Timeline of Japan 2006-2012

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2006        Jan 3, In Japan Yoshie Sato (56) was killed near the Yokosuka base. Japanese media later reported that a US serviceman (21) had admitted to US military authorities to killing her. In June 2 the soldier was sentenced by a Japanese court to life in prison.
    (AFP, 1/6/06)(WSJ, 6/3/06, p.A1)

2006        Jan 4, The world’s largest bank, the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (MUFG), opened for business with $1.6 trillion in assets.
    (Econ, 1/7/06, p.64)

2006        Jan 7, Japanese police arrested William Oliver Reese (21), an American sailor, on charges of robbing and beating a Japanese woman to death. Reese was accused of robbing Yoshie Sato (56) of $129.
    (AP, 1/7/06)
2006        Jan 7, Environmentalists continued attempts to thwart Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean, as both sides accused each other of underhand tactics in the high-seas struggle.
    (AFP, 1/7/06)

2006        Jan 8, Greenpeace claimed a Japanese whaling ship deliberately rammed its ship Arctic Sunrise, denting the ship's bow but causing no injuries. Greenpeace said it would continue hounding Japan's whaling fleet in Antarctic waters despite the damaging collision.
    (AP, 1/9/06)

2006        Jan 9, The death toll from snowstorms that have blasted northern and central Japan since early December rose to 71 after three people died while clearing snow.
    (AP, 1/9/06)
2006        Jan 9, China and Japan agreed to hold new talks to resolve a dispute over gas deposits in the East China Sea that could help ease their increasingly strained relations.
    (AP, 1/9/06)

2006        Jan 14, Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency said the death toll from heavy snow reached 87 as relatively mild weather over the weekend sparked several avalanches.
    (AFP, 1/14/06)

2006        Jan 18, Japan's main stock market index tumbled for a second day led by a sell-off in technology shares in a session that was halted 20 minutes early because of heavy trading volume amid a widening criminal investigation of the Internet startup Livedoor. Technical glitches forced an emergency closing for the 1st time in the exchanges 57-year history.
    (AP, 1/18/06)(WSJ, 1/19/06, p.A1)(Econ, 1/21/06, p.64)

2006        Jan 19, In Germany environmentalists positioned a 55-foot dead whale in front of the Japanese Embassy in Berlin to protest against Japanese whale-hunting.
    (AP, 1/19/06)

2006        Jan 20, Japan halted imports of US beef just a month after lifting a ban, following the discovery of spinal material in a shipment that should have been removed due to the risk of mad cow disease.
    (AP, 1/20/06)
2006        Jan 20, Greenpeace said that its two vessels shadowing the Japanese whaling fleet in the icy Southern Ocean were ending their protests because their fuel and food were running short.
    (Reuters, 1/20/06)

2006        Jan 23, Takafumi Horie, chief executive of Japanese Internet portal Livedoor, was arrested for alleged securities law violations in a scandal that has caused a week of turmoil in Japan's stock market. On Jan 25 Horie resigned from the board of Livedoor.
    (AP, 1/23/06)(Econ, 1/28/06, p.60)

2006        Jan 24, Japan launched the leading rocket in its space program for the first time in nearly a year, putting into orbit one of the world's largest land observation satellites to monitor natural disasters.
    (AP, 1/24/06)

2006        Jan 28, China’s state-owned CNOOC began gas production at the Chunxiao field near the disputed border region with Japan.
    (WSJ, 4/6/06, p.A13)

2006        Jan 31, Japan said it will begin withdrawing its troops from Iraq in March and complete the pullout by May, ending its largest military mission since the end of World War II.
    (AP, 1/31/06)

2006        Jan, A Toyota engineer died of ischemic heart disease one day before leaving for an auto show in the US. In 2008 a Japanese labor bureau ruled that the man died from working too many hours (karoshi), a phenomena recognized by the Health Ministry since 1987. 
    (SFC, 7/10/08, p.C3)

2006        Feb 3, Japan’s parliament enacted a law awarding compensation to former leprosy sufferers who were forced into isolated leper colonies in Taiwan and Korea by Japan's imperial government decades ago.
    (AP, 2/3/06)

2006        Feb 6, Japanese electronics maker Toshiba Corp. said that it was buying nuclear plant builder Westinghouse Electric Co., the US-based unit of the British government's British Nuclear Fuels PLC, for $5.4 billion.
    (AP, 2/6/06)

2006        Feb 8, Japan and North Korea ended five days of high-level talks aimed at establishing diplomatic relations without any agreements, citing major differences on the North's abduction of Japanese nationals and its nuclear program.
    (AP, 2/8/06)

2006        Feb 9, Japanese officials said 45 cows at a farm in northern Japan were suspected of having mad cow disease and will be destroyed.
    (AP, 2/9/06)

2006        Feb 10, A leading marine conservation organization said Japan's stock of whale meat from hunting for scientific research is so large that the country has begun selling it as dog food.
    (Reuters, 2/10/06)

