Japan faces ‘extinction’ in 1,000 years
Japanese researchers on Friday unveiled a population clock that showed the nation’s people could theoretically become extinct in 1,000 years because of declining birth rates.
Tag: Japan
US health care spending highest, Japan lowest: study
A study of 13 industrialized countries released Thursday showed Japan spends the least on health care, while the United States spends the most without providing superior care for the money.
Buyers of U.S. beef keep importing after mad cow case
BRUSSELS/CHICAGO (Reuters) – Major export markets for U.S. beef from Canada to Japan stayed open after the United States reported its first case of mad cow disease in six years amid assurances that rigorous surveillance had safeguarded the food system. U.S. live cattle futures were higher on Wednesday, but only recovered about half of what they lost on Tuesday when the market posted its biggest drop in seven months. U.S. authorities quickly told consumers and importers around the world there was no danger that meat from the infected California dairy cow would enter the food chain. …
Still in the frame, the camera defies smartphone onslaught
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – While most attention in the gadget world is on the breakneck pace of innovation in mobile phones, tablets and computers, another device has resolutely refused to die: the camera. Despite the onslaught of camera phones — the iPhone 4 has this year become the most popular device for posting snaps to the photo-sharing website Flickr — cameras are still being sold. Japan, the world’s largest manufacturer, shipped nearly three times as many cameras in January as it did in the same month of 2003, when the camera phone was still in its infancy. …
Japan says no impact on TPP talks from mad cow case
TOKYO (Reuters) – The United States’ first reported mad cow disease case in six years will not affect negotiations about Japan’s possible membership in a U.S.-led Pacific trade pact, the government said on Wednesday. For Washington, Japan’s curbs on beef imports from countries hit by the disease are one the sticking points and U.S. exporters have been counting on Tokyo to relax the curbs following a review initiated in December. The curbs, which in 2005 replaced a total ban put in place after the first mad cow case in 2003, have capped U.S. …
Japan market watchdog recommends $2.5 million fine for Olympus
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s market watchdog on Friday recommended the Financial Services Agency (FSA) fine Olympus Corp about 200 million yen ($2.5 million) for false accounting in one of the country’s biggest corporate scandals. The recommendation, made by the Securities Exchange and Surveillance Commission (SESC), was expected as part of legal procedures and comes after prosecutors last month charged the company and six key figures in the $1.7 billion accounting fraud. …
Soy-Derived Nutritional Supplements Found to Improve Cardiovascular Risk Factors
Some new research from Japan may have some important implications for preventing disease. The research, recently published in the journal Clinical Endocrinology, found that equol, a natural by-product of soy digestion, may lower cholesterol and improve cardiovascular function in some people. Equol is a soy derivative that is produced naturally by most people after consuming soy. Equol is being looked at as a nutritional supplement because many people are unable to produce it naturally after consuming soy.
US warns of cancer-agent in Japan weight loss pills
The US Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday warned consumers not to take a product called “Japan Rapid Weight Loss Diet Pills” because they contain a suspected cancer-causing agent.
Olympus may try to tough out scandal without help
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Olympus Corp may be able to recover from a huge accounting scandal without having to bring in new investors, even as it looks to beef up its capital by around $3 billion over the longer term, its likely new president said on Tuesday. The maker of medical equipment and cameras has been badly weakened by the $1.7 billion fraud, one of Japan’s worst corporate scandals, which has put the company under pressure to raise fresh equity to put its finances on a more stable footing. …
World Bank: An exercise of influence
By Alan Beattie Wall of money: the World Bank's Washington headquarters. Set up after the second world war to help rebuild Europe and Japan, its reach extended to include a big say over emerging borrowers' economic policies Conventional wisdom about …
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China and Russia plan joint naval war exercises in Sea of Japan and Yellow Sea
The official Xinhua News Agency quoted Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun as saying Thursday that the exercise will begin in late April and run into May. The specific locations were not disclosed. Yang says the joint exercise is aimed at improving …
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Still searching for Japan tsunami missing to ease pain
RIKUZENTAKATA, Japan (Reuters) – Japanese police painstakingly search the river and shoreline for bodies of the missing a year after the huge earthquake and tsunami swept away large areas of the fishing town of Rikuzentakata. Once renowned for a fine beach and seaside pine thicket nestled beneath mountains, the town is now synonymous with the destruction and widespread death wrought by the triple disaster. What had been the town centre is mostly abandoned and dotted with piles of brown rubble and a ruined town hall . A single pine overlooking a becalmed sea is all that remains of the thicket. …