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During a routine test on its Sienna minivan in April 2003, Toyota Motor Corp. engineers discovered that a plastic panel could come loose and cause the gas pedal to stick, potentially making the vehicle accelerate out of control. The automaker redesigned the part and by that June every 2004 model year Sienna off the assembly line came with the new panel. Toyota did not notify tens of thousands of people who had already bought vans with the old panel, however. It wasn't until U.S. safety officials opened an investigation last year that Toyota acknowledged in a letter to regulators that...

Lawmakers and U.S. automakers are peeved with Japan, which has launched a cash-for-clunkers program that doesn’t accept American-made cars. Under Japan’s program, consumers who trade in a car at least 13 years old can get a tax cut of up to $2,800 toward the purchase of a new car. But the program excludes imported vehicles from companies that have low sales in Japan. That covers General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, according to the American Automotive Policy Council, which has pressed the Obama administration for action. U.S. producers are particularly irked since Japanese companies did well under the cash-for-clunkers program Congress...

SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan — Two minesweepers that arrived here on temporary rotation last summer will make a permanent home in Sasebo, the U.S. Navy announced Wednesday. The USS Avenger and USS Defender, both from San Diego, will remain here after a review found it would be better to keep the two minesweepers in Sasebo rather than regularly rotate ships in from the United States, the Navy said. Both ships had been in Sasebo for about six months and will join the base’s two other forward-deployed mine ships, the USS Patriot and the USS Guardian. The change was not due...

SYDNEY (AFP) – Militant anti-whaling activists said they were dodging a Japanese surveillance ship in icebergs near Antarctica on Wednesday, following their first skirmish with whalers during the annual hunt. Paul Watson, who is leading a campaign to harass this season's hunt, said a ship loaded with Japanese security guards had been tailing his group since they left Western Australia on December 7. When they attempted to approach the Shonan Maru No.2 from behind an iceberg on Monday, Watson said the Japanese targeted them with two water cannon and tailed them for two hours in a high-speed pursuit. "We had...

God Bless those enterprising, digging Japanese journalists and their film crews.A hot one in North Korean black weapons smuggling case was captured for all of Japan to see last night at the 11 p.m. TV news on NNN Network.The pushy and curious Japanese journalists and cameramen with their long lenses (and fluent Farsi and Korean speaking investing staff in Tokyo), discovered some VERY interesting things about the North Korean aircraft stopped this week in Thailand with Ukranian crew flying weapons in violation of US sanctions. The flight crew has been very tight lipped, but the Japanese journalists nevertheless caught some...

12/13/2009 German-made submarines in latest US arms package The United States is preparing to sell German-made submarines to Taiwan as part of its latest arms package. That's according to the US-based Foreign Policy magazine, which was quoted on the website of Hong-Kong newspaper Singtao on Sunday. Foreign Policy reported that the United States may make an announcement on its latest arms deal to Taiwan before next Friday, when President Barack Obama will attend the UN Climate Change summit in Copenhagen. The package is not expected to include F-16C/D fighter jets but should include 60 Black Hawk helicopters. News agency Reuters...

Todd Crowell Japan’s Covert Moves to Save The Endangered Tomahawk To listen to disarmament specialists, the country that is raising the most serious obstacles to new moves to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in defense strategy is Japan. Japan? Is this not the nation with the famous nuclear allergy? Is it not the nation that loudly reminds everyone that it is the only country on the globe to suffer an atomic attack? Is it not the country that loudly proclaims the “Three Noes” (Never to manufacture, possess or allow nuclear weapons onto its soil)? No country is more vocal...

NAVAL AIR FACILITY ATSUGI, Japan — It all started four years ago with a Tickle Me Elmo doll. Petty Officer 1st Class Nathan Grant figured he’d do his part to support the Toys for Tots drive at Whidbey Island, Wash., and he tossed the doll into his shopping cart. Then he eyed a few more toys, thinking he could help more children. "If you give one toy to one kid in an orphanage, that can change that child’s world," said Grant, now working for Commander Fleet Air, Western Pacific. "But if you can give hundreds of toys, that can have...