2006        Feb 14, Sanyo and Nokia announced they will set up a joint venture to make advanced cell phones, underlining the ambitions of the Japanese and Finnish manufacturers to grow globally in the competitive mobile market.
    (AP, 2/14/06)

2006        Feb 17, In western Japan 2 young children were found stabbed on a roadside, one dead and the other seriously injured.
    (AP, 2/17/06)

2006        Feb 21, Japan's trade minister arrived in Beijing for talks with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the highest-level contact between the two countries since relations soured last October.
    (AP, 2/21/06)

2006        Feb 22, A Tokyo court convicted and sentenced Fusako Shigenobu (60), a founder of the Japanese Red Army terrorist group, to 20 years in prison for kidnapping and attempted murder in a 1974 attack on the French Embassy in the Hague.
    (AP, 2/23/06)

2006        Feb 23, Japan's Shizuka Arakawa stunned favorites Sasha Cohen of the United States and Irina Slutskaya of Russia to claim the women's figure skating gold medal at the Turin Winter Olympics.
    (AP, 2/23/07)

2006        Feb 24, Japan suspended all French poultry imports and threatened a similar ban on the Netherlands following reported cases of H5N1 bird flu.
    (Reuters, 2/25/06)

2006        Feb 26, Shizuka Arakawa won a gold medal for Japan in figure skating at the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.
    (SFC, 2/27/06, p.A1)

2006        Feb 27, Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Japan's second biggest sheet glass maker, said that it will pay about $3 billion for the remaining 80 percent stake in Britain's Pilkington PLC, which makes glass for cars and buildings.
    (AP, 2/27/06)

2006        Mar 1, It was reported that Japan was on the verge of a shift in monetary policy. An end to a policy of easy money, begun in 2001 to spur spending, was expected to have a major effect on global financial markets as interest rates got forced up.
    (WSJ, 3/1/06, p.A1)

2006        Mar 5, In Japan thousands of protesters gathered on the southern island of Okinawa to rally against plans to relocate the Futenma US air base there, with reports saying the protesters numbered as many as 35,000.
    (AP, 3/5/06)(Econ, 5/1/10, p.46)

2006        Mar 8-2006 Mar 9, In Japan 9 people in two groups were found asphyxiated in sealed cars, apparently the latest cases of group suicides that have surged there. A record 91 people died in 34 Internet-linked suicide cases last year, up from 55 people in 19 cases in 2004.
    (AP, 3/10/06)

2006        Mar 9, The Bank of Japan abandoned the super-easy monetary policy it has kept for five years, saying it will gradually raise interest rates and start to cut the excess cash in the banking system amid signs of economic recovery.
    (AP, 3/9/06)

2006        Mar 10, Japan, the second largest contributor to the UN, called for minimum dues for permanent members of the Security Council, forcing China and Russia to pay more or lose their seats.
    (AFP, 3/10/06)

2006        Mar 12, Residents of Iwakuni, a southern Japanese city, voted no in an unprecedented non-binding referendum on whether to host the relocation of an additional US naval air wing.
    (AFP, 3/12/06)

2006        Mar 13, The Tokyo Stock Exchange said shares of disgraced Japanese Internet startup Livedoor Co. will be delisted from the exchange next month over alleged securities law violations.
    (AP, 3/13/06)

2006        Mar 15, It was reported that Japanese scientists had unveiled a robotic fish that could one day be used to observe fish in the ocean or survey oil platforms for damage.
    (Reuters, 3/15/06)
2006        Mar 15, In Japan 4 people suspected of committing group suicide were found dead inside a parked car.
    (AP, 3/15/06)

2006        Mar 17, Officials in Japan said they have confirmed the country's first case of mad cow disease in cattle raised to provide meat.
    (AP, 3/17/06)

2006        Mar 20, In San Diego, Ca., Japan’s baseball team beat Cuba 10-6 in the World Baseball Classic. The US team was embarrassingly knocked out in the second of the four rounds.
    (http://edition.cnn.com/2006/SPORT/03/21/baseball.japan.ap/)

2006        Mar 21, Japanese police found three bodies inside a parked van in what is believed to be the latest example of a recent trend of group suicides.
    (AP, 3/21/06)

2006        Mar 24, A Japanese court ordered the shutdown of Japan's second-largest nuclear reactor in response to a lawsuit by residents who feared it could leak dangerous radiation during a powerful earthquake.
    (AP, 3/24/06)
2006        Mar 24, In Japan Naha District Court official Tatsuhiko Toguchi said a US military civilian employee was sentenced to nine years in prison for two rapes on Okinawa. Dag A. Thompson (36) was sentenced for the rapes which took place in 1998 and 2004.
    (AP, 3/24/06)

2006        Mar 27, Japan's parliament passed the nation's most austere budget in 8 years, marking another achievement for PM Junichiro Koizumi and his efforts to cut the huge public debt.
    (AP, 3/27/06)

