persie 36, Huntelaar 84)

Final group standings: Neth 9pts, Japan 6, Denmark 3, Cameroon 0

by kevinfreuters edited by ReutersSport at 5:23

Japan players celebrate defeating Denmark after the 2010 World Cup Group E soccer match at Royal Bafokeng stadium in Rustenburg June 24, 2010. REUTERS/Toru Hanai

by joachim herrmann at 5:40

Japan’s Shinji Okazaki (9) celebrate with team mates after the third goal against Denmark during the 2010

World Cup Group E soccer match at Royal Bafokeng stadium in Rustenburg June 24, 2010. REUTERS

Toru Hanai

by joachim herrmann at 5:38

SPEED

SPEED are

Hitoe Arakaki

Birthday April 7, 1981

Aries

Blood type AB

Hair Dark Brown

Eye Amber Brown

Birthplace Okinawa

Takako Uehara

Birthday January 14, 1983

Capricorn

Blood type A

Hair Dark Brown

Eye Amber Brown

Birthplace Okinawa

Eriko Imai

Birthday September 22, 1983

Virgo

Blood type O

Hair Dark Brown

Eye Amber Brown

Birthplace Okinawa

Hiroko Shimabukuro

Birthday April 7, 1984

Aries

Blood type A

Hair Dark Brown

Eye Amber Brown

Birthplace Okinawa

SPEED history

Single

Body & Soul

Aug 5, 1996

STEADY

Nov 18, 1996

Go! Go! Heaven

Mar 26, 1997

Wake Me Up!

Aug 6, 1997

White Love

Oct 15, 1997

my graduation

Feb 18, 1998

ALIVE

Jul 1, 1998

ALL MY TRUE LOVE

Oct 28, 1998

Precious Time

Feb 17, 1999

Breakin’ out to The Morning

May 19, 1999

Long Way Home

Nov 3, 1999

ONE MORE DREAM

Dec 12, 2001

Be My Love

Aug 27, 2003

Walking in the rain / Stars to shine again

Nov 27, 2003

Asita No Sora

Nov 12, 2008

S. P. D.

May 27, 2009

Album

Starting Over

May 21, 1997

RISE

Apr 29, 1998

MOMENT

Dec 16, 1998

Carry On my way

Dec 22, 1999

Dear Friends 1

Mar 29, 2000

Dear Friends 2

Mar 29, 2000

MEMORIAL LIVE “One More Dream”+Remix!!!

