[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Friday, Jan. 15, 2010
Dam bidders said needed Ozawa's OK
Plot thickens in Kajima connection
Kyodo News
General contractor Kajima Corp. told a smaller construction company that it needed consent from the office of Democratic Party of Japan kingpin Ichiro Ozawa to become a subcontractor for a government dam project in Iwate Prefecture in 2004, sources said Thursday.
Prosecutors, who Wednesday searched the offices of Ozawa, now DPJ secretary general, and Kajima as well as other locations over accounting irregularities allegedly handled by a former Ozawa secretary, suspect Mizutani Construction Co. donated funds to Ozawa to gain the necessary consent, dubbed the "voice from heaven," the sources said.
Mizutani, based in Kuwana, Mie Prefecture, is taking part as a subcontractor in a project to build the dam's main structure in Iwate's Oshu City in Ozawa's home district. The project was awarded to a Kajima-led joint venture in October 2004.
The prosecutors appear to have been given similar explanations by Mizutani officials during voluntary questioning earlier this month.
Kajima declined comment because the investigation is still under way.
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office opened the criminal investigation Wednesday on suspicion DPJ lawmaker Tomohiro Ishikawa, who was Ozawa's private secretary in charge of clerical work at his fund management body Rikuzankai at the time, failed to report 400 million in income in the body's funding report in 2004.
Ishikawa, 36, has told the prosecutors in voluntary questioning that he received the money as loans from Ozawa in early October 2004 and used it for Rikuzankai to buy land. The body reportedly bought a piece of land in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, for about 340 million on Oct. 29, 2004.
The Mizutani officials have also told the prosecutors that the firm handed 50 million in cash to Ishikawa in October 2004 with the aim of taking part in the dam project, according to the sources.
The prosecutors' raids Wednesday were based on the suspicion that the 50 million was part of the funds used for Rikuzankai's land purchase.
In telling Mizutani to "kindly ask for and gain the understanding" of Ozawa's office to be a subcontractor, Kajima cited the possibility that even if it wanted to use Mizutani, the office would see that a different firm got the work, the sources said.
Prosecutors argued during the trial of Ozawa's government-paid secretary, Takanori Okubo, 48, who is charged with accounting irregularities over alleged illegal donations from Nishimatsu Construction Co., that Ozawa's office issued the "voice from heaven" in determining the winners of local public works projects.
While Kajima played the central role in rigging bids for public works in the Tohoku region, Ozawa's office came to have decisive clout from the 1980s in deciding the contractors in Iwate Prefecture, with Kajima arranging bid-rigging after referring to the office, according to the prosecutors' arguments.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Thursday he has no intention of replacing Ozawa.
Hatoyama, who is the DPJ president, also said he will try his best to minimize the impact of the development on the upcoming regular Diet session that begins Monday.
With regard to criticism that Ozawa has not fulfilled his duty of accountability over the allegations, the prime minister defended the ruling party kingpin, claiming Ozawa has refrained from speaking about the case because prosecutors are still investigating.
"We have come all the way here under the leadership involving Secretary General Ozawa," Hatoyama said.
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Friday, Jan. 15, 2010
Prices plunged by record 5.3% in '09
Kyodo News
Wholesale prices fell by a record 5.3 percent in 2009, the largest drop since comparable data became available in 1961, the Bank of Japan said Thursday.
The results of the preliminary report underscore how falling energy costs and sluggish demand have solidified deflation's effect on the economy during the global economic slump.
The BOJ's corporate goods price index stood at 103.0 against the 2005 base of 100, marking its first fall in six years. The 5.3 percent drop is a sharp reversal from the 4.6 percent rise logged in 2008. The previous record was set in 1986, when prices plunged 4.7 percent on lower oil prices and the yen's sharp jump against the dollar following the 1985 Plaza Accord on foreign-exchange rates.
Naokazu Koshimizu, economist at Nomura Securities Co., said the report shows deflation is dragging down the economy despite signs of improvement.
"Although the economy is picking up, production has yet to fully recover and companies still have excesses in supply capacity and employment," he said. "Unless they correct the excessiveness or consumer demand grows sharply, deflationary pressure should continue."
The government reported deflation's return in November.
