Blog Entries

Mizuho reports 50 percent profit drop on U.S. credit woes

Tomoko

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TOKYO (AP) -- Mizuho, Japan's No. 2 banking group, took a beating from the U.S. credit problems, reporting on Thursday a 50 percent drop in profit for the fiscal year.

Mizuho Financial Group Inc. recorded 311.22 billion yen (US$2.97 billion) in profit for the fiscal year ended March 31, down 49.8 percent from 620.97 billion yen the previous year.

Fiscal year operating revenue climbed 10.3 percent to 4.524 trillion yen (US$43.2 billion), said the Tokyo-base [...]

Japanese shares rise on Wall Street gain, Sony's upbeat earnings

Tomoko

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TOKYO (AP) -- Japanese shares rose Thursday, lifted by an overnight gain on Wall Street and Sony Corp.'s upbeat earnings.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index climbed 133.19 points, or 0.9 percent, to 14,251.74, marking its fourth consecutive gain.

"The market was supported by positive factors both at home and abroad. One good external factor was the U.S. stock performance yesterday," said Kazuhiro Takahashi, general manager at Daiwa Securities SMBC.

T [...]

Toyota's worldwide sales of gas-electric Prius hybrid top one million units

Tomoko

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TOKYO (AP) -- Toyota's Prius started out a decade ago as a risky experiment in green technology. Today, it's the world's first mass-produced gas-electric hybrid vehicle to hit the one million mark in sales.

The Prius, which went on sale in Japan in 1997, has been a big hit with drivers around the world and is now sold in 40 countries and regions. And its popularity is going strong amid surging gas prices and growing concerns about the environment.

A cumula [...]

NEC's profit more than doubles on mobile phone, chip sector recovery

Tomoko

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TOKYO (AP) -- NEC Corp.'s profit for the fiscal year through March more than doubled from the previous year as the Japanese electronics maker's mobile phone and computer-chip businesses swung to profit.

NEC, which did not provide numbers for the quarter, reported Thursday a 22.68 billion yen (US$216 million) profit for the fiscal year ended March 31 -- a dramatic rise from 9.13 billion yen profit the previous year.

Fiscal year sales inched down 0.8 percent [...]

Japanese crewmembers stole whale meat: Greenpeace

Tomoko

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Crewmembers of a Japanese research whaling ship are accused by Greenpeace Japan of stealing a large amount of whale meat they caught off Antarctica.

The environment group is poised on Thursday to file accusations with law enforcers against 12 crewmembers of the Nisshin Maru, a Japanese whaling research ship, on suspicion of embezzlement in the conduct of business.

Greenpeace Japan said it has seized one of the packages that the crewmembers were sending hom [...]

TV Asahi reporter arrested for flashing private parts on Tokyo street

Tomoko

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A television reporter was arrested for flashing his private parts on a Tokyo street in the early hours of Thursday, police said.

Mitsunori Shimamoto, 29, a reporter at TV Asahi's city news department, stands accused of indecent exposure.

The broadcaster has apologized over the incident. "It's indeed regrettable that a journalist has been arrested for such an incident," said an official at the network's public relations division.

Shimamoto exposed [...]

Life prison term upheld for woman who started fatal fires at discount stores in Saitama

Tomoko

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A high court on Thursday upheld a life prison term handed down on a woman for setting fire to four discount stores in Saitama in 2004, killing three people.

The Tokyo High Court dismissed an appeal filed by Noriko Watanabe, 50, against the sentence handed down on her by the Saitama District Court in March 2007.

The appeal court rejected the defense counsel's request that her prison term be reduced because she was suffering from slight dementia at the time [...]

Arrested farmer asks cops what's wrong with drinking beer while driving

Tomoko

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KUMAMOTO -- A farmer arrested for drinking beer while driving on an expressway complained during questioning that he was taken into custody even though he did not cause an accident, investigators said.

Kiyohiko Takahara, 48, a resident of Kuroki, Fukuoka Prefecture, is accused of driving under the influence of alcohol.

"I never caused an accident, so what's the problem?" he was quoted as telling investigators during questioning, while admitting to the alle [...]

Jobless man faces rape charges after having sex with 12-year-old girl at hotel

Tomoko

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NARITA, Chiba -- An unemployed man standing trial for a sex-related crime faces rape charges after he lured a 12-year-old girl into having sex with him at a hotel, police said Thursday.

Local police are poised to serve a fresh arrest warrant, accusing the 52-year-old resident of Narita of rape. Investigators will grill the man, whose name was not immediately disclosed, over allegations that he was involved in other similar crimes.

In February this year, th [...]

Public servant suspended for not processing paperwork

Tomoko

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JONAN, Kumamoto -- A local government employee has been suspended for failing to process family registries, including a birth report, local officials said.

The Jonan Municipal Government has announced it has suspended the 47-year-old male employee from work for six months after he neglected his duties between fiscal 2004 and 2006.