Dec 19, 2001

BRIDGE

Nov 27, 2003

Save the Childlen SPEED LIVE 2003

Feb 25, 2004

SPEEDLAND  -The Premium Best Re Tracks-

Aug 5, 2009

Video

First Live Starting Over from ODAIBA

Nov 19, 1997

SPEED SPIRITS

May 18, 1998

SPEED // TOUR RISE IN TOKYO DOME

Jan 20, 1999

FINAL DOME TOUR REAL LIFE

Mar 1, 2000

SPEED SPIRITS II

Sep 27, 2000

Laser Disk

First Live Starting Over from ODAIBA

Dec 21, 1997

DVD

VIDEO CLIPS SPEED SPIRITS COMPLETE

Dec 20, 2000

First Live Starting Over from ODAIBA

Sep 18, 2003

SPEED TOUR RISE IN TOKYO DOME

Sep 18, 2003

SPEED FINAL DOME TOUR REAL LIFE

Sep 18, 2003

VIDEO CLIPS SPEED SPIRITS I

Oct 22, 2003

VIDEO CLIPS SPEED SPIRITS II

Oct 22, 2003

Save the Children SPEED LIVE 2003

Dec 25, 2003

Sing Song at

1997

Secret Live Tower Record SHIBUYA

Shibuya, Tokyo, May 21

Super Live ‘97 in YONAGO

Yonago, Tottori, Jul 20

Jam Jam ‘97 in ATEMA

Atema, Niigata, Jul 26

First Live Starting Over from ODAIBA

Daiba, Tokyo, Jul 30, 31

HARIMA Science Garden City Special Live

SUPER REVOLUTION ‘97

Harima Science Garden City, Hyogo, Aug 5

VELFARRE J-POP NIGHT presents

DANCE with YOU

VELFARRE, Tokyo, Aug 7

Do Don’ Pa! LIVE ‘97

Daiba, Tokyo, Aug 8

KIT POP HILL ‘97

Ishikawa Forest Park, Ishikawa, Aug 9

Awaodori Carnival Super Live ‘97

Koube, Aug 13

SHIDO Theatron Super Live ‘97

Shido, Kagawa, Aug 12

RKB Special Summer Live

RKB Broadcasting, Osaka, Aug 19

SHIZUOKA Asahi TV

FEEL THE BEAT SUPER LIVE ‘97

Shizuoka Special Stage, Shizuoka, Aug 20

RADIO BERRY

MIDSUMMER LIVE for Listners

FM Tochigi, Tochigi, Aug 23

MIDSUMMER Marine Live ‘97

Chiba Marine Stadiam, Chiba, Aug 24

Sinsyu SAKU Music Festival

Saku, Nagano, Aug 31

Summer in SEAGAIA Music Festival ‘97

SEAGAIA, Miyazaki, Sep 13

FBC FUKUI Broadcasting Live

FBC, Fukui, Nov 19

SPEED Interactive Live in Christmas

Daiba, Tokyo, Dec 22

INTERNET Live in SPEED ARENA

Internet, Dec 22

1998

SPEED TOUR 1998 RISE

Mie Sun Arena, Mie, Jul 18

Hiroshima Sun Plaza Hall, Hiroshima, Jul 21, 22

Makomanai Ice Arena, Hokkaido, Jul 28, 29

Miyagi Sports Park Arena, Miyagi, Aug 1, 2

Nagoya Dome, Aichi, Aug 9, 10

Green Dome Maebashi, Gunma, Aug 13, 14

Osaka Dome, Osaka, Aug 18, 19

Fukuoka Dome, Fukuoka, Aug 23

Ishikawa Industry Exhibition Hall, Ishikawa, Aug 29, 30

Hamamatu Arena, Shizuoka, Sep 22, 23

Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Oct 9, 10

1999

New Year’s Concert

Big Palette Fukushima, Fukushma, Jan 9

SPECIAL LIVE in OKINAWA

Okinawa Convention Center, Okinawa, Jan 14, 15

Final Summer Dream Live in MARINE STADIAM

Chiba Marine Stadiam, Chiba, Aug 28, 29, 30

ARENA TOUR 1999 REAL LIFE

Hiroshima Sun Plaza Hall, Hiroshima, Jul 16, 17

Makomanai Ice Arena, Hokkaido, Jul 22, 23

Big Hat Nagano, Nagano, Jul 27, 28

Niigata Industry Culture Center, Niigata, Aug 2, 3

Marine Messe Fukuoka, Fukuoka, Aug 7, 8

Green Dome Maebashi, Gunma, Aug 13, 14

Hamamatu Arena, Shizuoka, Aug 17, 18

Yokohama Arena, Kanagawa, Aug 20, 21

Ishikawa Industry Exhibition Hall, Ishikawa, Aug 25, 26

Koube World Memorial Hall, Hyogo, Sep 4, 5

Grandi 21, Miyagi, Sep 18, 19

Morioka Ice Arena, Iwate, Sep 22, 23

His Majesty Imperial Emperor Akihito

Ten Years Commemorative Ceremony

Tokyo National Theater, Tokyo, Nov 12

DOME TOUR 1999 REAL LIFE

Nagoya Dome, Aichi, Nov 20

Osaka Dome, Osaka, Dec 11, 12

Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Dec 18, 19

Fukuoka Dome, Fukuoka, Dec 25

2001

Super Flower Live 2001 ONE MORE DREAM

Awaji Special Stage, Hyogo, Oct 6

2003

SPEED LIVE 2003 Save the Children

Saitama Super Arena, Saitama, Sep 27

Osaka Jyo Hall, Osaka, Oct 1, 2

Hiroshima Welfare Hall, Hiroshima, Oct 7, 8

Fukuoka International Center, Fukuoka, Oct 11, 13

Osaka Jyo Hall, Osaka, Oct 15

Nagoya Rainbow Hall, Aichi, Oct 20, 21

Ishikawa Welfare Hall, Ishikawa, Oct 28, 29

Sendai Sun Plaza Hall, Miyagi, Nov 1, 2

Jyudo Arena, Tokyo, Nov 4, 5

Yokohama Arena, Kanagawa, Nov 12, 13

2009

Welcome to SPEEDLAND

Nihon Gaishi Hall, Tokyo, Sep 5, 6

Fukuoka International Center, Fukuoka, Sep 13

Hiroshima ALSOK Hall, Hiroshima, Sep 19, 20

Sendai Sun Plaza Hall, Sendai, Sep 23

Kanazawa Kageki Za Hall, Kanazawa, Sep 26, 27

Osaka Jyo Hall, Osaka, Oct 3, 4

Beisia Culture Halll, Gunma, Oct 10

Jyudo Arena, Tokyo, Oct 13, 14

Kagoshima Resident Culture Hall, Kagoshima, Oct 17, 18

Niigata Resident Public Institution Hall, Niigata, Oct 25

Please click buttons to view Kume-Island The Great Coral Reef.

(Ryukyu Shimpou, June 9, 2010)

We searched “Green Coral” in Internet.

This is “The Green Coral Jewels”.

Energy

+0.83%

Renewable Fuels, Integrated Oil & Gas, Oil & Gas Transport

Basic Materials

+1.06%

Chemicals Diversified, Aluminum, Construction Materials

Industrials

+0.53%

Industrial Machinery & Equipment, Construction & Engineering

Cyclical Goods & Services

+0.16%

Auto & Truck Manufacturers, Homebuilding, Cons Electronics

Non-Cyclical Goods & Services

+0.88%

Brewers, Personal services, Food Distn & Convenience Stores

Financials

+0.75%

Banks, Diversified Investment Services, Property & Casualty Ins

Healthcare

-0.03%

Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology & Medical Research

Technology

-0.08%

Semiconductors, Computer Hardware, IT Services & Consulting

Telecoms

+0.50%

Integrated Telecoms, Wireless Telecoms

Utilities

-0.18%

Electric, Gas, Water

Sector Percentage changes powered by Thomson Reuters Indices and Thomson Reuters Business Classification.

(Reuters, June 9, 2010, 7:39 JST)

(Reuters) – Didier Drogba will rejoin the Ivory Coast World Cup squad on Monday after weekend surgery on a fractured arm, the Ivorian Football Federation said.

However, it is still not clear whether the African Footballer of the Year will be fit to play in the opening Group G match against Portugal in Port Elizabeth next week.

Drogba fractured the ulna, or inner bone, of his right forearm in a warm-up match against Japan in Switzerland on Friday, the federation said.

The striker had surgery in Berne on Saturday, an operation Swiss doctors described as successful.

A statement from the Ivorian federation said Drogba would rejoin his team mates at their Swiss hotel on Monday.

He spent the weekend in hospital, surrounded by his wife and three children, the federation added.

