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Japanese core consumer prices fell a record 2.4 percent in August from a year earlier, as weak final demand adds to pressure from cheaper oil prices, fuelling concern that deflation may persist longer than previously thought. While the effect of sliding oil prices will fade from September, feeble domestic consumption is increasingly weighing on prices, which could keep the central bank from raising interest rates from near zero for several years.

For over 50 years, one party ruled Japan virtually uninterrupted. During that time, Japan remained a loyal ally and supporter of U.S. policy. This month, a historic event took place. Japan has new leadership. In a landslide victory, a new party has done the seemingly impossible. A new freshman class of leaders now governs the Land of the Rising Sun. The effects are already rippling across the Pacific toward America. Yukio Hatoyama is Japan’s new leader. He officially took office last Wednesday, and he is already threatening to split with the United States. Hatoyama blames America for the global economic...

United States President Barack Obama and members of his administration are going to great lengths to explain the reasons why the US abruptly changed course with respect to its anti-missile strategy for Europe. In the process, little or nothing has been said about the impact of this new plan on Asia. Silence or not, both China and Japan must assess the consequences of this activity because what the US is now proposing for Europe in terms of missile defense is right in line with what has been unfolding all along in East Asia, where the US Navy forms the front...

Reversing privatization at Japan Post. Yukio Hatoyama's new government in Tokyo is wasting no time bringing "change" to Japan. After only a week in office, the Hatoyama cabinet has resurrected the idea that the government should retake the economy's commanding heights. Front and center is the government's confirmation Sunday that it intends to reverse plans to privatize Japan Post. Far more than a letter carrier, Japan Post is the world's largest bank by deposits, at around 178 trillion yen ($2 trillion). Its privatization would have reaped the government much-needed revenues to pay down debt and encouraged private capital formation through...

A boy with no official nationality who lives in Thailand captured third place in a Japanese paper aeroplane contest on Sunday after his tearful pleas to be allowed to attend prompted authorities to grant him a rare temporary passport for the event. Mong Thongdee prepares to let fly during the individual indoor flight competition Mong Thongdee, 12, won a national paper aeroplane championship in Thailand in August 2008 after he threw a plane that flew for 12 seconds, and was later chosen to attend the Japanese contest in Chiba, near Tokyo. But Mong, who lives in Chiang Mai in northern...

A bear injured nine people at highway rest stop in central Japan before being shot dead in a souvenir shop, a firefighter said Sunday.

Security: An Iranian mullah once said "a world without America and Zionism" was a real possibility. Our sellout of Eastern Europe and missile defense brings that dream closer to reality. It would take only one warhead."Is it possible for us to witness a world without America and Zionism?" Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asked at a "World Without Zionism" conference in Tehran in 2005. "But you had best know that this slogan and this goal are attainable, and surely can be achieved." He added that Iran had a strategic "war preparation plan" for what it called "the destruction of Anglo-Saxon civilization." A...

TOKYO — U.S. and Japanese officials have discussed the possibility of withdrawing U.S. fighter jets from Japan, U.S. military officials confirmed Monday. But officials from both countries declined to provide further details, saying the conversation was part of ongoing discussions between the two nations about a variety of issues. "At this point, there’s not much to say on it," said U.S. Forces Japan spokesman Maj. Joseph Macri. "It’s a discussion." Macri and David Marks, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, referred questions to the Pentagon. "We, the U.S. government, we talk to them on a wide variety of...

HEREThe various biggovernment.com and FOX News videos are linked. The group ACORN is explained in Japanese to the Japanese readers. It also points toward the Obama Administration and structural corruption with respect to this group, misuse of tax dollars, etc..There is another updated web page in Japanese separate from this one, entitled "They Did It Again!", showing further videos of ACORN people involved in such sordid actions and suggestions, caught by hidden camera.This is only a blog, but it could be picked up by mass media in Japan very easily, which will latch on to something like this if encouraged...

