change feed

Kyodo News

Environment ministry panel outlines ways to achieve 25% emissions cut

An Environment Ministry panel has outlined a series of measures aimed at meeting Japan's goal of slashing greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020, including promoting the use of renewable energy, eco-friendly homes and green cars. The outline, which will form the basis for the government's ...

Posted on March 19, 2010 at 3:59 PM

Sony delays start of lithium ion battery production at Fukushima plant

Sony Corp. will delay lithium ion battery production at a factory currently under construction in Motomiya, Fukushima Prefecture, from fall this year to fall next year, company officials said Friday. ''We have examined (when we should start production) carefully because the market is flagging,'' a Sony spokesman said.

Posted on March 19, 2010 at 3:59 PM

E. Timor president vows to contribute to global nuke reduction

East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta on Friday visited Hiroshima, one of the two Japanese cities to suffer U.S. atomic bombings during World War II, and pledged efforts for global nuclear disarmament. Ramos-Horta, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, said he will support Japan's position at the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty Review Conference ...

Posted on March 19, 2010 at 3:59 PM

Kyodo sports news summary

---------- Baseball: Chen blanks Yakult for 6 innings NAGOYA - Chen Wei-yin and three relievers combined on a five-hit shutout as the Chunichi Dragons edged the Yakult Swallows 1-0 in a preseason game Friday.

Posted on March 19, 2010 at 2:59 PM

Indictments likely Mon. in donation case linked to DPJ lawmaker

The Sapporo District Public Prosecutors Office on Monday will likely indict four people charged with providing illegal donations to Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Chiyomi Kobayashi, investigative sources said Friday. The probable indictment of the four, including Hokkaido Teachers Union senior member Hideki Osada, 50, is expected to lead to ...

Posted on March 19, 2010 at 2:59 PM

EU gives up on proposing bluefin tuna trade ban again at int'l talks

The European Union has decided not to make a fresh proposal to ban international trade in bluefin tuna from the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, EU sources said Friday. The move came after a proposal by Monaco calling for an immediate ban on the bluefin tuna trade was voted down ...

Posted on March 19, 2010 at 2:59 PM

Air Busan to launch S. Korea-Japan services

The transport ministry said Friday it has approved the application of South Korean budget carrier Air Busan to launch services between Busan and Fukuoka on March 29 and between Busan and Kansai airport in Osaka on April 26. Air Busan will operate one daily round-trip flight each between Busan and ...

Posted on March 19, 2010 at 2:59 PM

ADB's 1st issuance of water bonds targeting Japanese investors

The seemingly endless swelling of Japan's public debt has caused many investors here to lose their appetite for government bonds. Despite this reluctance, the Asian Development Bank hopes a new type of financial issue that appeals to investors' social conscience, by helping people in developing countries access clean water, for ...

Posted on March 19, 2010 at 2:59 PM

Okada leaves for quake-hit Haiti to discuss assistance measures

Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada left for Haiti on Friday to discuss with local officials how to support the impoverished Caribbean country hit by a devastating earthquake in January. Okada will arrive in the capital Port-au-Prince on Saturday and is scheduled to hold talks with Haitian President Rene Preval and ...

Posted on March 19, 2010 at 1:41 PM

Cambodia halts marriages between S. Korean men, Cambodian women

Cambodia has temporarily suspended the processing of applications for marriages between South Korean men and Cambodian women over human trafficking concerns, a government official said Friday. Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong told Kyodo News his ministry sent a diplomatic note to the South Korean Embassy on March 5 about the ...

Posted on March 19, 2010 at 1:41 PM

Hatoyama wants China-Taiwan ties to grow for community concept

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Friday told Wang Yi, head of the Chinese government's Taiwan Affairs Office, that he hopes China-Taiwan relations will develop stably, allowing Hatoyama's East Asian Community concept to move forward, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said. During their roughly 25-minute meeting at the prime minister's office ...

Posted on March 19, 2010 at 1:41 PM

Rohm announces 1st presidency change since foundation

Major semiconductor maker Rohm Co. said Friday that Senior Managing Director Satoshi Sawamura, 60, will succeed Kenichiro Sato as president on April 1, marking the first change in presidency since the company was established in 1958. The 79-year-old Sato, who founded Rohm, will resign from the board and assume the ...

Posted on March 19, 2010 at 1:41 PM

Panel issues report on enhancing 'ryokan' info for foreign tourists

A Japanese governmental panel has compiled a report on ways to make Japanese-style ''ryokan'' inns more convenient and comfortable for foreign tourists by providing various information in foreign languages and employing online images and animation. The outline of the report, which was presented Friday by the Japan Tourism Agency panel, ...

Posted on March 19, 2010 at 1:41 PM

EU gives up proposing bluefin tuna trade ban again at int'l talks

The European Union has relinquished making a fresh proposal to ban international trade in bluefin tuna from the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, EU sources said Friday. The move came after a proposal by Monaco calling for an immediate ban on bluefin tuna trade was voted down at a meeting ...

Posted on March 19, 2010 at 1:41 PM

Baseball: Chen blanks Yakult for 6 innings

Chen Wei-yin and three relievers combined on a five-hit shutout as the Chunichi Dragons edged the Yakult Swallows 1-0 in a preseason game Friday. The Taiwanese left-hander scattered five hits and struck out five over six innings in a 93-pitch outing at Nagoya Dome.

Posted on March 19, 2010 at 1:41 PM

Stocks linked to tuna farming sold on bluefin vote news

Stocks linked to the tuna farming industry came under selling pressure Friday on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on news that a proposal to ban the trade in bluefin tuna from the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea had been voted down at a conference in Qatar. News of the vote at ...

Posted on March 19, 2010 at 12:57 PM

Skiing: Ishida wins 10-km classical at Nordic nationals

Masako Ishida cruised to victory in the women's 10-kilometer classical at the Nordic skiing national championships on Friday. Ishida, who produced the best ever performance by a Japanese skier in an Olympic cross country event in placing fifth in the women's 30-km classical at last month's Vancouver Games, timed 33 ...

Posted on March 19, 2010 at 12:57 PM

Ex-envoy says papers on Japan-U.S. secret pacts possibly dumped

A former Japanese Foreign Ministry senior official told the Diet Friday that key documents related to the so-called Japan-U.S. secret pacts may have been discarded before an administrative information disclosure law took effect in 2001, referring to what he heard from a person familiar with the inner workings of the ...

Posted on March 19, 2010 at 12:57 PM

Osaka chamber calls for gov't support for smaller firms' growth

The Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry said Friday it has asked the government to include measures to improve the international competitiveness of small and midsize companies and support their entry into growing business areas in a new growth strategy. The written request was sent to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama ...

Posted on March 19, 2010 at 12:57 PM

Dissident DPJ exec calls again for Ozawa's resignation

Democratic Party of Japan Vice Secretary General Yukio Ubukata on Friday called again for Ichiro Ozawa, the party's scandal-tainted No. 2, to step down, a day after the party decided to dismiss him from the post for criticizing Ozawa and the leadership. Secretary General Ozawa ''should explain (the funds scandal) ...

Posted on March 19, 2010 at 11:39 AM