“His recovery has been extremely encouraging. It is suggested that, at this stage, all the signs are good and there is great hope the captain of the Elephants will be in action with his team mates as soon as possible,” spokesman Roger Kouassi said.

The Ivorian squad departs for South Africa on Wednesday. They conclude their preparations in Switzerland with a friendly against Lausanne Sports in Nyon on Tuesday.

The speculation initially was that Drogba would not make the tournament in South Africa, adding to a growing list of high profile casualties including three of his Chelsea team mates.

Drogba averages more than a goal a game for the Ivory Coast and is seen as pivotal to their chances of getting past the first round. They also face Brazil and North Korea in a tough group but are more than capable of producing upsets.

(Editing by Ken Ferris)

(Reuters, Mark Gleeson, JOHANNESBURG, Mon Jun 7, 2010 7:59am EDT)

Energy

-0.55%

Renewable Fuels, Integrated Oil & Gas, Oil & Gas Transport

Basic Materials

-0.41%

Chemicals Diversified, Aluminum, Construction Materials

Industrials

-0.07%

Industrial Machinery & Equipment, Construction & Engineering

Cyclical Goods & Services

-0.26%

Auto & Truck Manufacturers, Homebuilding, Cons Electronics

Non-Cyclical Goods & Services

-0.37%

Brewers, Personal services, Food Distn & Convenience Stores

Financials

-0.53%

Banks, Diversified Investment Services, Property & Casualty Ins

Healthcare

-0.21%

Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology & Medical Research

Technology

-0.01%

Semiconductors, Computer Hardware, IT Services & Consulting

Telecoms

-0.59%

Integrated Telecoms, Wireless Telecoms

Utilities

-0.52%

Electric, Gas, Water

Sector Percentage changes powered by Thomson Reuters Indices and Thomson Reuters Business Classification.

(Reuters, June 8, 2010, 19:14 JST)

(Reuters) – New Japanese leader Naoto Kan vowed to tackle Japan’s huge public debt and keep ties with ally Washington on track as he launched a cabinet that also aims to sideline a scandal-tainted party power broker before an election.

WORLD | JAPAN

The choice of Kan, 63, as Japan’s fifth premier in three years, has bolstered his Democratic Party’s chances in an upper house election it needs to win to break free of a tiny partner and avoid having to find more allies to pass bills easily.

The Democrats will stay in power regardless of the outcome of the upper house poll, expected in July, but a revamped coalition could complicate policymaking, depending on its composition.

Coming off a six-month stint as finance minister, Kan appears committed to reining in a public debt that is already twice the size of the economy. His cabinet also seems united on the topic, except for banking minister Shizuka Kamei, who heads a tiny coalition party and likes big spending.

“Restoring our fiscal health is indispensable for economic growth,” Kan told a news conference, adding that just raising taxes would spur deflation and that it was necessary to prioritize spending on growth areas. He also urged a non-partisan debate on fiscal and tax reform.

Kan, who takes over after indecisive predecessor Yukio Hatoyama squandered sky-high support during just eight months in office, gave the finance portfolio to fellow fiscal conservative Yoshihiko Noda.

He also appointed like-minded former national strategy minister Yoshito Sengoku as chief cabinet secretary — the top government spokesman and an important policy coordinator.

“Kan has called for the need for fiscal reform, so that’s the direction the new government will head in. But the question is how much they can actually deliver,” said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute.

The next general election must be held by late 2013, and while the Democrats have pledged not to raise the 5 percent sales tax before then, party fiscal reformers want to state clearly their intention to do so before that vote takes place.

WEAK YEN, OZAWA FACTOR

Kan’s commitment to fiscal reform, though, could well be tested by an economic slowdown.

“As long as the economy sustains its recovery, Kan will start working on fixing Japan’s finances,” Minami said. “If problems in Europe begin to hurt and undermine the recovery, there’s a risk Japan will turn back to big spending again.

In a sign the recovery remains fragile, bank lending marked its biggest annual fall in nearly five years in May, as companies remained reluctant to boost capital spending.

Relatively low government bond yields suggest the market is not expecting an immediate crisis, but credit ratings agencies have threatened downgrades if the government fails to craft credible plans to rein in debt and spur growth.

Kan also said he was aware of the view that a weak yen was good for Japan’s export-driven economy, but perhaps having learned caution as finance minister, steered clear of more specific comments.

Kan reappointed 11 ministers from Hatoyama’s cabinet, including Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, who must help manage ties with ally Washington, since an agreement to keep a U.S. airbase on Okinawa island — forged amid controversy in Hatoyama’s final days — faces stiff opposition from residents.

Kan told the news conference that U.S-Japan ties would remain the core of Japan’s diplomacy and that he would honor the bilateral deal while trying hard to reduce the burden on Okinawa, reluctant host to about half the U.S. forces in the country.

Many in the cabinet roster are also critics of party power broker Ichiro Ozawa, whose campaign skills were widely seen as helping the Democrats win last year’s election but whose image as an old-style wheeler dealer has become a liability.

Ozawa has come under fire in a political funding scandal and could face charges in the case.

Kan, a former grass-roots activist with a reputation for challenging the status quo, must convince voters that Ozawa has been sidelined without triggering internal party warfare with the veteran politician and his numerous backers.

Ozawa was conspicuous by his absence.

But few pundits expect him to fade entirely away, and the veteran politician has already hinted that he may seek to oust Kan if the Democrats fare badly in the upper house election.

The degree of Ozawa’s clout matters both to voters worried that he is trying to revive the vested-interest politics perfected by the LDP during its half-century rule, and to financial markets nervous about Japan’s debt.