The visiting head of Japan's ruling party apologized Saturday for wrongdoings his country committed during its colonization of Korea in the early half of last century. Speaking at a South Korean university ahead of his dinner meeting with President Lee Myung-bak later in the day, Ichiro Ozawa also called for increased cooperation among his country, China and South Korea in dealing with regional instabilities.

EXCERPTS: . . .the ice extent in the Arctic sea was significantly reduced in the 2007 summer and recovered after that. Since the amount soot should be proportional to that of sulfate, also the amount soot transported to the Arctic may have a peak in 2007, and may explain the dramatic reduction of the sea ice extent; the soot deposited onto the ice surfaces absorbs sun light of Arctic summer, gives heat to the ice, and lets it melt. This process should be particularly effective during summer of the Arctic when the sun does not set. . . .Thus, I...

Japan's Crown Princess Masako has said she will keep working to fight her stress problems. The 46-year-old royal - who is married to Crown Prince Naruhito - said she has been working with medical professionals to solve her illness.

A Chinese national who is believed to have manipulated her fingerprints to slip past Japan's fingerprint identification system has been arrested for violating the Immigration Control Law, the Metropolitan Police Department's Organized Crime Control Bureau announced on Monday.

Boeing said Thursday evening that the first flight of its 787-8 long-range jet is set for 10 a.m., Dec. 15 in Everett, Wash. The first of six test airplanes, ZA001, is due to take off from Payne Field next to the airplane's final assembly factory north of Seattle. Chief Pilot Michael H. Carriker and copilot Randall Neville will conduct low- and high-speed taxi tests that take the airplane to the threshold of flight in preparation for Tuesday's events. Once airborne, Carriker and Neville are not expected to return ZA001 to Everett. They will land at Boeing Field in Seattle, headquarters...

Canada’s Macleans news site recently published an article titled “Darwin movie too evolved for U.S. audiences”. The article refers to the decision of US film distributors to “pass” on the film “Creation”—the dramatized story of Charles Darwin’s struggle while writing the Origin of Species. The refusal to distribute a film premiered and acclaimed at the Toronto Film Festival seems to have again roused the Canadian media’s scorn of the “backward Americans” of which—according to Gallup—only 39% believe Darwin and his evolutionary theory. It is interesting how very differently the Canadian and world media treated America during WW II when far...

Japanese researchers said on Thursday they had found a way to make plant leaves absorb more carbon dioxide in an innovation that may one day help ease global warming and boost food production. The Kyoto University team found that soaking germinated seeds in a protein solution raised the number of pores, or stomas, on the leaves that inhale CO2 and release oxygen, said chief researcher Ikuko Hara-Nishimura. "A larger number means there are more intake windows for carbon dioxide, contributing to lowering the density of the gas," she told AFP by telephone. Another effect is higher starch production in photosynthesis,...

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's government agreed on a $81 billion stimulus package on Tuesday, aimed at preventing the economy from tipping back into recession as deflation persists and a strong yen threatens exports. Economists said the 7.2 trillion yen plan, equal to about 1.5 percent of gross domestic product, would not provide a significant lift to an economy dependent on overseas demand for machinery, electronics and cars. While several other economies are already debating phasing out economic stimulus deployed to fight the financial crisis, Japan continues to struggle amid chronically weak consumer demand and falling prices. The budget underscores the...

Introductory Remarks: On December 7, 1941, U.S. military installations at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii were attacked by the Imperial Japanese Navy. Could this tragic event that resulted in over 3,000 Americans killed and injured in a single two-hour attack have been averted? After 16 years of uncovering documents through the Freedom of Information Act, journalist and historian Robert Stinnett charges in his book, Day of Deceit, that U.S. government leaders at the highest level not only knew that a Japanese attack was imminent, but that they had deliberately engaged in policies intended to provoke the attack, in order to draw...