Contributing the most to price falls in 2009 was oil prices, which plunged after climbing crazily the previous year. Prices were also cut over a wide range of products, such as steel and other raw materials, as companies reduced production and capital investment to cope with sluggish demand amid a global credit crunch.
Oil and coal prices plunged 33.9 percent, in contrast with the 22.8 percent jump the previous year. Prices of nonferrous metal products fell 22.4 percent, chemical products fell 9.3 percent. Prices of electronics components and information and communication devices also declined.
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Friday, Jan. 15, 2010
Futenma row may trigger 'Japan passing': experts
Kyodo News
Experts on Japan-U.S. relations are concerned that prolonging the bilateral row over the U.S. Futenma airfield in Okinawa may lead to a situation akin to "Japan passing."
"I think there is a serious danger the current situation will contribute to Japan passing," Kent Calder, director of the Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, said at a symposium Tuesday sponsored by Kyodo News and SAIS. The theme of the symposium was "Japan-U.S.: New Governments and New Relations."
Another panelist, Michael Auslin, director of Japan studies at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, said he feels there is a "strong sense of frustration" among the many U.S. officials dealing with the issue.
But Auslin said such frustration is "good" in a sense, because he thinks it is a reflection of the "continuing importance that is placed on the alliance and on the relationship."
"My concern is that the longer the base issue drags on unresolved . . . it is a natural tendency for the diplomats in Washington to devote less time to it. If they are not getting a return on the time that they are investing, they will simply start putting their energies and their focus elsewhere. That may be elsewhere in Asia, it may be elsewhere around the world," he said.
Apparently to allay concerns over strained bilateral ties, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Koichi Takemasa stressed in a keynote speech at the beginning of the event: "The cornerstone of Japan's foreign policy is the Japan-U.S. alliance. That will not change even after a change of government."
Parliamentary Defense Secretary Akihisa Nagashima, meanwhile, said Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's promise to settle the issue of where to relocate U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma by May is "firm" and he will work hard to resolve it.
The Futenma issue has emerged as a major sticking point ever since Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan ousted the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party from power last year with a pledge to seek what it calls "more equal" ties with the United States.
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Friday, Jan. 15, 2010
Dam bidders said needed Ozawa's OK
Plot thickens in Kajima connection
Kyodo News
General contractor Kajima Corp. told a smaller construction company that it needed consent from the office of Democratic Party of Japan kingpin Ichiro Ozawa to become a subcontractor for a government dam project in Iwate Prefecture in 2004, sources said Thursday.
Prosecutors, who Wednesday searched the offices of Ozawa, now DPJ secretary general, and Kajima as well as other locations over accounting irregularities allegedly handled by a former Ozawa secretary, suspect Mizutani Construction Co. donated funds to Ozawa to gain the necessary consent, dubbed the "voice from heaven," the sources said.
Mizutani, based in Kuwana, Mie Prefecture, is taking part as a subcontractor in a project to build the dam's main structure in Iwate's Oshu City in Ozawa's home district. The project was awarded to a Kajima-led joint venture in October 2004.
The prosecutors appear to have been given similar explanations by Mizutani officials during voluntary questioning earlier this month.
Kajima declined comment because the investigation is still under way.
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office opened the criminal investigation Wednesday on suspicion DPJ lawmaker Tomohiro Ishikawa, who was Ozawa's private secretary in charge of clerical work at his fund management body Rikuzankai at the time, failed to report 400 million in income in the body's funding report in 2004.
Ishikawa, 36, has told the prosecutors in voluntary questioning that he received the money as loans from Ozawa in early October 2004 and used it for Rikuzankai to buy land. The body reportedly bought a piece of land in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, for about 340 million on Oct. 29, 2004.
The Mizutani officials have also told the prosecutors that the firm handed 50 million in cash to Ishikawa in October 2004 with the aim of taking part in the dam project, according to the sources.
The prosecutors' raids Wednesday were based on the suspicion that the 50 million was part of the funds used for Rikuzankai's land purchase.
In telling Mizutani to "kindly ask for and gain the understanding" of Ozawa's office to be a subcontractor, Kajima cited the possibility that even if it wanted to use Mizutani, the office would see that a different firm got the work, the sources said.