Ozawa has opposed making a clear statement in the party’s election platform on the need to raise the sales tax.

Kan will also have his hands full coping with coalition ally Kamei, head of the small conservative People’s New Party.

Kamei, who was retained as banking minister, has advocated big spending to boost growth and insists that a controversial bill to roll back the privatization of the postal system be enacted in a session of parliament scheduled to end on June 16.

(Additional reporting by Stanley White, Tetsushi Kajimoto, Chisa Fujioka, Rie Ishiguro, Yoko Kubota and Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Chris Gallagher)

(Reuters, Linda Sieg and Leika Kihara, TOKYO, Tue Jun 8, 2010 5:45am EDT)

Yesterday was Toshiki’s birthday.

I returned home from Kagoshima.

I went to there for concerts.

There is NINIGI NO MIKOTO ORACLE MOUNTAIN.

A big old burial mound.

SPEED payed a visit to NINIGI ORACLE shrine.

We felt very good feelings.

We bought a synthesizer “YAMAHA TG55” for a birthday.

Toshiki said “This is SPEED sound”.

I said “Yes”.

Our cakes were “Apple Pie”.

Happy birthday.

(Takako Shirose and Toshiki Shirose)

Energy

+0.67%

Renewable Fuels, Integrated Oil & Gas, Oil & Gas Transport

Basic Materials

-0.57%

Chemicals Diversified, Aluminum, Construction Materials

Industrials

-1.64%

Industrial Machinery & Equipment, Construction & Engineering

Cyclical Goods & Services

-1.14%

Auto & Truck Manufacturers, Homebuilding, Cons Electronics

Non-Cyclical Goods & Services

-0.30%

Brewers, Personal services, Food Distn & Convenience Stores

Financials

-0.53%

Banks, Diversified Investment Services, Property & Casualty Ins

Healthcare

+0.30%

Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology & Medical Research

Technology

-0.84%

Semiconductors, Computer Hardware, IT Services & Consulting

Telecoms

-0.05%

Integrated Telecoms, Wireless Telecoms

Utilities

+0.30%

Electric, Gas, Water

Sector Percentage changes powered by Thomson Reuters Indices and Thomson Reuters Business Classification.

(Reuters, June 8, 2010 2:40 JST)

(Reuters) – Japanese government bond futures hit their highest in more than two years on Monday, as worries about European debt problems broadened to encompass Hungary and after disappointing U.S. jobs data.

HOT STOCKS | JAPAN

The five-year JGB yield extended its slide, striking a seven-year low, as banks kept pouring funds into the midterm sector.

Investors rushed to cut risk assets and sought the safety of government debt as fears of a Hungarian debt crisis battered the euro and reignited concerns that more Eastern European nations could reveal financial frailties.

However, Hungary’s government said on Saturday it aimed to meet this year’s budget deficit target and described talk of a debt crisis as “exaggerated.

Job growth in the U.S. private sector unexpectedly slowed sharply in May, casting doubt on the strength of the recovery in the world’s biggest economy.

“Market players bought JGB futures as they were surprised about the financial situation in Hungary and the unexpected weakness in U.S. employment data,” said Chotaro Morita, head of Japan fixed-income strategy research at Barclays Capital.

June 10-year JGB futures were up 0.32 point at 140.97 after jumping as high as 141.02, their highest since March 2008 — as stocks dropped and after Treasuries rallied on the Hungary and U.S. jobs data news.

The benchmark 10-year yield slid 3.5 basis points to 1.230 percent, falling toward its May trough of 1.190 percent, which was its lowest since early December.

Investors are also picking up JGBs now that Naoto Kan, a fiscal conservative, is set to be the country’s next prime minister. Kan has advocated capping the amount of new JGB issuance.

“The JGB market is looking to Kan as a symbol of fiscal restructuring,” said Morita, though he added that the government would have moved toward fiscal reform even if there were no change in leadership, given the European debt crisis.

The five-year yield fell 2 basis points to 0.365 percent, its lowest since August 2003. The midterm sector has been drawing hefty demand from Japanese banks.

One reason for the rally in five-year notes is that the amount of deposits parked at banks is far greater than the amount of loans they are extending, meaning domestic financial institutions have surplus cash they can allocate to JGB investment, analysts said.

The 20-year yield dropped 3.0 basis points to 1.975 percent.

Tokyo’s Nikkei stock average had plunged 4 percent by midday.

Treasuries soared on Friday after the Labor Department reported that 431,000 jobs were created in May, fewer than investors were expecting, and only 41,000 of those were private sector jobs.

(Reporting by Rika Otsuka; Editing by Chris Gallagher)

(Reuters, Rika Otsuka, TOKYO, Sun Jun 6, 2010 11:44pm EDT)

Energy

+0.40%

Renewable Fuels, Integrated Oil & Gas, Oil & Gas Transport

Basic Materials

-0.05%

Chemicals Diversified, Aluminum, Construction Materials

Industrials

+0.08%

Industrial Machinery & Equipment, Construction & Engineering

Cyclical Goods & Services

+0.05%

Auto & Truck Manufacturers, Homebuilding, Cons Electronics

Non-Cyclical Goods & Services

+0.19%

Brewers, Personal services, Food Distn & Convenience Stores

Financials

-0.10%

Banks, Diversified Investment Services, Property & Casualty Ins

Healthcare

+0.36%

Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology & Medical Research

Technology

+1.04%

Semiconductors, Computer Hardware, IT Services & Consulting

Telecoms

+0.07%

Integrated Telecoms, Wireless Telecoms

Utilities

+0.51%

Electric, Gas, Water

Sector Percentage changes powered by Thomson Reuters Indices and Thomson Reuters Business Classification.