2006        Mar 30, Japan and the US pledged to work together to defend intellectual property rights amid concern in both countries about piracy in rapidly growing China.
    (AFP, 3/30/06)

2006        Mar 31, Japan's opposition party suffered a fresh humiliation when its leadership resigned en masse over a fake e-mail scandal, handing PM Junichiro Koizumi an uncontested grip on power in his last six months in office.
    (AP, 3/31/06)

2006        Apr 6, Japan said it would launch free trade talks with six Gulf kingdoms that provide three-quarters of its oil imports, during a visit by a Saudi crown prince aimed at expanding business ties.
    (AP, 4/6/06)
2006        Apr 6, At least 28 people received medical attention after suspected pickpockets used pepper-spray to escape police at a Tokyo train station. Media reports said the suspects are believed to be members of a South Korean organized pickpocket gang which has preyed on Japan's train system.
    (AFP, 4/6/06)

2006        Apr 7, Japan’s health and welfare ministry said the nation’s population shrank in the year through November 2005, the first annual decrease on record, confirming an earlier government prediction.
    (AP, 4/7/06)

2006        Apr 19, Japan defied South Korean protests and dispatched two ships to begin a maritime survey near disputed islets between the two nations, raising the stakes in the territorial standoff.
    (AP, 4/19/06)

2006        Apr 22, Japan and South Korea defused a tense standoff over disputed waters, with Japan withdrawing a plan to survey the area and South Korea delaying plans to submit name proposals for underwater features.
    (AP, 4/22/06)

2006        Apr 23, Japan agreed to pay $6 billion of the $10 billion cost in transferring 8,000 US Marines from Okinawa to Guam.
    (SFC, 4/24/06, p.A3)

2006        Apr 25, US Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Richard Lawless estimated that Tokyo will pay some $26 billion for the realignment of the US military in Japan. The number shocked Japanese officials.
    (AP, 4/27/06)(Econ, 5/13/06, p.26)

2006        Apr 30, In Ethiopia visiting Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has said he backed plans for an expanded United Nations Security Council, adding that he would present his country's position at the African Union (AU) headquarters in Addis Ababa.
    (AFP, 4/30/06)

2006        Apr 24, IKEA opened its first store in Japan.
    (Econ, 5/13/06, p.69)(http://global.japandesign.ne.jp/EXPRESS/060426/)

2006        May 16, Electronics giant Sony Corp said it will launch the world's first notebook personal computer equipped with a next-generation Blu-ray optical disk drive on June 24.
    (AFP, 5/16/06)

2006        May 25, India and Japan pledged to step up military cooperation, as Tokyo tries to move closer to the South Asian nation which is seeking to modernize its armed forces.
    (AFP, 5/25/06)

2006        Jun 2, A Japanese court convicted a US sailor of killing a Japanese woman during a Jan 3 robbery near Tokyo and sentenced him to life in prison.
    (AP, 6/2/06)(WSJ, 6/3/06, p.A1)

2006        Jun 5, In Japan investment manager Yoshiaki Murakami admitted that he had violated insider trading laws and said he would resign from his fund. He was arrested later in the day.
    (AP, 6/5/06)

2006        Jun 9, Leonard Herzenberg, Stanford geneticist and immunologist, was named a winner of the Kyoto Prize for his work in developing the Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorter (FACS).
    (SFC, 6/9/06, p.B3)

2006        Jun 13, Toshihiko Fukui, Japan’s central bank governor, admitted that he was an early investor in the Murakami Fund. On June 5 Murakami admitted that he had violated insider trading laws.
    (Econ, 6/17/06, p.47)

2006        Jun 16, Japan's parliament enacted a bill that would impose sanctions on North Korea if it fails to cooperate in clearing up details of its past abductions of Japanese citizens.
    (AP, 6/16/06)

2006        Jun 20, Japan ordered the withdrawal of its ground troops from Iraq, declaring the humanitarian mission a success and ending a groundbreaking dispatch that tested the limits of its pacifist postwar constitution.
    (AP, 6/20/06)

2006        Jun 21, Japan agreed to lift its ban on US beef imports, pending planned inspections of US meat processing plants.
    (AP, 6/21/06)

2006        Jun 23, Japan and Washington agreed to strengthen cooperation on missile defense amid concerns of a possible long-range rocket launch by North Korea.
    (AP, 6/23/06)

2006        Jun 26, An official said Japan hopes to slash greenhouse gas emissions and fight global warming with a revolutionary plan to pump 200 million tons of carbon dioxide into underground storage reservoirs by 2020 instead of releasing it into the atmosphere.
    (AP, 6/26/06)(WSJ, 6/27/06, p.A1)
2006        Jun 26, Officials said Tokyo and Washington will deploy advanced Patriot interceptor missiles in Japan for the first time, amid concerns North Korea may be preparing to test-fire a long-range ballistic missile.
    (AP, 6/26/06)
2006        Jun 26, A new survey said Moscow has eclipsed Tokyo as the world's most expensive city. The Russian capital moved up 3 spots from a year ago thanks to a recent property boom. South Korea's Seoul ranked second on the list, up from fifth last year.
    (AP, 6/26/06)