SIXTY-EIGHT years ago tomorrow, Japan attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. In the brutal Pacific war that would follow, millions of soldiers and civilians were killed. My father — one of the famous flag raisers on Iwo Jima — was among the young men who went off to the Pacific to fight for his country. So the war naturally fascinated me. But I always wondered, why did we fight in the Pacific? Yes, there was Pearl Harbor, but why did the Japanese attack us in the first place? ... The one who had the greater effect on Japan’s...

CHEVRON has won a coup for its Wheatstone liquified natural gas development, signing up Tokyo Electric Power to a $90 billion supply agreement that will also see the utility take an equity stake in the project. TepCo has signed a heads of agreement for the annual delivery of 4.1 million tonnes of LNG for up to 20 years from Wheatstone, accounting for almost half of the initial yearly production capacity of 8.6 million tonnes.

US OIL giant Chevron Corp has sealed a massive $90 billion contract - the biggest energy deal in Australian history - to supply natural gas to Tokyo Electric Power Company and sell the Japanese utility a stake in its Wheatstone project. The nation's latest trade coup - struck on the eve of the international climate change conference in Copenhagen - comes as Asian countries scramble to lock in long-term supplies of LNG ahead of an anticipated surge in demand for the low-emissions fuel. Chevron announced on the weekend it had signed an agreement with Tokyo Electric to deliver 4.1 million...

Japan's new government, led by the Democratic Party of Japan, seems to be taking its population problem seriously. The world's number two economy is set to shrink from about 127 million to 95 million by 2050. This means that the number of workers available to support retirees will fall from 3 to 1.5. Unfortunately, because Japanese are notoriously hostile towards increased immigration, the government's options are limited. It is racking its brains for schemes to increase the birth rate. Here are some mentioned in an article by AFP: The new Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama, has appointed Mizuho Fukushima, leader of...

Japan has successfully launched another optical (picture taking) spy satellite. This one joins two other optical birds and one radar satellite. This most recent satellite launch cost $109 million. The satellite cost quite a bit more. In early 2007, Japan lost the use of one of its two radar satellites. The "No. 1 radar satellite", which went into orbit in March 2003, was supposed to last for five years. But the bird has been having electrical problems, and had to be written off. Nearly three years ago, Japan launched its fourth spy satellite into orbit, using a Japanese made rocket....

Japan has grounded all of its F-15J fighters until it can figure out what exactly caused one of its F-15s to shed several parts during a recent air show. Seven pieces fell off the aircraft as it made a sharp turn.. This sort of thing makes Japan even more eager to find a modern fighter to replace its 118 F-4 and 202 F-15 aircraft. With China and Russia putting more new fighters into service, Japan sees a threat. Japan has made several efforts to buy the U.S. F-22, without success. The United States does not want to export its premier...

CHRISTMAS IN JAPAN can be a little lonely and isolated for the Westerner here. What with the distance from “home” and cultural differences. Little things, here and there. Missing some of the usual things from back home, especially for people like one particular 'American in Tokyo'. This year 2009 is again no different. However, in many respects I must say there is nevertheless one little thing that is so refreshing about being stuck in Japan during Christmas—after a few years—and for the occasions one cannot make it back "home". It is almost like the clock has been refreshingly and...

1 Social Security and Moral Principles Social Security and Moral Principles Yuichi SHIONOYA* Abstract This article examines the ethical foundations of the welfare state in order to establish a normative basis for evaluating the social security system, which includes pensions, medical care, and public assistance. Moral principles rather than mere �scal considerations are needed to restructure the welfare state in the developed countries. Four major principles—utilitarianism, contractarian- ism, libertarianism, and communitarianism— are discussed with regard to their capability to justify the welfare state. It is argued that John Rawls’s contractarian theory of justice, based on a veil of ignorance, supports...