(Reuters, June 4, 2010, 16:05 JST)

(Reuters) – Finance Minister Naoto Kan, a fiscal conservative previously best known for battling bureaucrats, was chosen on Friday to be Japan’s next premier as the ruling party tries to repair its fortunes ahead of a national election.

WORLD | JAPAN

Kan, 63, will become Japan’s fifth prime minister in three years, taking the helm as the country struggles to rein in a huge public debt, engineer growth in an aging society, and manage ties with security ally Washington and a rising China.

The Democratic Party of Japan picked Kan by an overwhelming majority to succeed unpopular Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who quit this week ahead of an upper house poll expected in July that the ruling bloc needs to win to avoid policy deadlock. He was later voted in by parliament’s powerful lower house.

“With all of you, I would first would like to compile firm policies or plans to rebuild Japan…ahead of the upper house election,” Kan said in his acceptance speech before leaving the stage and pumping his fist in the air.

Kan’s rise to the top job could spell bolder steps ahead to rein in a public debt that is already twice the size of the economy, although he faces opposition from many in his party ahead of the election.

Hatoyama, his voter ratings in tatters, resigned on Wednesday just eight months after the Democrats swept to power pledging to cut waste, wrest control of policy from bureaucrats, and give consumers more cash to stimulate domestic demand.

His abrupt departure has raised concerns among investors that the government will delay efforts to thrash out plans, due out this month, to cut public debt and craft a growth strategy.

BATTLING DEFLATION, FISCAL REFORM

Financial market players generally welcomed Kan as Japan’s next leader, whose selection improves the ruling bloc’s prospects at the polls, though many wondered how much would change.

“If Hatoyama had remained, the party would have had a big loss at the election and the political situation would have been chaotic,” said Hiroyuki Nakai, chief strategist at Tokai Tokyo Research.

“But with Kan in charge now, the sense of stagnation in politics and the economy is receding somewhat, even though much will depend on the make-up of the cabinet.”

Kan, a former health minister who got his start in politics as a grassroots activist, has forged an image as a fiscal conservative and occasional central bank critic since assuming the finance post in January.

He was among the few cabinet ministers to urge early debate on raising Japan’s 5 percent sales tax, a step economists say is vital to fund the huge social welfare costs of a graying society.

Kan said in a statement that he would work with the Bank of Japan to beat the deflation bedeviling Japan’s economy.

As finance minister, Kan has pressured the central bank to do more in the battle against deflation, although for now the government and BOJ seem to be on the same page.

He also said he would keep Japan’s policy to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels.

Financial markets will be watching the new leader’s comments on currencies as well.

“(Kan’s) appearance of being in favor of a weaker yen is being viewed positively by the stock market. For the Nikkei to move much over 10,000, we need currencies to move toward a weaker yen,” said Kenichi Hirano, operating officer at Tachibana Securities.

GRASSROOTS ACTIVIST, OZAWA FACTOR

Unlike his recent predecessors as premier, Kan does not hail from a political dynasty. That could appeal to voters weary of leaders born with silver spoons in their mouths who proved inept at governing.

He got his start in politics as a grassroots student activist, later joining small political parties before helping to found the then-opposition Democratic Party in 1996.

Kan defeated his only rival, 50-year-old Shinji Tarutoko, a little-known lawmaker who had won backing from some supporters of party powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa.

Ozawa, seen as pulling the strings in Hatoyama’s government, also quit his key post as party secretary-general this week in an effort to improve the party’s image, tarnished by funding scandals that embroiled Ozawa, Hatoyama and other lawmakers.

Kan, who helped found the DPJ in 1996 and is hardly a fresh face, has made clear he wants to sideline the 68-year-old Ozawa, whose image as an old-style wheeler dealer has undermined the Democrats’ pitch as purveyors of change.

But while the wily Ozawa may withdraw into the shadows, skeptics question whether his influence will entirely fade.

That matters because Ozawa, known as a master campaign strategist, is reluctant to promise bold fiscal reform steps such as raising the sales tax ahead of the upper house poll.

Kan, who is likely to be sworn in by the emperor early next week, will form his new cabinet on Tuesday, a DPJ official said.

The current session of parliament will likely be extended to enact key bills and the upper house election held on July 25, Japanese media said.

The Democrats swept to power in a historic election last year and will run the government whatever the outcome of the July upper house poll, but the ruling bloc needs to win a majority in that chamber to ensure that legislation is enacted smoothly.

Media surveys showed Hatoyama’s resignation had given the faltering party a boost, but analysts have said the Democrats and their tiny ally, the conservative People’s New Party, might have to find new partners, including small partners recently formed by defectors from the ousted Liberal Democrats.

Kan faces a tough task keeping ties with the United States on track, since a deal clinched by Hatoyama with Washington to shift a U.S. airbase to the southern Japan island of Okinawa is staunchly opposed by local residents.

Kan became Japan’s most popular politician for a time when as health minister in 1996, he forced bureaucrats to expose a scandal over HIV-tainted blood products.