Yukio Hatoyama, the leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, has caused alarm in Washington after publishing an article blaming the US for the ills of capitalism, the global economy and "the destruction of human dignity". He also intends to examine an agreement that permits US warships to dock at Japanese ports, in violation of the nation's non-nuclear principles. Mr Hatoyama says he will also look again at the $6 billion cost faced by Japan to transfer thousands of US troops from their base in Okinawa to the Pacific island of Guam amid a wide-ranging review of the American military...

September 14, 2009, 4:00 a.m. Beyond EconomicsOur massive national debt is more than a financial threat. By Kevin Williamson One hopes Ben Bernanke and the Fed gang are reading the Drudge Report, where the top news items one day last week were: Enlarged U.S. deficits allow Switzerland to displace the United States as the world’s most competitive economy; Obama asks the Senate to raise the debt ceiling beyond its current $12.1 trillion level; the United Nations continues its push for a “global currency� to displace the U.S. dollar as the world’s go-to reserve; and — this will be no...

The Obama administration has proposed the possible pull out of all 40 F-16s from Misawa AB to the government of Japan. The discussion are supposed to have taken place back in April and have only now been released. The move could possibly start at the end of the year with the agreement of the new incoming administration of Democratic Party of Japanese leader Yukio Hatoyama. As part of the same strategic review plan the US has also told Japan that they may also remove 50 or so F-15s from its base in Kadena, Okinawa. Both proposals are pending as the...

Great, short Video!A short streaming report from the the national news tonight, here in Tokyo, and run throughout the country seen by countless MILLIONS of Japanese viewers.Shows a bunch of Washington D.C. Tea Party participants' placard signs yesterday, starting with the march yell, "You work for us!", "You work for us!", some of them with signs insulting of Obama and very funny. NHK said the crowd of Americans in Washington was MASSIVE. Also intimated that nearly 1/2 of Americans now oppose Obama.Video is HERE.This will probably stream for a day or two.

Here in Tokyo, folks, Japanese news article claims that anger with President Obama is increasingly rapidly and that it escalated into a massive rally against him and his health care and tax/spend policies, to the tune of ONE MILLION DEMONSTRATORS in Washington, D.C. on Saturday...

TOKYO (Reuters) - Proposals by Japan's new ruling party to slash greenhouse gas emissions may trigger a shake-out in smokestack industries like paper, cement and steel, but boost firms investing in solar and other green technologies. A Democratic Party (DPJ) pledge to cut emissions by 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020 is one of several proposals causing a stir across businesses. Another is a plan aimed at banning most temporary factory workers. Corporate executives say that could hit profits and push more investment overseas.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department said on Friday it was prepared to hold direct talks with North Korea to try to coax it back into multilateral negotiations on ending its nuclear programs. Previously, U.S. officials had sent mixed signals about direct meetings, at times saying Pyongyang must first commit to resume multilateral discussions and at others saying bilateral talks could only occur "in the context" of the multilateral discussions. The department denied changing its policy on direct talks, saying any bilateral meeting would be to bring Pyongyang back to multilateral talks. "We are prepared to enter into a...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Senate panel urged the Air Force on Thursday to start developing an export model of its F-22 Raptor, the most advanced U.S. fighter jet, even as it voted to end U.S. purchases. Japan, Israel and Australia have shown interest in buying the supersonic, radar-evading F-22 Raptor, designed to destroy enemy air defenses in the first days of any conflict and clear the way for other missions.

The battle-scarred gangsters of Japan's most infamous underworld group, the Yamaguchi-gumi, are being forced to study for an exam covering the key aspects of their trade. Gang bosses have introduced the written tests for their subordinates since the Anti-Organised Crime Law was revised last year, making the group's leaders responsible for the actions of street-level members. In September 2008, two top members of the Sumiyoshi-kai underworld group agreed to pay Y97.5 million (£640,000) to the relatives of a man shot dead when three gunmen opened fire in a bar in Gunma Prefecture.