Monetary Policy and Structural Reform of the Japanese Economy --Speech given by Eiko Shinotsuka, Member of the Policy Board of the Bank of Japan, at the Meeting on Economic and Financial Matters in Nagano on February 4, 2000 April 25, 2000 Bank of Japan [Contents] I. Introduction II. The Zero Interest Rate Policy A. What Is a Zero Interest Rate Policy? B. What Does the Phrase "Until Deflationary Concern Has Been Dispelled" Mean? C. Personal View on the Zero Interest Rate Policy III. Structural Reform of the Japanese Economy A. Information Technology Revolution B. Employment Problems I. Introduction1 It is...

Many economists draw comparisons between the United States now and Japan in 1990. For those who aren't familiar with Japan's recent economic history, this is not a good thing. Japan's stock market peaked in 1989 at about 40,000. It now trades around a quarter of that level, or 10,000. GDP, meanwhile, has barely grown at all. Economists used to refer to Japan's malaise as "a lost decade." Now they're saying "lost decades." Our guest Howard Davidowitz sees a similarly horrific future in store for the U.S. He calls America's current path, rich in deficit spending and weak in currency a...

TOKYO (AFP) – Filmmaker Michael Moore urged President Barack Obama on Monday not to expand the war in Afghanistan, as Washington prepares to announce a surge of US troops in the conflict-torn nation. Moore, visiting Japan this week to promote his latest documentary "Capitalism: A Love Story," told reporters that he had sent Obama a message from his father, a World War II veteran. "I passed on to him a personal request from my father and his Japanese friend: 'Mr. Obama, you do not know war. We both know war and want it no more'," he told reporters. The activist...

World powers united in condemnation of Iran's nuclear activities yesterday in a rare show of international consensus on the threat posed by Tehran's continued nuclear defiance. China and Russia joined the United States, Britain, France and Germany in backing an International Atomic Energy Agency resolution censuring Iran and ordering it to halt construction of a secret uranium enrichment plant. The resolution, the first since February 2006, passed with 25 votes and six abstentions. Only Malaysia, Venezuela and Cuba supported Iran. ...China, which has shared Moscow's reluctance to take a hard line with Tehran, was reportedly persuaded to support the resolution...

Dollar Falls To 14-Year Low VS Yen, Touching 86.51 By MALCOLM FOSTER, Associated Press TOKYO – The dollar tumbled to 14-year low against the Japanese yen Thursday after indications U.S. interest rates will remain low and that the Federal Reserve isn't overly concerned about the dollar's slide. The dollar sank to 86.51 yen in Tokyo trading, the lowest since July 1995. Analysts said some investors were selling the dollar to buy gold, which surged to another record Thursday. Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii said Japan "will take appropriate steps if foreign exchange rates move abnormally." A strong yen is generally seen...

The Japanese ministry of defence has selected the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning-II as its next mainstay fighter jet but will sign a contract for 40 of these 'high-tech' fighters only in 2011, in order to ensure that the much-talked about stealth jet actually delivers on its performance parameters. Japanese agency reports say the defence ministry will seek fiscal allocation only in the 2011 budget for the purchase of 40 of these advanced 'stealth' fighter jets. The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a fifth-generation, single-seat, single-engine, stealth, multirole fighter that, currently, is estimated to cost 9 yen billion ($101 million)...

Venomous redback spiders are on the march in Japan, where they are believed to have arrived years ago as stowaways on cargo ships, a wildlife expert has warned. The creepy-crawlies, named after their fiery markings, have infested the Osaka region and are drawing closer to the capital Tokyo, said Japan Wildlife Research Centre official Toshio Kishimoto. A dozen people have reportedly been bitten in Osaka prefecture alone, media reports say, including a six-year-old boy who was treated with antivenom in June, the first time the medication had been used in the country. "Their poison is strong and they are particularly...