(Reporting by Linda Sieg and Yoko Kubota; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Edwina Gibbs)

(Reuters, Linda Sieg and Yoko Nishikawa, TOKYO, Fri Jun 4, 2010 2:37am EDT)

Energy

+2.97%

Renewable Fuels, Integrated Oil & Gas, Oil & Gas Transport

Basic Materials

+1.56%

Chemicals Diversified, Aluminum, Construction Materials

Industrials

+2.11%

Industrial Machinery & Equipment, Construction & Engineering

Cyclical Goods & Services

+2.05%

Auto & Truck Manufacturers, Homebuilding, Cons Electronics

Non-Cyclical Goods & Services

+1.48%

Brewers, Personal services, Food Distn & Convenience Stores

Financials

+1.79%

Banks, Diversified Investment Services, Property & Casualty Ins

Healthcare

+2.12%

Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology & Medical Research

Technology

+2.26%

Semiconductors, Computer Hardware, IT Services & Consulting

Telecoms

+1.10%

Integrated Telecoms, Wireless Telecoms

Utilities

+1.05%

Electric, Gas, Water

Sector Percentage changes powered by Thomson Reuters Indices and Thomson Reuters Business Classification.

(Reuters, June 3, 2010, 11:26 JST)

(Reuters) – Japan’s ruling Democratic Party was scrambling on Thursday to pick a new leader, and hence premier, after fiscally conservative Finance Minister Naoto Kan threw his hat in the ring to replace unpopular Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who resigned a day earlier ahead of a looming election.

WORLD | JAPAN

The Democrats will vote on Friday to pick a new leader, but the political turmoil could delay efforts to thrash out plans set to be announced this month to cut Japan’s bulging public debt and craft a strategy to engineer economic growth in an aging society.

Kan is the frontrunner to succeed Hatoyama, who quit after just eight months in office, but party powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa will also play a key role in determining if the 63-year-old Kan, a former party leader with considerable clout, gets the job.

Ozawa, widely seen as pulling the strings behind Hatoyama’s government, also quit on Wednesday as party secretary-general, but as the de facto chief of the Democrats’ biggest bloc of lawmakers, his backing could prove key.

That could also affect how aggressively Japan’s new leader tackles the urgent problem of reining in a public debt already twice the size of its economy, since Ozawa is against promising to raise the 5 percent sales tax before an upper house election expected in July.

The Democrats, who swept to power last year in a landslide election victory but whose support has since plummeted, are trying to boost the party’s fortunes in the upper house election that they need to win to pass bills smoothly.

Kan, a former health minister once known for battling bureaucrats, has forged an image as a fiscal conservative and occasional central bank critic since assuming the finance post in January.

That could raise the chances of bolder steps to rein in a public debt already about twice the size of Japan’s GDP, a stance investors and many voters would welcome, although he is hardly a fresh face.

Other possible candidates to succeed Hatoyama, who becomes Japan’s fourth straight leader to leave office after a year or less, include Transport Minister Seiji Maehara and Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, Japanese media say.

So far, only Kan has expressed his intention to run for party leader. Maehara said he has not decided.

A new cabinet is expected to be formed as early as Friday.

(Reporting by Linda Sieg and Yoko Nishikawa; Editing by Chris Gallagher)

(Reuters, TOKYO, Wed Jun 2, 2010 9:24pm EDT)

Energy

-3.92%

Renewable Fuels, Integrated Oil & Gas, Oil & Gas Transport

Basic Materials

-1.47%

Chemicals Diversified, Aluminum, Construction Materials

Industrials

-1.44%

Industrial Machinery & Equipment, Construction & Engineering

Cyclical Goods & Services

-1.02%

Auto & Truck Manufacturers, Homebuilding, Cons Electronics

Non-Cyclical Goods & Services

-0.05%

Brewers, Personal services, Food Distn & Convenience Stores

Financials

-1.09%

Banks, Diversified Investment Services, Property & Casualty Ins

Healthcare

-0.80%

Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology & Medical Research

Technology

-0.82%

Semiconductors, Computer Hardware, IT Services & Consulting

Telecoms

-0.13%

Integrated Telecoms, Wireless Telecoms

Utilities

-0.73%

Electric, Gas, Water

Sector Percentage changes powered by Thomson Reuters Indices and Thomson Reuters Business Classification.

(Reuters, June 2, 2010, 11:58 JST)

(Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said on Wednesday he and his powerful party No. 2 would resign after a slide in the polls threatened their party’s chances in an election expected next month.

WORLD | JAPAN

The yen sank to a two-week low against the dollar after Hatoyama became the fourth Japanese leader to leave office in a year or less, with some investors worried that political instability would make Japan’s weak economy more dependent on the Bank of Japan’s easy monetary policy.

Calls built up in Hatoyama’s Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) for him to step down to revive the party’s fortunes ahead of an election for the upper house of parliament expected on July 11 that it must win to smooth policymaking.

With tears in his eyes, Hatoyama told party lawmakers that he and party secretary-general Ichiro Ozawa would resign.

“In order to revitalize our party, we need to bring back a thoroughly clean Democratic Party. I would like to ask your cooperation,” Hatoyama said.

Hatoyama’s ratings slid on voter doubts about his leadership, while the old-style image of Ozawa, seen as pulling strings behind the scene, had also eroded public support.

Analysts have tipped outspoken Finance Minister Naoto Kan as the frontrunner to replace Hatoyama, who quits after just eight months on the job. A new leader will be chosen on Friday, in a few days, a party official said.

The latest political turmoil, including the departure of a tiny leftist party from the ruling coalition, has distracted the government as it thrashes out a plan to cut huge public debt and a strategy to engineer growth despite a fast-aging population.

“Hatoyama’s resignation may cause delays in the scheduled releases this month of the government’s growth strategies and fiscal discipline targets. Whoever replaces Hatoyama would need to work them out before an upper house election, or else disappoint voters,” said Hirokata Kusaba, an economist at Mizuho Research Institute.

“Things could not get any worse after Hatoyama quits, given the current deadlock in many important issues.”