Original in Japanese: グリーン雇用��唱者�米特別顧�辞任　政権�打撃My translated synopsis: Reporter Mr. Katsuta from Washington reports for Asahi Shimbun news that the one person who asserted "Green Jobs" for the Obama Administration, Mr. Van Jones, has resigned. He was in charge as a special advisor to the President for Environmental Quality....right in the middle of President Obama's declining popularity as being hit on his health care reform policies, comes this resignation. As for the Obama Administration, this development has all the trappings of being a new smack in the face. ....Jones had signed on to a petition questioning the culpability of previous President Bush...

Earthquake Details Magnitude 6.2 Date-Time Thursday, September 03, 2009 at 13:26:18 UTCThursday, September 03, 2009 at 10:26:18 PM at epicenter Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones Location 31.128°N, 130.051°E Depth 161.5 km (100.4 miles) Region KYUSHU, JAPAN Distances 70 km (45 miles) SW of Kagoshima, Kyushu, Japan160 km (100 miles) WSW of Miyazaki, Kyushu, Japan760 km (470 miles) SSE of SEOUL, South Korea1035 km (640 miles) WSW of TOKYO, Japan Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 6.3 km (3.9 miles); depth +/- 5.3 km (3.3 miles) Parameters NST=234, Nph=240, Dmin=234.9 km, Rmss=0.79 sec, Gp= 50°,M-type=teleseismic moment magnitude (Mw), Version=6 Source USGS...

The United States on Monday ruled out renegotiating a deal on US military bases with Japan's new left-leaning government, which has pledged a fresh look at US forces in its territory. Japan's incoming prime minister Yukio Hatoyama in the past called for the United States to remove the Futenma Marine base -- long a sore point as it lies in a crowded urban area off the southern island of Okinawa. But State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the United States would not revisit a deal finalized just months ago by Japan's long-ruling conservatives that also includes moving troops to the...

One rule of thumb I generally observe while traveling abroad: Always know what something is before putting it in your mouth. Recently, I broke that rule--and ended up regretting it. I ate whale meat. I didn't mean to. It just sort of happened during an otherwise routine company enkai--office party--at a hole-in-the-wall izakaya called Andy's Shin Hinomoto under the Yurakucho railroad tracks in central Tokyo. I ordered a beer and sat down next to my co-workers, just as the waitress was bringing out plates of food: generous cuts of sashimi, deep-fried chicken nuggets, a sautéed mushroom salad and--what the heck...

Japan's leader-in-waiting has a delusional vision for his country and its relationship with the rest of Asia. Yukio Hatoyama dreams of an Asian union, a utopia free of rapacious American capitalism, a region bound together by fraternity and a common currency. Were Hatoyama a soapbox orator his fantasizing could be dismissed as twaddle, but he isn't. He's about to become the next prime minister of the world's No. 2 economy, following his party's victory Sunday in a general election. In an op-ed piece, "A New Path for Japan," that ran in The New York Times recently, the leader-in-waiting revealed his...

The Phoebe A. Hearst Museum's collection of human remains from Saipan appears to have touched Japan's cultural, political and religious sensitivities concerning World War II, causing Japanese officials to balk at accepting UC Berkeley's offer to return the skulls and bones. "The remains are not verified as ones of Japanese, so the Japanese government is asking for additional information," Tadayuki Mizutani, a first secretary at Japan's Embassy in Washington, said Friday. But the museum's documentation on the remains is sketchy. Although its card catalogs list some of the Saipan remains as "Japanese who committed suicide during the American invasion," UC...

The Democratic Party of Japan won the Lower House election by a landslide Sunday and was poised to grab more than 300 seats in the 480-seat chamber. The victory by the main opposition party would end more than half a century of almost uninterrupted rule by the Liberal Democratic Party. It would also usher in DPJ President Yukio Hatoyama, 62, as the new prime minister by mid-September. As of 11:40 p.m., the DPJ-led opposition camp had already secured 296 seats against just 100 for the LDP-New Komeito ruling bloc, early results from Kyodo said. Flush with victory, DPJ executives started...