Prosecutors argued during the trial of Ozawa's government-paid secretary, Takanori Okubo, 48, who is charged with accounting irregularities over alleged illegal donations from Nishimatsu Construction Co., that Ozawa's office issued the "voice from heaven" in determining the winners of local public works projects.
While Kajima played the central role in rigging bids for public works in the Tohoku region, Ozawa's office came to have decisive clout from the 1980s in deciding the contractors in Iwate Prefecture, with Kajima arranging bid-rigging after referring to the office, according to the prosecutors' arguments.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Thursday he has no intention of replacing Ozawa.
Hatoyama, who is the DPJ president, also said he will try his best to minimize the impact of the development on the upcoming regular Diet session that begins Monday.
With regard to criticism that Ozawa has not fulfilled his duty of accountability over the allegations, the prime minister defended the ruling party kingpin, claiming Ozawa has refrained from speaking about the case because prosecutors are still investigating.
"We have come all the way here under the leadership involving Secretary General Ozawa," Hatoyama said.
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Friday, Jan. 15, 2010
Prices plunged by record 5.3% in '09
Kyodo News
Wholesale prices fell by a record 5.3 percent in 2009, the largest drop since comparable data became available in 1961, the Bank of Japan said Thursday.
The results of the preliminary report underscore how falling energy costs and sluggish demand have solidified deflation's effect on the economy during the global economic slump.
The BOJ's corporate goods price index stood at 103.0 against the 2005 base of 100, marking its first fall in six years. The 5.3 percent drop is a sharp reversal from the 4.6 percent rise logged in 2008. The previous record was set in 1986, when prices plunged 4.7 percent on lower oil prices and the yen's sharp jump against the dollar following the 1985 Plaza Accord on foreign-exchange rates.
Naokazu Koshimizu, economist at Nomura Securities Co., said the report shows deflation is dragging down the economy despite signs of improvement.
"Although the economy is picking up, production has yet to fully recover and companies still have excesses in supply capacity and employment," he said. "Unless they correct the excessiveness or consumer demand grows sharply, deflationary pressure should continue."
The government reported deflation's return in November.
Contributing the most to price falls in 2009 was oil prices, which plunged after climbing crazily the previous year. Prices were also cut over a wide range of products, such as steel and other raw materials, as companies reduced production and capital investment to cope with sluggish demand amid a global credit crunch.
Oil and coal prices plunged 33.9 percent, in contrast with the 22.8 percent jump the previous year. Prices of nonferrous metal products fell 22.4 percent, chemical products fell 9.3 percent. Prices of electronics components and information and communication devices also declined.
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Friday, Jan. 15, 2010
Futenma row may trigger 'Japan passing': experts
Kyodo News
Experts on Japan-U.S. relations are concerned that prolonging the bilateral row over the U.S. Futenma airfield in Okinawa may lead to a situation akin to "Japan passing."
"I think there is a serious danger the current situation will contribute to Japan passing," Kent Calder, director of the Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, said at a symposium Tuesday sponsored by Kyodo News and SAIS. The theme of the symposium was "Japan-U.S.: New Governments and New Relations."
Another panelist, Michael Auslin, director of Japan studies at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, said he feels there is a "strong sense of frustration" among the many U.S. officials dealing with the issue.
But Auslin said such frustration is "good" in a sense, because he thinks it is a reflection of the "continuing importance that is placed on the alliance and on the relationship."
"My concern is that the longer the base issue drags on unresolved . . . it is a natural tendency for the diplomats in Washington to devote less time to it. If they are not getting a return on the time that they are investing, they will simply start putting their energies and their focus elsewhere. That may be elsewhere in Asia, it may be elsewhere around the world," he said.
Apparently to allay concerns over strained bilateral ties, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Koichi Takemasa stressed in a keynote speech at the beginning of the event: "The cornerstone of Japan's foreign policy is the Japan-U.S. alliance. That will not change even after a change of government."
Parliamentary Defense Secretary Akihisa Nagashima, meanwhile, said Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's promise to settle the issue of where to relocate U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma by May is "firm" and he will work hard to resolve it.
The Futenma issue has emerged as a major sticking point ever since Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan ousted the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party from power last year with a pledge to seek what it calls "more equal" ties with the United States.
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