The yen sank to 91.78 per dollar from around 91.10 before the news but that weakness helped boost the Nikkei share average, which is heavily populated by big Japanese exporters. Bond futures edged higher.

FINMIN KAN NEXT?

Finance Minister Kan has in the past pressed the Bank of Japan to do more to fight deflation and has sounded more positive than Hatoyama about raising the 5 percent sales tax in the future to fund bulging social welfare costs.

That stance would be welcomed by investors worried about Japan’s huge public debt, which is nearly 200 percent of GDP.

“If Finance Minister Kan takes over, it would be welcome news for the JGB market because Kan is more proactive about fiscal discipline and about raising the consumption tax than any other cabinet minister,” Mizuho Research’s Kusaba said.

The Democrats swept to power last August after a landslide election win for parliament’s powerful lower house, ousting the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) after more than 50 years of almost non-stop rule.

But doubts over Hatoyama’s leadership skills have eroded the government’s approval ratings, with one poll showing support at just 17 percent after he failed to keep a campaign pledge to move a U.S. airbase off Okinawa island in southern Japan.

Some analysts said the change of the party’s top two leaders would help restore the Democrats’ popularity ahead of the election, although many voters had been outraged when two leaders of previous LDP-led governments quit abruptly after just a year in office.

“Although getting rid of Ozawa and Hatoyama won’t win back all that support, at least the Democrats will no longer have to be on the defensive during the campaign.” said Katsuhiko Nakamura, director of research at the Asian Forum Japan.

“Looking at the numbers, Kan is the most likely to take over. But there was so much criticism of the Liberal Democratic Party for switching prime ministers without an election, he may decide to go to the polls again fairly quickly.”

“This will put an end to downward trend in the popularity of Democrats,” said Hidenori Suezawa, chief strategist at Nikko Cordial Securities.

“Ozawa must have made this decision to win the election.”

(Reuters, Linda Sieg and Yoko Nishikawa, TOKYO, Tue Jun 1, 2010 10:37pm EDT)

Energy

-2.26%

Renewable Fuels, Integrated Oil & Gas, Oil & Gas Transport

Basic Materials

-0.50%

Chemicals Diversified, Aluminum, Construction Materials

Industrials

-0.45%

Industrial Machinery & Equipment, Construction & Engineering

Cyclical Goods & Services

-0.17%

Auto & Truck Manufacturers, Homebuilding, Cons Electronics

Non-Cyclical Goods & Services

+0.66%

Brewers, Personal services, Food Distn & Convenience Stores

Financials

-0.04%

Banks, Diversified Investment Services, Property & Casualty Ins

Healthcare

+0.13%

Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology & Medical Research

Technology

+0.41%

Semiconductors, Computer Hardware, IT Services & Consulting

Telecoms

+0.60%

Integrated Telecoms, Wireless Telecoms

Utilities

+0.13%

Electric, Gas, Water

Sector Percentage changes powered by Thomson Reuters Indices and Thomson Reuters Business Classification.

(Reuters, June 2, 2010, 2:20 JST)

(Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, his coalition fractured and his ratings sinking, brushed aside calls to quit on Monday ahead of an upper house election despite fading chances of the decisive win needed to smooth policy-making.

WORLD | JAPAN

Calls have emerged in Hatoyama’s Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) for the premier to step down after a tiny leftist party bolted the ruling coalition in anger at his failure to keep a campaign pledge to move a U.S. airbase off Okinawa island in southern Japan.

With time short and no guarantee that replacing Hatoyama would boost his party’s fortunes in an upper house poll expected in July, analysts said Hatoyama would probably cling to his post, but did not rule out the possibility he might go.

“If the sense of crisis mounts to such a level that they are ready to swallow someone who is less of a consensus maker, they may be ready to get rid of Hatoyama,” said Sophia University professor Koichi Nakano. Most pundits have tipped outspoken Finance Minister Naoto Kan as likely successor if Hatoyama quits.

Support for Hatoyama’s government took another hit, falling as low as 17 percent in one of a spate of surveys published on Monday, after he fired the head of the tiny Social Democratic Party (SDP) from her cabinet post on Friday, prompting the party to leave the coalition two days later.

The political furor is distracting the government as it thrashes out a plan to cut Japan’s huge public debt and a strategy to engineer growth despite a fast-aging population.

Financial markets are keeping an eye on the political confusion, which has deepened since the Democrats swept to power last September, ousting the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) after more than 50 years of almost non-stop rule.

“The political turmoil in Japan may not immediately deal a blow to the Japanese economy, but it may dampen foreign investors’ appetite for Japanese stocks and stock falls may affect consumer sentiment, ” said Junko Nishioka, chief Japan economist at RBS Securities.

Hatoyama, after meeting Democratic Party kingpin Ichiro Ozawa and another top party official, told reporters he planned to stay in his post.

FATE UNDECIDED

But Yoshimitsu Takashima, the party’s deputy secretary general, said the three would meet again in a day or two and quoted Ozawa, seen as the real power behind the government, as saying that Hatoyama’s fate was still under discussion.

“I told them that if nothing changes, it will be severe,” Democratic upper house lawmaker Toshio Ogawa, in charge of party PR, told reporters after a party meeting. Asked if replacing Hatoyama were an option, he replied, “That could be one way.”

Equally if not more troubling for the government than the cabinet’s ratings slide, a survey by the Yomiuri newspaper showed 19 percent of voters now plan to cast their ballots for the main opposition LDP compared to just 14 percent for Hatoyama’s party.

Hatoyama has wobbled on a range of campaign pledges from cash allowances for parents to toll-free highways, although analysts say some glitches were to be expected given the raft of problems inherited from the LDP and the Democrats’ inexperience.