JAPAN'S Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) picked Taro Aso as its leader a year ago in the hope he would turn around its sagging fortunes and preserve its five-decade grip on power. Instead, he led the conservative, pro-business LDP to a historic defeat in a general election yesterday. Aso said he took responsibility for the loss after media projections showed the LDP had shed two-thirds of its seats in the lower house election, adding the party should pick a successor soon. After Mr Aso became the party's fourth leader in four years last September

TOKYO, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- Japanese voters are expected Sunday to vote the country’s Liberal Democratic Party out of office for the first time in 55 years. The latest Kyodo news poll indicates 35.9 percent of voters are planning to back the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, an increase of 3.3 percent over last week, The Daily Telegraph of London reported Friday. Prime Minister Taro Aso has been portraying his opponent, Yukio Hatoyama, as inexperienced and says he is trying to win over voters with promises that are impossible to keep.

The jobless rate rose to an all-time high of 5.7 percent in July, government data showed Friday, dealing a further blow to Prime Minister Taro Aso's already embattled government just two days before Sunday's Lower House election. The jobless rate hit a seasonally adjusted 5.7 percent, the highest level in the postwar era and worsening from 5.4 percent in June, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said. The previous record was 5.5 percent, last seen in April 2003. Japan's jobless rate has been rising every month since January's 4.1 percent. The total number of jobless in July jumped 40.2 percent...

MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan — U.S. troops from Misawa say they were simply acting on instinct when they rushed toward a fiery car crash on a dark country road Aug. 15 to save an unconscious Japanese man. "I was just doing what I would want someone to do for me if I was in that guy’s spot," said Senior Airman Thomas Sullivan, who works with the 35th Medical Support Squadron. Sullivan, Airman 1st Class Justin Bunton, a firefighter, and Tech Sgt. Rory Stark, an explosive ordnance disposal specialist, braved the heat of the fire to carry the man to safety,...

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Mongolian host on Wednesday honoured veterans on the 70th anniversary of a key pre-World War II battle in which Soviet and Mongolian forces defeated Japan. Medvedev and Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj laid wreaths at a monument in Ulan Bator honouring Georgy Zhukov, who led the combined forces into a tank battle against the Japanese near the Khalkhyn Gol river in 1939. "This is truly our common victory," Medvedev said, praising the "spirit of trust and the spirit of support" binding the two nations. "The Soviet and Mongolian soldiers fought for the right cause." The...

There are queues at expensive oyster restaurants and the housewives are once again trading foreign exchange — signs that Japan’s return to economic growth has restored its confidence. The world’s second-largest economy is expected to grow 1% next year after contracting 3%. The recession has led to Japanese firms shedding 100,000 jobs since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, pushing unemployment up to 5.4%. ...Now the apocryphal “Mrs Watanabe” and her fellow traders have ventured back to the Tokyo Financial Exchange, according to brokers who report that transactions are up by more than half on a year ago.

In what would be a historic defeat for the ruling Liberal Democratic party, the poll suggested that the DPJ was likely to secure more than 300 of the 480 seats in the lower house election on August 30. The LDP’s presence could shrink to a little more than 100 seats in the house, compared with its 300 seats now, the poll suggested.

A TROUBLING insight into ultra-conservative thinking at the top of Japan’s armed forces has emerged after the dismissal of Toshio Tamogami, the chief of the air staff. He has become a hero to right-wing groups since being sacked last year for writing an article that said imperial Japan was not an aggressor in the second world war. His popularity has caused outrage in China and it could provide an early diplomatic headache for the opposition Democratic Party of Japan if, as expected, it wins the general election on August 30. Former Air Defense Force Chief of Staff General Toshio Tamogami...

