Japan News

Disaster-battered Japan has posted its biggest fiscal year trade deficit ever — a contrast from decades of surpluses on booming exports. The Finance Ministry’s preliminary trade data released Thursday showed Japan racked up a record 4.41 trillion yen ($54 billion) trade deficit for fiscal 2011, which ended March 31, as the nation imported oil and gas to make up for a power shortfall. More >

Japan’s defence chief said Wednesday the country may cancel its $4.7 billion order for the US-built F-35 stealth jet if Washington fails to stick to the proposed price and deadlines. Defence Minister Naoki Tanaka said a formal contract for the initial four units which Japan wants by March 2017, out of a total of 42 jets, was expected to be signed before this summer.

But, he told parliament: “If the situation comes to the point where (the US) cannot work out the proposal by that time, we will have concerns for Japan’s defence capability.

Three of Japan’s biggest electronics companies are to join forces in a chip-making venture, reports said Wednesday, days after a swathe of dire results from a sector struggling to compete globally.

Panasonic, which earlier said it expected to lose more than $10 billion this year, is set to hook up with Renesas Electronics and Fujitsu as they look for economies of scale in an increasingly difficult marketplace.

The yen dropped to one-month lows against the dollar and the euro on Wednesday, as traders took data showing Japan had logged its first annual trade deficit since 1980 as a cue to snap up gains in the Japanese currency.

Selling in the yen picked up steam on the back of unwinding of yen long positions placed by speculators, with model and macro funds also spotted pressuring the Japanese unit.

The yen dropped to one-month lows against the dollar and the euro on Wednesday, as traders took data showing Japan had logged its first annual trade deficit since 1980 as a cue to snap up gains in the Japanese currency. Selling in the yen picked up steam on the back of unwinding of yen long positions placed by speculators, with model and macro funds also spotted pressuring the Japanese unit.

Tokyo exporters limited the downside for the yen, showing strong dollar-selling interest right below 78 yen, after the safe-haven yen on Tuesday suffered its biggest one-day fall since Japan intervened in the market in October.

Japan’s prime minister has pledged in his traditional new year’s press conference to bring “rebirth” to the area around the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said on Wednesday authorities would work to decontaminate the region from radioactive fallout, while ensuring compensation and health checks for those affected by the disaster.

Japan agreed to make $15 billion available to India in a currency swap arrangement as Europe’s deepening debt crisis threatens to curtail developing Asia’s access to dollar funding.

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Sentiment among Japan’s largest manufacturers deteriorated more than economists expected, underscoring the fragility of a post-quake recovery threatened by Europe’s debt crisis and a strengthening yen.

The Tankan large manufacturer index fell to minus 4 from 2, the Bank of Japan said today in Tokyo. The median estimate of 24 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a reading of minus 2. A negative number indicates that pessimists outnumber optimists.

Tokyo stocks rose 1.71 per cent Wednesday ahead of a crucial European Union summit that will focus on tackling the eurozone debt crisis.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange gained 147.01 points to close at 8,722.17.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues rose 1.57 per cent, or 11.62 points, to 749.63.

The damaged nuclear power plant in Japan came a lot closer to a full meltdown than first thought. The company that runs the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant said Wednesday that the radioactive core inside Reactor 1 burned through a concrete containment barrier and nearly reached the soil below.

The nuclear plant was heavily damaged by an earthquake and tsunami back in March. And as CBS News correspondent Lucy Craft reports, many in Japan are worried about what all of this is doing to their food.