Kyodo News

Japan Today: Toyota to Suspend Domestic Output 11 More Days

rie — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:29:20 -0800

NAGOYA (Kyodo) — Toyota Motor Corp. will further trim its production by suspending operations for an additional 11 days at all of its 12 Japanese factories between February and March to combat plummeting auto sales due to the global economic downturn, company officials said on Jan. 6.

Industry observers said the expansion of the rare output reduction by Japan’s top automaker is likely to have a further detrimental impact on employment conditions at its subcontracting firms like auto parts suppliers.

Japan Today: Govt. to Compile Japanese Version of Obama's Green New Deal

rie — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:37:20 -0800

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Prime Minister Taro Aso on Jan. 6 told Environment Minister Tetsuo Saito to compile a “bold’’ and easy-to-understand program aimed at propping up the economy by promoting measures to tackle global warming.

Under the envisioned program, which aims to represent a Japanese version of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama’s Green New Deal, the Environment Ministry aims to expand the environment-related business market as well as employment in the market.

Japan Today: Temp Workers Given Shelter, Appeal for Aid for the Jobless

rie — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:57:49 -0800

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Temporary workers who have lost their jobs and places to live in the current economic slump and other homeless workers began moving Jan. 5 to shelters offered by the government after their “tent village’’ in Tokyo’s Hibiya Park was closed, with some beginning to apply for welfare benefits.

Hundreds of demonstrators, including these “villagers’’ and members of numerous labor unions, gathered in front of the Diet building in central Tokyo to lobby for legislation to assist unemployed temporary workers.

Japan Today: Diet Convenes; Debates to Focus on Extra Budget

rie — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:36:01 -0800

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Japan's parliament convened Jan. 5 for a regular 150-day session, with ruling and opposition parties expected to clash over a supplementary budget for fiscal 2008 introduced by the government at the outset of the session.

Prime Minister Taro Aso aims to seek prompt passage of the 4.79 trillion yen second extra budget and a record-high 88.55 trillion yen budget for fiscal 2009, placing priority on expediting measures to help people's livelihoods amid the economic crisis rather than dissolving the House of Representatives for a general election.

Japan Today: Speaker Kono Prays for Pearl Harbor War Dead in Hawaii

rie — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 08:27:35 -0800

HONOLULU (Kyodo) — Japan’s House of Representatives Speaker Yohei Kono on Dec. 28 laid flowers at a U.S. memorial cemetery in Honolulu where victims of Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 are among those commemorated.

The first visit by a Japanese lower house speaker to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific was realized after U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) visited a monument in Hiroshima dedicated to the victims of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing.

Japan Today: Fewer Death Sentences Issued in Japan in 2008

rie — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 08:27:35 -0800

TOKYO (Kyodo) — District, high and supreme courts across Japan issued 27 death sentences in 2008, down from 46 the previous year, according to a Kyodo News tally as of Dec. 28.

A total of 100 prisoners are currently on death row after the finalization of their sentences.
The death sentences of 10 inmates were finalized this year, compared with 23 last year.

Fifteen death row inmates were executed on five occasions this year, the first time since 1976 that the number has topped 10.

Japan Today: Japan Paid 200 Million Yen for Release of Kidnapped Student

rie — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 08:27:35 -0800

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Japan paid about 200 million yen to resolve the kidnapping of a Japanese national in Iran, a government source said Dec. 29.

The money is believed to have been a ransom payment for university student Satoshi Nakamura, who was kidnapped by an armed group in October last year and released after eight months in June this year.

The Foreign Ministry denied making the payment, with an official saying it is “groundless.’’ Both the Japanese and Iranian governments have said there was no ransom payment.

Japan Today: Defense Force Ship Mission Near Somalia Considered

rie — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 14:44:27 -0800

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Prime Minister Taro Aso ordered Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada on Dec. 26 to consider sending Self-Defense Forces vessels on an anti-piracy mission to waters off Somalia, Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said.

After building a consensus within the ruling coalition, the government may issue an order for “maritime policing activity’’ in accordance with the Self-Defense Forces Law as early as in January with a view to providing protection to Japanese ships from pirate activities from sometime in February.

Judo: Ishii to Join Ultimate Fighting in U.S.

rie — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 14:40:23 -0800

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Heavyweight judo Olympic champion Satoshi Ishii said Dec. 19 he plans to join the U.S.-based Ultimate Fighting Championship next year, following through on his decision to become a professional mixed martial artist.

Ishii, who won the gold medal in the men’s over 100-kilogram category at the Beijing Olympics, sent shock waves through Japanese judo circles last month when he announced his decision to quit judo to make a switch to the more lucrative world of mixed martial arts.

Japan Today: 85,000 Temp Workers to Lose Jobs Due to Economic Crisis

rie — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 06:30:57 -0800

TOKYO (Kyodo) — The global economic crisis could force 85,012 non-regular employees, such as temporary workers, in Japan to lose their jobs between October and next March, the government said Dec. 26.

The number is up around 55,000 from the previous estimate based on a survey in November conducted by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

The ministry also said a total of 769 university and high school students due to enter the workforce next April have been denied jobs promised by prospective employers due to the ongoing business slump, up 130 percent from the November poll.