Just checked the news index for articles in Japanese here in Tokyo on Barack Obama and his current difficulties. Japan (their MSM and general populace) still is more or less in the mesmerized if not idolotrous mode over Obama akin to what was common six months ago there in the USA. (OK, give 'em time, folks!).Link is here to the series of Japanese articles on Yahoo Japan datelined today, and linking to major Japanese newspapers online versions. Their challenge would appear to be to try to lead in and report to the Japanese People who may have the widespread impression...

While for many men, wearing a bra is something linked with their sexuality, for a proportion of the male population, a bra is as necessary an item of clothing as it is for a woman. You see, sometimes men grow breasts too. While this is relatively rare for what I will term purely medical disorders, many of us are already familiar with the extra chest tissue gained by obese men. These breasts often remain even if the weight is lost, and instead of shrinking back to the ideal male chest, they form loose pouches of skin that can be rectified...

Man Bras - Japan Brings Us Bras For Men 80 rate or flag this page By Hope Alexander God bless the Japanese, they are true innovators. Along with panties from vending machines, solar powered torches, and the beautiful but deadly martial arts like karate, kenjutsu and ginsu, they bring the world this – the man bra, or MENZUSUKYANTI It's been done before no doubt, but has it ever been done with such style? Or with such a Herculean type model heating up the screen? (The fact that none of the models appear to actually be wearing the man bra indicates...

August 18, 2009 — For decades, astronomers and geologists have worried about a paradox. Stellar evolution theory claims sunlight on the early earth would have been 20-30% dimmer than it is today, but geology shows the oceans were liquid in the earliest (Archean) rocks. For that matter, so does the book of Genesis, but that record is not usually allowed in scientific discussions. Anyway, how could the earth remained warm enough under a dim sun to keep the oceans from freezing? This has been called the “faint young sun paradox.” A new answer came from researchers at the Tokyo Institute...

[Exclusive] S. Korea Deploying 1,000-Kilometer Cruise Missiles By Jung Sung-ki Staff Reporter South Korea began deploying 1,000-kilometer-range surface-to-surface cruise missiles in the field earlier this year, according to missile developers and military sources Monday. The missile, a modified variant of the Hyunmoo missile, is capable of reaching as far as Beijing and Tokyo, as well as hitting key targets in the entire North Korean territory, they said. It is the first time that the development and deployment of the long-range cruise missile, dubbed Hyunmoo-III, have been confirmed. Previously, the government neither confirmed nor denied the cruise missile development in an...

Aug 16, 2009 Japan stocks dip, yen gains amid economic concerns By V. Phani Kumar, MarketWatch HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Japanese shares tumbled and the yen appreciated Monday as data showing the nation's economy expanded for the first time in five quarters did little to ease concerns about the health of the world's second-largest economy. Japan's gross domestic economy expanded at a slightly weaker-than-expected 0.9% in real terms during the April to June period from the previous quarter, on increased exports and a rise in private spending. But fears remained about business spending, which continued its drop into a fifth...

Magnitude 6.9 - SOUTHWESTERN RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN 2009 August 17 00:05:49 UTC DetailsMapsAdditional Info   Earthquake Details Magnitude 6.9 (Preliminary magnitude — update expected within 15 minutes) Date-Time Monday, August 17, 2009 at 00:05:49 UTCMonday, August 17, 2009 at 09:05:49 AM at epicenter Location 23.570°N, 123.730°E Depth 33 km (20.5 miles) set by location program Region SOUTHWESTERN RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN Distances 104 km (65 miles) SSW (207°) from Ishigaki-jima, Ryukyu Islands, Japan 223 km (138 miles) E (101°) from Hua-lien, Taiwan 223 km (138 miles) ESE (121°) from Su-ao, Taiwan1037 km (644 miles) NNE (16°) from MANILA, Philippines Location Uncertainty Error...