2006        Jun 27, A Japanese government white paper on youth said the number of child abuse cases reported in the year to March 2005 surged to 33,408 from 26,569 the year before, a rise of 25.7 percent.
    (AP, 6/27/06)

2006        Jun 29, President George W. Bush welcomed PM Junichiro Koizumi as a good friend and thanked Japan for support in Iraq and handling common threats like terrorism and North Korea.
    (Reuters, 6/29/06)
2006        Jun 29, An official said Japan’s government will require all new cars to be able to run on a blend of 10% ethanol and 90% gasoline by 2010.
    (WSJ, 6/30/06, p.A8)

2006        Jun, In Japan a new traffic law went into effect that gave local police the authority to outsource control of illegal parking.
    (Econ, 1/6/07, p.36)

2006        Jul 1, Ryutaro Hashimoto (68), former Japanese PM (1996-1998), died. He had stood up to the US in trade negotiations and helped diffuse tensions over US military bases in Japan.
    (AP, 7/1/06)

2006        Jul 3, Nissan Motor Co. approved opening talks with General Motors Corp. over a possible alliance.
    (AP, 7/3/06)

2006        Jul 4, Japan initiated new rules that tightened 89 existing laws covering the financial industry. It doubled the maximum jail sentence for fraud to 10 years and gave extra power and broader authority to the Financial Services Agency (FSA).
    (Econ, 7/8/06, p.67)

2006        Jul 5, Japan, the United States and Britain readied a UN Security Council resolution demanding that nations withhold all funds, goods and technology that could be used for North Korea's missile program.
    (AP, 7/5/06)

2006        Jul 7, The first batch of Japanese troops began pulling out of Iraq.
    (AP, 7/7/06)
2006        Jul 7, The UN General Assembly unanimously approved a series of reforms that were welcomed by the US as a long overdue step toward greater efficiency and accountability. A two-week UN conference reviewing efforts to fight the illegal weapons trade ended in failure, with nations too divided on too many contentious issues to agree on the best way to combat a scourge that fuels conflict worldwide. Japan introduced a draft UN Security Council resolution to sanction North Korea for test-launching a series of missiles. The Council unanimously adopted a compromise resolution on July 15.
    (AP, 7/8/06)(AP, 7/7/07)

2006        Jul 14, Japan’s central bank raised a key interest rate for the first time in six years, ending an unorthodox experiment meant to jump-start the country after a decade of economic doldrums. The rate increased from zero to .25%.
    (AP, 7/14/06)(Econ, 7/22/06, p.65)

2006        Jul 22, Japan's death toll from floods and mudslides triggered by this week's torrential rain rose to 19 as an evacuation warning was issued in the country's southwest. Heavy rains caused mudslides and flooding killed four people in southern Japan. About 100,000 people were urged to flee their homes.
    (AFP, 7/22/06)(AP, 7/23/06)

2006        Jul 23, The 654-foot Singapore-flagged Cougar Ace, a cargo ship carrying 4,813 cars from Japan to Canada, began tilting to its port side late at night hundreds of miles off Alaska's Aleutian Islands. 23 crew members were rescued the next day. The ship was owned by Tokyo-based Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and listed on its side for several weeks before being righted. 4,703 of the cars were new Mazdas valued at about $100 million. After a year of planning Mazda scheduled all the cars for complete reduction to scrap in Portland, Ore.
    (AP, 7/25/06)(SFC, 7/25/06, p.A2)(WSJ, 4/29/08, p.A9)

2006        Jul 27, Japan said it will allow US beef imports, suspended for the past six months, to restart from all but one of 35 US beef processing plants authorized by the US government as suppliers to Japan.
    (AP, 7/27/06)

2006        Jul, In Japan fans of pachinko slot machines queued up to play the latest Hokuto-no-ken (North-star Fist) game. It was estimated that Japanese spent $260 billion playing pachinko and pachislot slot machines. Parlors gave non-cash prizes, but shops nearby allowed winners to trade their prizes for cash.
    (Econ, 7/29/06, p.60)

2006        Aug 3, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso arrived in Baghdad on a surprise visit, bringing with him a loan of 3.3 billion yen ($29 million) to jump-start Iraq's economic development.
    (AP, 8/3/06)

2006        Aug 10, Yasuo Takei, Japan’s richest man, died. Forbes listed his assets at $5.4 billion. In 1966 he founded Fuji Shoji, a consumer loan company. In 1974 it was renamed Takefuji and grew to become a leader in Japan’s loan industry. In 2004 he was convicted for ordering an illegal wiretapping of a reported who criticized his company.
    (SFC, 8/14/06, p.B8)