Japan is considering buying around 40 F-35 fighter jets as the future mainstay of the nation's air force, it was reported Monday. Japan has officially been pacifist since World War II but has been gradually expanding the role of its military, in part due to concern over nuclear-armed North Korea and China's continued military growth. The defence ministry will likely seek funds in the fiscal 2011 budget for the fighters, Kyodo said citing unnamed sources. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), being developed by the United States, Britain, Australia and other countries, is estimated to cost about nine billion yen...

Japan Airlines Corp Slides to Record Low on Bankruptcy Jitters REUTERS November 23, 2009 TOKYO, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Shares of Japan Airlines Corp fell as much as 9.5 percent to a record low on investor worries the struggling airline could face bankruptcy if it cannot secure an agreement from its pensioners for benefit cuts. JAL, Asia's largest airline by revenue, asked retirees and employees on Monday to accept an average 40 percent cut to their pension payouts and warned a failure to agree on cuts could push it to a court-led restructuring. The stock price slide also follows news...

If you have been following what America's right-wing bloggers and radio talk-show hosts have been saying about President Barack Obama's just-concluded trip to the Asia-Pacific, you would be under the impression that Obama was not treated by officials in that region as the leader of the world's only remaining superpower and the largest and most advanced economy....

Former Vice President Dick Cheney gave an interview to conservative talk radio host Scott Hennen today, in which he slammed President Obama's "fundamentally harmful" bow to the Japanese Emperor during his trip to Asia. In the interview, Cheney says that when the President bows to a foreign leader, "our friends and allies don't expect it and our adversaries perceive it as a sign of weakness." "I think it's fundamentally harmful and it shows in my mind that this is a guy, a president, who would bow, for example, who doesn't fully understand or have the same perception of the U.S....

Leslie H. Gelb, a former New York Times columnist and senior government official, is author of Power Rules: How Common Sense Can Rescue American Foreign Policy (HarperCollins 2009), a book that shows how to think about and use power in the 21st century. He is president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations. The Asia trip was not worth Obama's time. Leslie H. Gelb on why the president should shake up his foreign policy team—and make sure the deals are done before he leaves home. President Obama’s nine-day trip to Asia is worth a look back to fix two...

GAZING from the Great Wall of China last week, US President Barack Obama appeared to be making the most of one of the perks of White House occupancy -- a private guided tour of Asia's most spectacular tourist spot. White House aides exulted that choreographed pictures of this moment would make front pages around the world. Yet an experience Mr Obama declared to be magical turned sour as he returned home to a domestic revolt that is fanning Democratic unease. It was not just that the US media have suddenly turned a lot more sceptical about a president with...

Barack Obama's first visit to Asia since his inauguration was one of the most disappointing trips by any U.S. president to the region in decades, especially given media-generated expectations that "Obamamania" would make it yet another triumphal progression. It was a journey of startlingly few concrete accomplishments, demonstrable proof that neither personal popularity nor media deference really means much in the hard world of international affairs. The contrast between Asia's reception for Obama and Europe's is significant. Although considered a global phenomenon, Obamamania's real center is Europe. There, Mr. Obama reigns as a "post-American" president, a multilateralist carbon copy of...

Sitting here in Singapore as President Obama went through China and flew home from his 8-day trip to Asia, it is perhaps easier to see the true truth of his trip—it’s deep failure....

Obama Blunders Through Asia Undoing Bush's years of deft diplomacy. by Ross Terrill 11/30/2009, Volume 015, Issue 11 Much dire rhetoric has been unleashed in liberal quarters about the damage done by George W. Bush's foreign policy. The alleged damage, however, is not evident in Asia. When Ken Lieberthal, a respected China specialist and Democratic loyalist, spoke at Harvard early this year, I asked him to name a single year in memory when Washington had as good relations with India, Japan, and China as under Bush. He changed the subject. The White House stated as Obama left Asia for home...

