Source : कान्तिपुर दैनिक

Source : Japan Times

Source : Reuters News

]]> http://ajisai.edu.np/blog/2012/04/21/japan-to-write-off-myanmar-debt-restart-loans-reuters-news/feed/ 0 http://ajisai.edu.np/blog/2012/04/20/a-risky-game-over-japan%e2%80%99s-disputed-islands-japan-time-magazine/ http://ajisai.edu.np/blog/2012/04/20/a-risky-game-over-japan%e2%80%99s-disputed-islands-japan-time-magazine/#comments Fri, 20 Apr 2012 08:16:12 +0000 जीवन ताम्राकार http://ajisai.edu.np/blog/?p=2344 TOKYO – Whether it’s a genuine attempt to steer Japan’s foreign policy or a clever ploy to annoy political leaders in both Japan and China, Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara’s plan to buy three disputed islands in the East China Sea is a dangerous game that has the potential to drag both Japan and the U.S. into a shooting war.“This is a very serious issue and it’s full of uncertainties. If it’s not handled properly it could very well lead to armed conflict,” says Kazuhiko Togo, director of Kyoto Sangyo University’s Institute for World Affairs, and author of Japan’s Territorial Issues: The Northern Territories, Takeshima and the Senkaku Islands. Ishihara startled just about everyone this week when he announced plans for Tokyo Prefecture to buy three tiny islands in the Senkaku chain from private owners. He said the aim is to “protect” the islands from Chinese encroachment. Both China and Taiwan claim the islands, which they call the Diaoyou Islands, and officials in China were quick to denounce Ishihara’s plans.“The Diaoyou Islands have been China’s inherent territory since ancient times and China holds indisputable sovereignty over them,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.Japan and China nearly came to blows over the islands in 2010 when a Chinese fishing trawler rammed a Japanese Coast Guard vessel in nearby waters. Japan seized the fishing boat and crew, but released them weeks later after massive street protests in Chinese cities and heavy economic and political pressure from Beijing.U.S. forces were not involved in the 2010 incident, but could be dragged into any new hostilities. The United States is pledged to defend Japan under the terms of the Mutual Security Treaty, which the U.S. interprets as applying to all “territories under the administration of Japan.” The U.S. has about 50,000 troops in Japan, including the powerful 7^th Fleet.Although the Senkakus are uninhabited (and largely uninhabitable), they could be immensely valuable. Under the international law of the sea, control of the Senkakus could convey exclusive economic rights to nearly 20,000 square miles of undersea resources, including oil and gas reserves that are believed to rival those of the Persian Gulf.China has built up its naval forces in recent years and made increasingly aggressive territorial claims in both the East China and South China seas. Control of the Senkakus would give China’s navy additional breathing room.“This is one of Asia’s most dangerous flash points,” says Carlos Ramos-Mrosovsky, an attorney and authority on international law who has written extensively on the Senkaku dispute.

Source : Japan Time Magazine

]]> http://ajisai.edu.np/blog/2012/04/20/a-risky-game-over-japan%e2%80%99s-disputed-islands-japan-time-magazine/feed/ 0 http://ajisai.edu.np/blog/2012/04/19/quake-assessment-projects-nearly-10000-dead-in-tokyo-the-japan-times/ http://ajisai.edu.np/blog/2012/04/19/quake-assessment-projects-nearly-10000-dead-in-tokyo-the-japan-times/#comments Thu, 19 Apr 2012 06:41:09 +0000 जीवन ताम्राकार http://ajisai.edu.np/blog/?p=2337  By MIZUHO AOKI
A massive quake beneath northern Tokyo Bay would kill about 9,700 people, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government said Wednesday.In its latest damage projection report, the metropolitan government said approximately 70 percent of the area covered by Tokyo’s 23 wards would suffer a destructive temblor of upper 6 or stronger on the Japanese seismic intensity scale.This is worse than the previous estimate of six years ago, which envisaged an earthquake of magnitude 7.3 striking the greater Tokyo area, and reflects new findings from the March 11 quake and tsunami. It also takes into account a recent study by the science ministry that a massive inland quake threatening the metropolitan areas will top the 7-level Japanese seismic intensity scale.“Based on our estimate of possible damage, we would like to work on preventive measures,” said a Tokyo official, adding that the metropolitan government plans to draft a revised disaster prevention plan for Tokyo by September.In the latest estimates, the metropolitan government’s disaster-prevention council listed four possible types of earthquake that could strike Tokyo: a magnitude 7.3 quake originating below either the northern Tokyo Bay or the Tama region in western Tokyo; a magnitude 8.2 plate-boundary quake in the northwest of Kanagawa Prefecture and a magnitude 7.4 quake on an active fault in the Tachikawa area of western Tokyo.Six different projections based on varying wind speed and time of a day were also considered.Of the four types, the northern Tokyo Bay quake scenario would result in the most casualties and building damage, while in the worst of the six projections, the quake would hit at 6 p.m. in winter with the wind blowing at 8 meters per second, the highest possible speed based on past data.In the worst-case scenario, upper 6 quake would strike about 444 sq. km of eastern Tokyo, while some areas facing Tokyo Bay, including Ota and Koto wards, may experience a level 7 quake.The 9,641 death toll is up from 6,413 in the previous estimate. About 5,600 would likely be killed by collapsing buildings and some 4,100 by fire, it said.The number of casualties is expected to be high in areas packed with wooden houses in east and southeast Tokyo, a metropolitan official said.The metropolitan government also projected there would be some 3.39 million evacuees and some 147,600 people would be injured.Meanwhile, the number of destroyed buildings declined to 304,300 from 471,000 in the previous estimate, owing to a decline in the number of old wooden structures and reinforcement work done on many buildings, it said.For the first time the metropolitan government estimated the height of tsunami for a magnitude 8.2 “Genroku”-type earthquake that hit Tokyo in 1703, a so-called plate-boundary earthquake like the temblor that struck on March 11, 2011.In the report, tsunami of up to 2.61 meters would flood an area of 4.6 sq. km to a depth of 50 cm, but no one would likely be killed.The metropolitan government estimated intensity scales and damage for every 50 sq. meters within the 23 wards and municipalities and every 250 sq. meters for the remaining areas, which is more detailed than the previous report, the official said.The latest study by the metropolitan government was conducted in light of the March 11 quake and tsunami that took the lives of more than 15,000 people.

