Daily Japan Headlines: Friday, Aug 12, 2011
Photo Source: Honda.
The Escapist: Honda’s ASIMO ‘Bot Gets Nuke-Fighting Upgrades
Now that it’s mastered walking and capturing hearts with a come-hither glance, Honda scientists have a new task for the hyper-adorable ASIMO: Battling radiation in Japan’s Fukushima reactor.
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Wall Street Journal: Japan Set to Pass Law on Renewable Energy
Japan’s parliament is set to approve a landmark bill on renewable energy that was championed by Prime Minister Naoto Kan as a way to reduce the nation’s dependence on nuclear power, and which would break the monopoly of the 10 major utilities.
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Wall Street Journal: Scandal Taints Japan Nuclear Sector
The Fukushima Daiichi accident was a big setback for nuclear power in Japan. But the industry’s hamfisted efforts to maintain support in the aftermath of that disaster may have an even bigger impact in eroding the public’s confidence in the sector.
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Washington Post: With debt climbing, Japan debates a tax hike
With its debt rising, its population aging and its social security costs set to soar, an increase in the consumption tax rate allows Japan a chance — perhaps its only chance — to keep pace, perhaps to even cut its current deficit. The International Monetary Fund recommends such a move. So do the country’s finance bureaucrats. Polls even suggest that most Japanese citizens understand the need for a raise.
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Washington Times: Many in Japan learn to live ‘at the bottom of the pyramid’
“I’m not an expert on the global economy, but I do know that I am at the bottom of the pyramid,” said Mr. Suenaga, 56, who dives for sea urchin in the cold Pacific waters of northeastern Japan. “I’m just trying to survive day by day.”
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USA Today: Japan tsunami also shook up Earth’s atmosphere
Using about 1,000 global positioning receivers in Japan and Taiwan, researchers detected waves in the electrically charged particles of the ionosphere, more than 200 miles high, LiveScience writes. It was the largest such disturbances ever seen.
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Wall Street Journal: This Time, Maybe the U.S. Is Japan
It is a comparison that underlines the current plight of the U.S. economy: as bond investors grapple with their new reality—a downgraded U.S. credit rating and two more years of zero-interest rates—they are increasingly looking to Japan for guidance.
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Reuters: Book slamming Japan’s “graveyard” bureaucracy a hit
“Collapse of Japan’s Central Administration,” by the outspoken Shigeaki Koga, is a tale of internal bickering, falsehood and the stifling culture within the Japanese bureaucracy which led to the Fukushima nuclear disaster and hinders recovery from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
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LA Times: Japan-to-U.S. visits continue to drop since quake and tsunami
The number of Japanese tourists visiting the U.S. has dropped significantly since the devastating earthquake and tsunami in March, according to new data from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
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