2006        Aug 14, A Japanese tanker spilled about 1.4 million gallons of crude oil in the eastern Indian Ocean following a collision with a cargo ship. The spill, which would be about 4,500 tons, may be the largest ever involving a Japanese tanker. The tanker was carrying about 77.6 million gallons, or 250,000 tons, of crude. It had left port in Oman bound for Japan.
    (AP, 8/15/06)

2006        Aug 15, Japan’s PM Junichiro Koizumi made a pilgrimage to a Tokyo war shrine reviled by critics as a symbol of militarism, triggering a further erosion in Japan's ties with its neighbors just a month before he leaves office.
    (AP, 8/15/06)

2006        Aug 16, A Russian patrol boat opened fire on a Japanese vessel in disputed waters, killing a fisherman and prompting a strong protest from Tokyo. Moscow urged Japanese boats to stay out of its waters. 3 fishermen were detained.
    (AP, 8/16/06)(AP, 8/17/06)

2006        Aug 19, Russia handed over the body of a Japanese fisherman killed by a Russian patrol boat that opened fire in disputed waters, sparking a diplomatic feud.
    (AP, 8/19/06)

2006        Aug 25, Japanese officials said Kazusaku Tezuka, the president of precision instrument maker Mitutoyo Corp., was arrested along with four other Mitutoyo executives and employees for the alleged export to Malaysia of equipment that can be used in making nuclear weapons.
    (AP, 8/25/06)

2006        Aug 30, Russia released two Japanese fishermen held since their boat was seized for allegedly fishing in Russian waters in a confrontation in which a crewman was killed.
    (AP, 8/30/06)

2006        Sep 1, Shinzo Abe, the front-runner to be Japan's next prime minister, announced his candidacy, promising to defend Japan's interests and maintain the security alliance with the US.
    (AP, 9/1/06)
2006        Sep 1, Greece beat the Americans 101-95 in the semifinals of the world championships in Saitama, Japan.
    (AP, 9/1/06)

2006        Sep 2, The former Stella Polaris, a historic ocean liner (1927-1970), sank overnight off Japan's southeastern coast. The Swedish company Petro-Fast AB had planned to operate the ship, renamed the Scandinavia, as a hotel-restaurant in Stockholm.
    (AP, 9/2/06)

2006        Sep 6, Japan's Princess Kiko gave birth to the royal family's first male heir in four decades. The male heir was named Hisahito, meaning "virtuous, calm and everlasting"
    (AP, 9/6/06)(AP, 9/12/06)
2006        Sep 6, Andy Ross, owner of Cody’s bookstore in Berkeley, Ca., announced that the store had been sold to Yohan Inc., a book company based in Tokyo.
    (SFC, 9/7/06, p.C1)

2006        Sep 14, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo held talks in Tokyo on the start of a trans-Pacific trip.
    (AP, 9/14/06)

2006        Sep 17, A strong typhoon swept toward southwestern Japan with fierce winds and heavy rains, leaving at least 8 people dead or missing and injuring dozens more.
    (AFP, 9/17/06)

2006        Sep 19, Australia and Japan imposed financial sanctions on 11 North Korean companies, a Swiss company and its president, based on allegations they helped the communist nation's weapons programs.
    (AP, 9/19/06)

2006        Sep 20, Nationalist candidate Shinzo Abe won the race for Japan's ruling party leader, all but clinching next week's election as prime minister and pledging to make his country a more robust force on the world stage.
    (AP, 9/20/06)

2006        Sep 21, A Japanese court ruled that an order forcing Tokyo teachers to stand before Japan's flag and sing an anthem to the emperor violated the constitution, a rare victory for the country's waning pacifist movement.
    (AP, 9/21/06)

2006        Sep 26, In Japan nationalist Shinzo Abe, a proponent of a robust alliance with the US and a more assertive military, easily won election in parliament to become the country’s youngest postwar prime minister. Abe faced a government debt equivalent to 170% of GDP. Junichiro Koizumi formally stepped down as prime minister. His achievements included changing the way politics was carried out, advancing big economic reforms, and extending Japan’s role in foreign affairs.
    (AP, 9/26/06)(Econ, 9/16/06, p.14)(Econ, 9/23/06, p.44)
2006        Sep 26, Officials said a cow in northern Japan is suspected of having the country's 29th case of mad cow disease.
    (AP, 9/26/06)

2006        Sep 29, A press report said Japan has decided to stop financial support for the development of Iran's largest onshore oil field if the Islamic republic continues uranium enrichment. The move means Japan's virtual withdrawal from its two billion-dollar contract to develop the Azadegan field. The contract was signed in 2004 by Inpex Corp., a Japanese oil exploration company that is supported by the government but also has private stakeholders.
    (AP, 9/29/06)