The local government is in discussion with the local legal affairs bureau of the Justice Ministry over how to deal with the unp [...]

2 junior high school boys accused of killing eight birds near lake

Tomoko

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MITO -- Two junior high school boys are accused of fatally hitting eight birds including swans near a lake here late last month, police said.

Local police have sent an investigation report to prosecutors, accusing a 15-year-old, third-year junior high school student living in Mito of violating the Wildlife Protection and Hunting Law. The other, a 13-year-old, second-year student, has been reported to a child consultation center.

They admitted to the allega [...]

Japan to send disaster relief team to China to join effort to rescue quake victims

Tomoko

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TOKYO (AP) -- Japan agreed Thursday to dispatch an emergency relief team to help China deal with its devastating earthquake, officials said, in what appeared to be Beijing's first acceptance of foreign aid since the disaster struck.

Japan, which earlier announced its willingness to help, was to send a group of about 50 rescue workers and medical experts after China made an official request, Foreign Ministry official Masahiko Mitsumoto said.

The team would [...]

Man arrested for fatally hurling infant son onto floor

Tomoko

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YATSUSHIRO, Kumamoto -- A man has been arrested for fatally hurling his 2-month-old son onto the floor, police said.

Shingo Hayano, 22, a temporary worker, stands accused of inflicting bodily injury resulting in death.

He admitted to the allegations during questioning. "I was irritated with his crying," he was quoted telling investigators.

Investigators are grilling him over allegations that he had regularly abused his son Yuto since late April. [...]

5 men busted over fake tax refund scam

Tomoko

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Five men suspected of swindling dozens of people out of 55 million yen by pretending to refund their taxes were arrested Thursday, police said.

Takeru Sakamoto, 26, an unemployed man from Tokyo's Adachi-ku, and four others stand accused of computer fraud. All the suspects have denied the allegations, according to investigators.

In the specific case for which the suspects were arrested, Sakamoto and his accomplices called a 65-year-old woman from Toyota, Ai [...]

Needle found in negligee sold at store

Tomoko

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ITAMI, Hyogo -- A needle was found in a negligee item sold at a store here, police said.

The Itami branch of Nishimatsuya Chain, a children's product shop based in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, reported to police on Thursday that a needle may have been deliberately stuck into a negligee sold at the store.

A female customer in her 20s from Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, found the needle -- about 2 centimeters long -- in a pocket on the right side of the neglige [...]

Hibakusha: Having the courage to admit making a mistake

Tomoko

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On April 5 Hideo Tsuchiyama, 83, was at a memorial service held at a Nagasaki funeral hall for former Mayor Itcho Ito, slain a year earlier while campaigning for re-election.

"As a politician, he was always open to other people's ideas," said Tsuchiyama. Ito's sudden death, at the hands of an assassin with underworld ties, left Tsuchiyama bereft. An assault upon an electoral candidate is an assault upon democracy; and a murderous assault with a deadly weapon like a [...]

ASDF officer slapped with wage cut for drinking beer during drill

Tomoko

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GIFU -- An Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) officer was slapped with a wage cut on Thursday for drinking beer during a drill, force officials said.

The ASDF Gifu base cut the wage of the 54-year-old major by 10 percent for one month on disciplinary grounds. The base has withheld his name.

The major drank two 350-milliliter cans of beer during his lunch break on Sept. 5, 2006, while he was participating in a drill with five subordinates, according to the base' [...]

Nikkei rises to highest in 5 months on upbeat corporate earnings

Tomoko

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TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's key stock index rose to its highest in five months Wednesday as investors welcomed the dollar's stability and upbeat earnings reports from telecommunications giant NTT and other companies.

The Nikkei 225 index climbed 164.82 points, or 1.18 percent, to 14,118.55 points on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, its highest finish since Jan. 10.

The dollar's strength against the yen pushed up exporter issues, while the market welcomed results from s [...]

Toyota considers new plant to make low-cost, small cars for emerging markets

Tomoko

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TOKYO (AP) -- Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday it is considering building a new plant to make low-cost, small cars for emerging markets.

The automaker, which has announced plans to open a small-car plant in India, is in the early stage of planning for a second factory in an emerging country, a company spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity, citing policy.

Toyota has not decided details such as the location, production capacity and the timeline for the [...]

Sony marks profit in fiscal fourth quarter, reversing from deep losses the previous year

Tomoko

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TOKYO (AP) -- Sony says it made 29 billion yen (US$277 million) profit in the January-March quarter.

The reversal from a loss of 67.6 billion yen during the same period the previous year came as it trimmed losses in its struggling PlayStation 3 video game business.

Sony said Wednesday that it expects profits in coming months to dwindle because of a strengthening yen.

Sales were solid in liquid-crystal display TVs, digital cameras and Vaio compute [...]