TOKYO — Japan's prime minister expressed deep regret over the suffering his country inflicted on Asian countries during World War II in a solemn ceremony Saturday that marked the 64th anniversary of Tokyo's surrender. Prime Minister Taro Aso joined some 4,800 families to pay respect to millions of Japan's war dead at the Nihon Budokan hall in Tokyo. Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko also attended the ceremony, leading a one-minute silence at noon. "Our country inflicted tremendous damage and suffering on many countries, particularly people in Asia. As a representative of the Japanese people, I humbly express my remorse for...

Looks like new English buzzwords the Japanese have learned recently such as "change!" and "hope!" and "yes we can!" are being accompanied with caveats these days....Here in Tokyo, Japanese news media (outside of some magazine articles and new books out) has generally glossed over Obama's new administration to date, but now more and more articles are surfacing calling into question his leadership and support. LINK TO ARTICLE

Japan may be moving toward nuclear armaments as a result of the acceleration the Obama Administration has given to failures of American policy toward its principal ally in Asia. In a world where relatively minor powers such as North Korea and Iran — and perhaps even Syria and Myanmar [Burma] — are trying to get them, that the world's second largest economy and a formidable technological leader should eschew weapons of mass destruction may be an affront to history. But the Japanese aversion to nuclear weapons arising out of its experience of being the only victim of nuclear bombardment and...

BULLETIN -- REPORT: EARTHQUAKE SHAKES TOKYO.

Britain has not yet shaken off the risk of slumping into a Japan-style "lost decade", the Bank of England will this week indicate as it downgrades its growth forecasts, and casts deflation as a significant threat.The Bank 's Governor, Mervyn King, will use Wednesday's Inflation Report to signal that the risk of falling victim to a debt deflation trap was one of the primary reasons why the Monetary Policy Committee extended its controversial Quantitative Easing programme last week. And in a further sign of the fears still surrounding Britain's economy, a prominent expert has said that next year could be...

Sixty-four years ago, the United States dropped the first nuclear weapon used in war on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. A few days later, another was exploded over Nagasaki. More than 200,000 people died in the bombings and many of them were Korean. S. Koreans pray in font of the cenotaph for Korean atomic bomb victims in Hiroshima, Japan, 05 Aug 2009 S. Koreans pray in font of the cenotaph for Korean atomic bomb victims in Hiroshima, Japan, 05 Aug 2009 At a ceremony in Seoul, the Koreans who survived the blasts marked the 64th anniversary of the Hiroshima attack...

Just a banner so far.

TOKYO — As former U.S. President Bill Clinton left North Korea with two pardoned American journalists for home Wednesday, relatives of Japanese victims of North Korean abductions expressed a desire for someone to take action to settle their issue as well. ‘‘I want someone, no matter whether it is a private individual, to negotiate with North Korea...to bring the North to the table by encouraging and pressing it,’’ said Shigeru Yokota, 76, whose daughter Megumi was taken to the country in 1977 at age 13. Yokota appeared irritated at Pyongyang’s lack of action since promising to set up a panel...

(AP) - TOKYO, Aug. 5 Japan's efforts to achieve its midterm goal of curbing greenhouse gas emissions will cost each household 77,000 yen (some $810) a year, a government panel estimate showed Wednesday. The government has been promoting the use of advanced, low-emission vehicles, solar-power generation and other energy-saving measures with various programs, with the public expected to be forced to share part of the burden of financing. In June, Japan announced it would reduce its emissions by 15 percent compared with 2005 levels by 2020. The estimate, made by a subcommittee of the industry ministry's Advisory Committee for Natural...

RAND study: Now China wins Taiwan Straits air war Nearly 10 years after a RAND study predicted the US side easily beats China in an air war over the Taiwan Straits, the think-tank has published a new monograph online today that reverses its former opinion. Now, a People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) bristling with a newly acquired arsenal -- including Su-27 and J-10 fighters, AA-12 and PL-12 missiles, and short-range ballistic missiles -- defeats the US side. Moreover, the PLAAF defeats the US side with or without F-22s, with or without access to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa and...