2006        Sep, Japan’s government approved measures to block the transfer of funds to North Korea. The rules went into effect on Jan 4, 2007.
    (Econ, 1/13/07, p.39)

2006        Oct 6, The Panamanian-registered Giant Step ran ashore after catching fire in rough seas off Kashima in eastern Japan, killing one crewman and injuring two others. Of the remaining crew, 13 were rescued but nine are missing.
    (AP, 10/7/06)

2006        Oct 8, Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe visited Beijing and held talks with Pres. Hu Jintao and PM Wen Jiabao. Abe said Japan and China agree that a North Korea nuclear test "cannot be tolerated" and that Pyongyang should return unconditionally to six-party negotiations on its nuclear programs.
    (AP, 10/8/06)(Econ, 10/7/06, p.29)

2006        Oct 11, North Korea threatened more nuclear tests saying additional sanctions imposed on it would be considered an act of war. Japan imposed a total ban on North Korean imports and said ships from the impoverished nation were prohibited from entering Japanese ports as punishment for its apparent nuclear test.
    (AP, 10/11/06)
2006        Oct 11, In SF 2 Japanese champions of shogi, a cousin of Western chess played on an 81-square board, squared off for the opening game of the “Dragon King” title at the Hotel Nikko.
    (SFC, 10/12/06, p.B1)

2006        Oct 18, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that Japan will not build a nuclear bomb, declaring discussion on that topic "finished," despite the atomic test by North Korea.
    (AP, 10/18/06)

2006        Oct 20, Japan's government said the birth rate rose for the seventh straight month in August, raising hopes for an upturn in the country's plunging annual birthrate and declining population.
    (AP, 10/20/06)

2006        Oct 27, The US agreed to return to Japan part of the airspace used by the military near Tokyo, allowing civilian planes to reduce flight times and cut costs. The handover will take place by September 2008 before an expansion at Tokyo's Haneda airport.
    (AFP, 10/27/06)
2006        Oct 27, It was reported that a new mobile phone in Japan can recognize its owner. The P903i from NTT DoCoMo automatically locks when the person gets too far away from it and can be found via satellite navigation if it goes missing.
    (AP, 10/27/06)

2006        Oct 31, PM Shinzo Abe said Japan will continue assisting Equatorial Guinea in its efforts to promote democracy. Abe made the pledge during a 45-minute meeting with Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema in Tokyo.
    (AFP, 10/31/06)

2006        Nov 7, A rare tornado tore across Japan's far north, killing nine people and leaving dozens more destitute.
    (AFP, 11/7/06)

2006        Nov 11, Sony Corp. launched its new PlayStation 3 (PS3) in Japan.
    (Econ, 11/18/06, p.63)

2006        Nov 14, Honda unveiled the hydrogen powered Honda FCX in Monterey, Ca. Hondo planned to produce fuel cell cars within 2 years.
    (SFC, 11/15/06, p.A1)

2006        Nov 15, A fleet of Japanese whalers set sail for an annual hunt in the Antarctic, where they hope to kill 860 whales for a research program that has been heavily criticized by environmentalists and some other nations.
    (AP, 11/15/06)

2006        Nov 17, Japan’s Sony Corp. launched its new PlayStation 3 (PS3) in the USA.
    (AP, 11/17/06)

2006        Nov 19, Japan's PM Shinzo Abe, fresh after his first Asia-Pacific summit, kicked off his official visit to Vietnam as business chiefs unveiled plans to invest more than 700 million dollars.
    (AP, 11/19/06)
2006        Nov 19, Nintendo's new Wii video game console debuted, the final entrant in the three-way scramble for dominance in the $30 billion global game market.
    (Reuters, 11/19/06)

2006        Nov 23, Japan decided to temporarily suspend South Korean poultry imports due to a suspected bird flu outbreak that has killed around 6,000 chickens.
    (AP, 11/23/06)

2006        Nov 30, Japan's lower house of parliament passed a bill to create a cabinet-level defense ministry for the first time since World War II.
    (AFP, 11/30/06)

2006        Dec 13, Indian PM Manmohan Singh started a visit to Japan to seek support from the major civilian atomic power for the controversial US-India nuclear cooperation pact.
    (AP, 12/13/06)

2006        Dec 15, In Japan PM Shinzo Abe’s government pushed through legislation requiring Japanese schools to encourage patriotism and elevating the Defense Agency to the status of a full ministry for the 1st time since WW II.
    (SFC, 12/16/06, p.A10)

2006        Dec 18, Japanese electronics maker Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said it will begin mass production of a new lithium-ion battery that is safe from the overheating problems that prompted a massive recall of Sony Corp. batteries this year.
    (AP, 12/18/06)

2006        Dec 21, Japan said it saw no hope of a breakthrough in talks on scrapping North Korea's nuclear weapons, accusing Pyongyang of using a financial dispute with the United States to drive a stake into a proposed deal.
    (AP, 12/21/06)

