Daily Japan Headlines: Thursday, Sept 29, 2011
Photo Source: Telegraph.
Telegraph: Sony’s Walkman beats iPod in tech poll
“It was the first device to make music properly portable, to give us a soundtrack to every day. It changed the way we listened to music and saw the world. We’re still in love with that idea today, forgetting how annoying it was having to fast-forward to your favourite song – or when your tape chewed up altogether.”
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CNN: Mystery donor leaves $131,000 for Japan tsunami relief
A mystery donor in Japan has left a bag containing 10 million yen ($131,000) in a restroom with a note saying it should be used to help a tsunami-hit area, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reports.
The plastic bag was found in a municipal office for the city of Sakado, in Saitama Prefecture
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Wall Street Journal: Japan Officials Failed to Hand Out Radiation Pills in Quake’s Aftermath
Government officials failed to distribute to thousands of people pills that could have minimized radiation risks from the March nuclear accident, government documents show.
The disclosure is the latest evidence of government neglect of emergency procedures in the chaotic days after the disaster, in which an earthquake and tsunami damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
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Time: Can Japan’s Anti-Nuclear Protesters Keep the Reactors Shut Down?
At the beginning of the year, Japan had 54 nuclear reactors providing about 29% of the country’s energy needs. An additional 14 plants were in the pipeline, with the hopes that nuclear power would meet over half of the country’s energy demands by 2030. After the Fukushima crisis, however, Kan began pushing hydroelectric, wind and solar power, endorsing a plan to increase alternative energy production from the current 9% to 20% by 2020. His last mandate before resigning in August was to push through Parliament a new law promoting renewable energy.
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Reuters: Japan retail sales slide amid murky econ outlook
Japanese retail sales tumbled in August from a year earlier, posting their first annual decline in three months and adding to concerns that slowing demand at home and abroad may derail the economy’s recovery from the March earthquake.
Sluggish personal consumption, which accounts for roughly 60 percent of the world’s No.3 economy, could be a source of concern for policymakers as they are set to burden households with tax hikes to fund reconstruction from the March disaster.
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BBC: Japan’s ruling DPJ party outlines plans for quake-tax
Japan’s government and the ruling Democratic Party (DPJ) have agreed to temporarily raise taxes to pay for reconstruction after the deadly March earthquake.
The plan to raise 9.2tn yen ($120bn; £77bn) needs approval by the DPJ’s coalition partner and the opposition party.
Officials said a further 2tn yen would be raised by selling government assets.
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Bloomberg: Japan Ruling Party Proposes Selling Japan Tobacco Stake to Fund Rebuilding
Japan’s ruling party proposed selling the government’s majority stake in Japan Tobacco Inc. (2914), the world’s third-biggest publicly traded cigarette maker, to help fund rebuilding after the March 11 earthquake.
The government may raise 1.8 trillion yen ($24 billion) by selling its 50.01 percent stake in Japan Tobacco at the stock’s current price.
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BBC: Dreamliner to be profitable despite delays
Boeing’s long awaited Dreamliner touched down in Tokyo on Wednesday with executives of Japan’s All Nipon Airways on board.
The Japanese carrier plans to put the Dreamliner into commercial service from Tokyo to Hong Kong in October.
Boeing has 800 outstanding orders for the new fuel-efficient jet but delays and mishaps have cost the manufacturer billions of dollars.
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UPI: Japan to advise Vietnam on nuclear power
Vietnam and Japan have signed an agreement for a feasibility study for a nuclear power plant in Vietnam.
Under the $26 million contract funded by the Japanese government, Japan Atomic Power Co. will conduct the study and provide consulting to Electricity of Viet Nam, known as EVN, on the preparation of necessary documentation for site approval for Vietnam’s Ninh Thuan 2 nuclear plant
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Daily Mail: Belly up: Did Japan airlines co-pilot accidentally fly aircraft upside down by pressing the wrong button?
A Japanese airline says one of its jets nose-dived and rolled almost upside down earlier this month because the co-pilot hit the wrong controls while trying to open the cockpit door so the captain could return from a restroom break.
Two flight attendants were slightly hurt and four passengers got airsick when the All Nippon Airways Boeing 737-700 with 117 people aboard descended sharply, veered off course and went belly up over the Pacific on its way from southern Japan to Tokyo on September 6.
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San Fransisco Chronicle: Japan trip is a go; Matsui even more likely to return to A’s?
All signs have pointed toward the A’s opening the 2012 season in Japan for nearly two weeks and today, it became official: Oakland will host the Mariners at the Tokyo Dome on March 28 and 29.
This makes it an even better bet that the team will bring back DH Hideki Matsui. That was already looking like a strong possibility; as I wrote in the above story, the A’s had wanted to re-sign Matsui whether or not they get a decision on their stadium situation. I’m hearing today that the stadium situation actually might now impact Matsui, too, but still, the team likes Matsui a lot and chances are better than not that he’d come back.
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