Source : The Japan Times 

]]> http://ajisai.edu.np/blog/2012/04/19/quake-assessment-projects-nearly-10000-dead-in-tokyo-the-japan-times/feed/ 0 http://ajisai.edu.np/blog/2012/04/18/update-2-japan-exports-jump-but-trade-still-in-red-corp-mood-dips-reuters-news/ http://ajisai.edu.np/blog/2012/04/18/update-2-japan-exports-jump-but-trade-still-in-red-corp-mood-dips-reuters-news/#comments Wed, 18 Apr 2012 05:55:37 +0000 जीवन ताम्राकार http://ajisai.edu.np/blog/?p=2334 Reuters) – Japan’s exports rose in March from a year earlier for the first time in six months, mainly on the strength of U.S. sales, but high fuel imports pushed the trade balance back into deficit and manufacturers remain cautious about business in months ahead.Reflecting rekindled worries about Europe’s debt crisis and concerns the yen could rally again, manufacturing confidence dipped in April after a sharp rebound the previous month, a Reuters poll showed.The subdued sentiment suggested the Bank of Japan will remain under pressure to ease monetary policy further when it meets on April 27 to support the fragile economic recovery.Exports rose 1.2 percent in seasonally adjusted terms in March and 5.9 percent from a year earlier, compared with economists’ median forecast of a steady reading, as U.S.-bound shipments grew at the fastest pace in nearly two years on auto demand. JPEXPY=ECIImports soared 10.5 percent in the 12 months to March, pushing the trade balance into deficit after it posted a surplus in February. JPIMPY=ECI However, the gap of 82.6 billion yen ($1.0 billion), came well below analysts’ forecast of 220 billion yen. In January, Japan recorded its biggest ever trade deficit of 1.476 trillion yen. JPTBAL=ECIJapan’s trade balance is expected to remain in deficit in coming months as it imports more oil and natural gas to offset the loss of nuclear power supply, which could start eroding its vast savings and hamper its ability tofinance huge public debt.”Exports to the United States grew but shipments to China remained weak, so Japanese exports will struggle unless China, which is Japan’s biggest export destination, achieves economic recovery,” said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at the Norinchukin Research Institute in Tokyo.Manufacturers face a worsening plight in trade with other countries due to oil price rises, which boost raw material costs, and the yen’s stubborn strength, as highlighted by the Reuters tankan, he said.”These indicators will further back up calls for monetary easing by the Bank of Japan.”In the monthly Reuters Tankan for April, the manufacturers’ sentiment index, derived by subtracting the percentage of pessimistic responses from optimistic ones, slid one point to plus one, holding barely above zero for the second straight month.JPRTAN=ECIYet the survey also showed that non-manufacturers, such as construction and transportation companies, were much more optimistic and their sentiment index jumped to plus 10, a level last recorded in 2007, buoyed by demand generated by rebuilding after last year’s devastating earthquake and tsunami.PRESSURE FOR POLICY STIMULUS”While there is a clear boost from reconstruction, uncertainties remain about the Japanese economy’s outlook,” said Yuichi Kodama, economist at Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance.”Higher raw material costs, a renewed yen rise and the lack of bright signs in China’s markets have caused recovery in manufacturer sentiment to pause.”The monthly Reuters poll is highly correlated with the central bank’s quarterly tankan survey, which serves the BOJ as a key gauge of economic activity. The last survey published earlier this month showed no improvement in business sentiment in the first quarter and big manufacturers expecting only a modest pick-up in coming months.Both surveys suggest the central bank will remain under pressure to deliver more policy stimulus as the economy is not picking up fast enough to push inflation steadily toward the central bank’s 1 percent goal.Sources familiar with the central bank’s thinking told Reuters earlier this month it would consider easing policy further at its rate review next week by boosting government bond purchases through its asset-buying and loan scheme.Last year Japan logged its first annual trade deficit in 31 years following the March earthquake that crippled supply chains and triggered the world’s worst nuclear crisis in 25 years, boosting fuel imports to make up for loss of nuclear power.Japan’s economy is expected to grow around 2 percent in the current fiscal year to March 2013 as rebuilding from the earthquake gets into full swing. ($1 = 81.3100 Japanese yen)

Source : Reuters News

Source : Reuters News

Source : Reuters News

Source : Reuters News

Source : Reuters News