2006        Dec 25, Four Japanese inmates on death row were hanged, the first executions to take place in Japan since September 2005.
    (AP, 12/25/06)

2006        Dec 26, Chinese and Japanese history scholars met for the first in a series of government-mandated study groups aimed at smoothing over differences between the Asian powers on historical issues.
    (AP, 12/26/06)

2006        Dec 31, Japanese media reported that Japanese courts had sentenced 44 people to death in 2006, the largest number in at least 26 years, amid a toughening of sentences for violent crimes.
    (AP, 1/1/07)

2006        The number of suicides in Japan dipped this year but the total topped 30,000 for the ninth straight year.
    (AP, 6/7/07)

2007        Jan 5, Momofuko Ando (b.1910), inventor of instant noodles (1958), died in Japan.
    (Econ, 1/20/07, p.94)

2007        Jan 8, USS Newport News nuclear-powered submarine collided with a Japanese oil tanker in the Straits of Hormuz, through which 40 percent of the world's oil supplies travel. The bow of the submarine was traveling submerged when it hit the stern of the supertanker Mogamigawa. Damage was light.
    (AP, 1/9/07)

2007        Jan 9, Japan launched its first full-fledged defense ministry since World War II as part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's efforts to build a more assertive nation.
    (AFP, 1/9/07)

2007        Jan 14, Australia's Environment Minister Ian Campbell told national radio that Japanese whaling ships on their annual hunt in the Antarctic are banned from docking in Australia and should use restraint in looming clashes with protesters.
    (AFP, 1/15/07)

2007        Jan 21, Russian border police seized a Japanese fishing boat and its six crew members in disputed waters between the two countries, prompting the Japanese government to protest. The No. 38 Zuisho Maru was captured off Kunashiri Island, one of four disputed islands in a group the Japanese call the Northern Territories and the Russians call the Kurils.
    (AP, 1/22/07)

2007        Jan 26, It was reported that scientists in Japan have developed a new technique for detecting explosives such as TNT in landmines or luggage using radio waves. The scientists created a device called superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID), which has a very sensitive magnetic field sensor that detects nitrogen, an element found in many explosives, including TNT.
    (Reuters, 1/26/07)

2007        Jan 30, Another outbreak of bird flu was suspected in southern Japan after 23 chickens were found dead at a farm.
    (AP, 1/30/07)

2007        Jan 31, The New York Stock Exchange announced a cooperative agreement with the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
    (AP, 2/1/07)

2007        Feb 5, Britain pressed ahead with a cull of 160,000 turkeys after the nation's first outbreak of a deadly strain of bird flu in farmed poultry as Russia and Japan banned British poultry imports.
    (Reuters, 2/5/07)

2007        Feb 7, Japan's PM Shinzo Abe pledged to regain four disputed northern islands from Russia, saying it was time to end the bickering between Tokyo and Moscow over the prime fishing grounds.
    (AP, 2/7/07)

2007        Feb 9, Nichiro Corp., a Japanese food company, recalled nearly 5 million cans of tuna after a customer found part of a box cutter blade in a can. The small piece of blade was found in a can of tuna produced in Vietnam in February 2006 and imported to Japan by a third company for sale by Nichiro.
    (AP, 2/9/07)

2007        Feb 12, A Japanese whaling ship issued a distress signal from Antarctic waters, after it collided with a protest boat trying to save whales from slaughter.
    (AP, 2/12/07)

2007        Feb 13, Japan opened an international whaling conference by blasting a boycott by dozens of anti-whaling nations, saying their absence would block much-needed reforms of the commission that sets regulations.
    (AP, 2/13/07)

2007        Feb 15, Officials warned of a potential environmental disaster in Antarctica after fire erupted on a Japanese whaling ship, as the search continued for a missing crewmen from the crippled ship. The next day Japanese officials said the ship posed no environmental threat.
    (AP, 2/15/07)(AP, 2/16/07)

2007        Feb 16, Japan's Cabinet approved sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program under UN Security Council guidelines.
    (AP, 2/16/07)

2007        Feb 18, Japanese researchers said they had grown normal-looking teeth from single cells in lab dishes, and transplanted them into mice.
    (Reuters, 2/18/07)
2007        Feb 18, The United States sent eight more US F-22 stealth fighter planes to the southern Japanese island of Okinawa in their first full deployment overseas.
    (AP, 2/18/07)

2007        Feb 20, Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in Japan for a meeting with the emperor, dinner with the PM and a pep rally for US troops aboard the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk.
    (AP, 2/20/07)

2007        Feb 21, The Bank of Japan voted to raise interest rates by a quarter of a point to 0.5%.
    (Econ, 2/24/07, p.85)

2007        Feb 26, Officials said that after nearly a decade of trying, Japan has succeeded in establishing a network of spy satellites that can peer at any point on the globe.
    (AP, 2/26/07)