The Democrats are also attempting to change how Japan is governed by relying less on bureaucrats and focusing policies on consumers and workers rather than companies.

In the latest blow to the struggling Hatoyama, the tiny SDP left the ruling bloc on Sunday after the premier gave up on his pledge to move a U.S. Marine airbase off Okinawa, citing the lack of a viable alternative and the need to keep U.S.-Japan ties tight given tension on the Korean peninsula.

The SDP’s departure could deprive the Democrats of some votes in the upper house poll, but will not topple the government since the Democrats have a big majority in parliament’s lower house.

Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima said that her party would now find it hard to oppose a no-confidence motion against Hatoyama if other opposition parties submit one.

A motion would have no chance of passing given the Democrats’ lower house majority, but would be an embarrassment if his former allies back it.

Most polls showed a majority of voters think Hatoyama should resign over his broken promise on Futenma airbase.

But time is short ahead of the upper house poll, expected on July 11, and some in his party worry changing the premier so soon would remind voters of previous LDP-led governments, two of whose leaders threw in the towel after about a year in office.

Nor is it clear just how badly the Democrats and their remaining partner, the small People’s New Party, will do at the polls, since support for their main rival LDP remains limp.

(Editing by Sugita Katyal)

(Reuters, Linda Sieg and Yoko Nishikawa, TOKYO, Mon May 31, 2010 10:11am EDT)

Jesus Christ and his family

We are Clan, there is one Clan . Jesus Clan. Clan are one family.

We were separated in from 12th century to 16th century.

We wrote our BMI. A beautiful value is shown as the average BMI. It seems that our BMI is Jesus and Maria’s BMI.

We are one family in old history. This is Imperial Palace told.

We believe old told.

The most important treasure that Jesus and his family might be a malt and yeast.

In a word, that was a fermentation and the technology of fermentation.

In the process of fermentation, the bacterium named Saccharomyces cerevisiae is necessary, the sugar is necessary.

In other word, Jesus and his family knew sugar.

And then making from Saccharomyces cerevisiae was  bread, beer, vinegar, wine, Nihon-sake, whisky and the lactic acid, that is a yogurt.

They knew an alcohol and a vinegar.

They knew the reaction process.

In chemical formula of alcohol is C2H5OH and chemical formula of acetic acid is CH3COOH.

Jesus and his family might be the first chemists.

There was no refrigerator in ancient. They must have Saccharomyces cerevisiae for preserving all foods.

They can calculate, they can observation of the stars.

Jesus and his family might be the first scientists.

The History had begun from Jesus and his family.

Jesus and his family had high IQ.

And, we think that this is the evidence of Jesus and his family were King and very important persons.

We love dance and music.

Native people in Canada and Okinawa people dance same dance.

We wrote “Silk road continues from Jerusalem to Nihonbashi.”, but Silk road continues to Canada too, through Niigata and Hokkaido. Native people in Hokkaido is Ainu.

Ainu says the reward to GOD about the salmon that salmon is the first salmon in year. Salmon is an important fish in Niigata too. Many old, old dainties of Salmon are in Niigata. One of the very important is “Salmon’s malt pickle.”  Malt is, so to speak, yeast when Nihon-sake is brewed. “Salmon’s malt pickle. ” is a thing like “Fish’s pickles”. Salmon is a fish in winter.

Jesus and his family found the Soda. It was in nature. We think that Jesus and his family seriously thought how to make the Soda. The Soda was an important medicine. An alcohol was an important medicine.

One of the results might be a beer, it would be a wine, a Nihon sake and a whisky, the stronger alcohol.

Silk road, various were carried. That was a yeast, a hop, a malt, a Nihon sake malt, a yogurt, a yogurt bacterium, wheat, the silk, a cloth, and a silkworm (larva of the insect of the silk).

An alcohol is not used in King family meal in Nihon. Alcohol is lost by boiling sake and lost an alcohol.

We eat a seaweeds with a vinegar.

Jesus and his family are written that they often sharing and ate a fish. We have a memory of sharing a luxurious and happy fish named the sea bream in King family and we are sharing the sea bream still.

We feel we are sharing an unhappiness of Jesus and his family.

We want to say we don’t eat an insect in King family, of course.

Why Jesus and his family knew calculate? 0 is O, 1 is I. And one King in Nihon who live in here work always a part of IO, mysterious work.

Who is Santa Claus?

Santa Claus is Saint Cross.

Who is Saint Cross?

Jesus Christ.

Where does Santa Claus live in?

Snow country.

Our child age, when Christmas season will be to us.

Saint Cross will be into our room and many presents for us in a long socks at our bedsides or in a long socks at beside our pillows.

Who is Santa Claus?

It is secret.

Do not injure. Be healthily. Do not overeat. Do not overwork. Do not stick Laurel. Be weather always fine. Be gentle to other people.

We are cousin.

All for one, one for all, all for all, one for one.

We, Jesus’s children, Jesus Clan, Jesus Family, Jesus Christ and his family are very nervous about the sound of the clock, we see the wristwatch though we forget that we removed the wristwatch, we are late sometimes even if there are a clock, a timetable and a schedule table, there are many clocks in the house and are often a broken clocks. We can talk many about the clock. Cronus may be our ancestor. Some of our family in a hospital or a prison and they say help, “Open the Door”. We have many keys to open the doors to our cousins.

It seems that Jesus was born in winter. Because there are many New Year in winter.

Old and old  told. The New Year Day is Jesus Christ birthday. The century begins. 1 year January 1 was Jesus Christ birthday and first day of the century.

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