Japan and Canada agreed today to formally start talks aimed at forging a free trade agreement between the two countries.
If established, the pact would be Japans first with a country from the Group of Eight major economies.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and his Canadian counterpart, Stephen Harper, said they would also seek to boost economic, energy and security relations between the two countries.
“This is a truly historic step that will help create jobs and growth in both countries,” Harper told a joint news conference. “The negotiations we are announcing today …

Japan may deploy land-based and sea-based interceptor missiles ahead of North Koreas planned rocket launch next month and has not ruled out shooting down the rocket if it violates Japanese airspace, according to defense officials and media reports.
Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka said Wednesday that Japan is considering how to respond to any contingencies caused by the launch, including mobilizing destroyers and deploying mobile missile launchers to areas near the rockets planned trajectory.
North Korea has said it plans to launch a satellite into orbit. Japan, the United States and other countries …

The Obama administration on Tuesday exempted Japan and 10 European nations from the prospect of biting sanctions intended to punish countries that continue to buy oil from Iran, but it left open the fate of other major importers, including China, India and South Korea.
The sanctions, ordered by Congress late last year to intensify diplomatic and economic pressure over Iran’s nuclear activities, have put the administration in the difficult position of threatening to punish some of the United States’ closest allies while it seeks to squeeze Iran’s main source of hard …

Thousands of antinuclear protesters took to the streets of Tokyo and other cities Sunday, the first anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that triggered the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant.

Near the head office of Tokyo Electric Power Co., which runs the crippled complex, demonstrators called for the country to abandon nuclear power and restore the prefecture, where more than 100,000 residents were forced to relocate.
In Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, some 16,000 people attended an antinuclear gathering in the city and called for scrapping all of Japan’s 54 …

Standing before fellow lawmakers in a recent appearance, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda urged on Japan’s “rebirth” in much the same way the nation rebuilt from the “burning fields” of a war-torn land more than 60 years ago.
It was one of several instances in which the natural disaster that struck Japan one year ago was compared with the man-made devastation of World War II. In the year since the monster earthquake last March 11 set off a chain reaction of tragic events, Japan has showcased how far it has rebounded from …

When should dismay give way to distress?  When does disfunction trip into crisis?I really detest writing–much more thinking–like this, but the politics now prevailing in Tokyo are driving me to distraction.Being debated this week in the Diet are three urgent issues:  1 formal entry into TPP, the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks that would open Japanese agriculture to foreign competition, 2 proposed legislation to increase consumption tax from 5% to 10% by 2016 to fund Japan’s old age security system; and 3 the FY2012 budget, including authorization to issue new debt to …

In the darkest moments of last year’s nuclear accident, Japanese leaders did not know the actual extent of damage at the plant and secretly considered the possibility of evacuating Tokyo, even as they tried to play down the risks in public, an independent investigation into the accident disclosed on Monday.
The investigation by the Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation, a new private policy organization, offers one of the most vivid accounts yet of how Japan teetered on the edge of an even larger nuclear crisis than the one that engulfed the Fukushima …

Japan on Monday approved a fresh $8.9 billion in aid for the operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant as the company said it expected to lose a similar amount this year.
The decision means TEPCO stays solvent, but continues to run up costs as it struggles to clean up the mess left behind by reactor meltdowns and meet claims for compensation following the March 11 quake disaster and resulting nuclear crisis.
The 690 billion yen aid package was announced after Tokyo Electric Power revised up its estimate of what it would need …

Underworld organizations are stepping up their attacks on enterprises in the wake of efforts by prefectural governments to enforce bylaws that prevent businesses from distributing profits to gangsters and keep gangsters from participating in public works projects.
These bylaws are also making it more difficult for gangs to collect protection fees from enterprises. In the past, gangsters threatened businesses mainly by firing bullets at their buildings. Following the enforcement of the anti-gang bylaws, company presidents and executives themselves are being targeted. The crimes are premeditated, with few clues, if any, …

Thousands of Japanese people marched against nuclear power Saturday, amid growing worries about the restarting of reactors idled after the March 11 meltdown disaster in northeastern Japan.
Holding “No Nukes” signs, people gathered at Yoyogi Park in Tokyo for a rally Saturday, including Nobel Prize-winning writer Kenzaburo Oe.
The protesters then marched peacefully through the streets demanding Japan abandon atomic power.
Read the rest of the story: Thousands march against nuclear power in Japan.