"(Japan Prime Minister) Hatoyama Vs.Obama -- The Scandal That Nobody Will Report" (由紀夫 vs オ�マ「書�れ�るスキャンダル�）Reporters at the weekly Shukan Bunshun news magazine here in Tokyo, Japan have written a rather caustic report about President Obama's 23 hours in Tokyo last week, from a frank Japanese perspective, exclusively in the Japanese language, and released to the newstands just now. In that sense this is more or less an *FR Exclusive*. A number of eye-opening claims, pieces of information and details emerge about Obama's brief stay in Japan as part of his disastrous Asian trip--over and above the very controversial, near-"dogeza"...

TOKYO — The Foreign Ministry has decided to admit the existence of a secret Japan-U.S. pact under which Tokyo allows stopovers of U.S. military vessels or aircraft carrying nuclear weapons, ministry sources said Saturday. During its in-house probe, the ministry found documents suggesting the existence of the secret nuclear agreement, according to the sources. Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said Saturday, ‘‘The probe is now in the final stage, and we will announce the outcome in January,’’ although he declined to reveal the details of the probe. While Washington is required to consult with Tokyo before bringing nuclear weapons into Japan...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: The Gallup poll will announce -- they effectively have announced it -- the Gallup poll will announce that for the first time in their poll Barack Obama's approval rating has fallen below 50%. In fact, a little story about this. This from Ben Smith at The Politico: "His approval numbers have bounced down to the 50% mark several times, driven by weaker support from independents and Republicans, but hadn't crossed it. The slide is worrying for the White House, but it's probably not yet panic time. Ronald Reagan's approval numbers dropped well below 40% during the depths...

US admiral defends Obama's Japan bow (AFP) – 1 day ago WASHINGTON — The former top commander of US troops in Asia on Thursday strongly defended President Barack Obama against critics of his bow to Japan's Emperor Akihito, calling it a gesture of respect. Admiral Timothy Keating, who retired last month ...

Original article from Thursday (19), links to the Japanese "Sankei Shimbun" website. FReepranslation is provided as a summary; the original Japanese version directly by the author governs and takes precedence over the unofficial English.Troubling developments.

November 19, 2009, 0:00 a.m. Circling Sharks Smell American BloodAmerica should keep quieter abroad — and try finding a bigger stick. By Victor Davis Hanson On his recent trip to Asia, President Obama found China, Japan, and South Korea — like many nations these days — in no mood to hear more American lectures. Beijing is worried about owning so much American debt. Tokyo is tiring of an American military base in Okinawa, and wants to redefine its relationship with us. Seoul is starting to doubt American commitment to keep it safe from North Korea. Why all the sudden...

On his 10-day trip to Asia and in his 10th month in office, Barack Obama is beginning to encounter limits on his ambition to change the world. Even as he bowed to the king of Saudi Arabia last April and to the emperor of Japan last week, the world refuses to bow back. This is not how it was supposed to be. "I am absolutely certain that generations from now," he said on the night he clinched the Democratic presidential nomination in June 2008, "we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment...

Dick Cheney is blasting Barack Obama for plunging the presidency to a new low - by bowing to the Japanese emperor. The White House deemed the weekend gesture a sign of respect. But Cheney chided it was downright wimpy. "There is no reason for an American president to bow to anyone," Cheney complained to the Politico.com. "Our friends and allies don't expect it, and our enemies see it as a sign of weakness." Maybe Cheney would prefer if Obama and Emperor Akihito had simply walked hand-in-hand, as former President George W. Bush did with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah in 2005...

While the book of that precise title has yet to be written (and might be a good book albeit a rather short book), the poor, bumbling White House only need to look at the following online information in order to be corrected once and for all and to also appreciate just what and what is not done in Japan, as they may continue to presumptuously assert that the "first Asia-Pacific President" schooled in these cultures was somehow being polite and sticking to protocol with the Emperor of Japan.Here, we will be kind enough to translate it for them--spinning, apologetic, damage-control...