2007        Feb 28, Japan and Russia looked to expand trade despite rocky relations as they agreed to cooperate on nuclear energy and in preventing disasters in disputed islands.
    (AP, 2/28/07)
2007        Feb 28, Officials said Japan has decided to pull its whaling fleet out of the Antarctic and end this year's whale hunt early after a deadly fire crippled its mother ship.
    (AP, 2/28/07)

2007        Mar 1, PM Shinzo Abe said there was no evidence Japan coerced Asian women into working as sex slaves during World War II, backtracking from a landmark 1993 statement in which the government acknowledged that it set up and ran brothels for its troops. A passenger train derailed in northern Japan after slamming into a truck, leaving dozens injured including 25 high school students.
    (AP, 3/1/07)

2007        Mar 3, In central Japan an annual hunt for as many as 20,000 dolphins drew to a close. Herded since October the youngest and most attractive dolphins were put up for sale to theme parks for as much as $100,000.
    (SFC, 3/3/07, p.B6)

2007        Mar 4, An aide said PM Shinzo Abe will stand by Japan's 1993 apology over forcing Asian women to have sex with Japanese troops in the last century, after the leader's denial that Tokyo used coercion caused an international uproar.
    (AP, 3/4/07)

2007        Mar 5, A Tokyo paper said Japan, the United States and India will carry out a joint military drill in the Pacific off Japan's coast amid concerns about China's military build-up.
    (AFP, 3/5/07)

2007        Mar 8, PM Shinzo Abe said that ruling party lawmakers will conduct a fresh investigation into the Japanese military's forced sexual slavery of women during World War II.
    (AP, 3/8/07)

2007        Mar 9, In Japan Aeon supermarket chain said it will take a 15% stake in troubled Daiei for 46.2 billion yen, or $393.5 million. The alliance would create Japan's biggest retail grouping.
    (AP, 3/9/07)

2007        Mar 13, Australia and Japan signed a groundbreaking defense pact in Tokyo that the leaders of both countries stressed was not aimed at reining in China, but the road ahead for a two-way trade deal looked rougher.
    (AP, 3/13/07)

2007        Mar 14, A Japanese court overturned a landmark ruling ordering the Japanese government and a company to compensate Chinese who were forced to work as slave laborers in Japan during World War Two. The Tokyo High Court acknowledged that the state and the firm had violated the human rights of the 11 Chinese, but rejected the plaintiffs' demand for compensation because a 20-year statute of limitation had expired.
    (Reuters, 3/14/07)
2007        Mar 14, Israeli and Palestinian envoys said that improving the economy can revive the peace process as they got to work on a Japanese initiative to create jobs in the West Bank.
    (AP, 3/14/07)

2007        Mar 18, In Japan 3 masked men stole 220-pound block of gold worth more than $2 million from the Ohashi Collection Kan museum in Takayama. 26 railways and 75 bus companies in the greater Tokyo area were scheduled to begin sharing a new stored value system called Pasmo.
    (AP, 3/19/07)(Econ, 2/17/07, p.72)

2007        Mar 22, A Japanese court sentenced Ryoji Miyauchi, former chief financial officer of dot-com company Livedoor, to 20 months in prison for inflating earnings reports.
    (AP, 3/22/07)
2007        Mar 22, Brian Joubert became the first Frenchman in 42 years to win the world title by taking the men's event at the World Figure Skating Championships in Tokyo.
    (AP, 3/22/08)

2007        Mar 23, A Japanese whaling ship returned to port from Antarctica with a catch of 508 whales, despite having its annual hunt cut short by a deadly fire.
    (AP, 3/23/07)

2007        Mar 24, Japan's Miki Ando won the women's title at the World Figure Skating Championship in Tokyo, leading a 1-2 finish for the host country with Mao Asada second.
    (AP, 3/24/08)
2007        Mar 24, Swedish truck maker Volvo said it has successfully acquired Japan's Nissan Diesel, the latest merger in the industry as companies prepare for more stringent emissions rules.
    (AP, 3/24/07)

2007        Mar 25, A powerful earthquake struck central Japan, killing at least one person and injuring 170 others as it toppled buildings, triggered landslides and generated a small tsunami along the coast. The quake was followed throughout the day by aftershocks.
    (AP, 3/25/07)

2007        Mar 26, Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, under fire for denying that Japan forced women to work as sex slaves during World War II, offered a fresh apology but refused to clearly acknowledge Japan's responsibility for running the frontline brothels.
    (AP, 3/26/07)
2007        Mar 26, Ann Hawker (22), a British language teacher, was found naked in a sand-filled bathtub at an apartment outside Tokyo. She had been beaten and then suffocated. Police hunted for the prime suspect, a 28-year-old Japanese male. On Nov 10, 2009, Tatsuya Ichihashi was arrested as the only suspect in the murder, after he had spent over two years on the run and altered his appearance with plastic surgery. In 2011 Ichihashi admitted the killing but said it was accidental. On July 21 Ichihashi was sentenced to life in prison.
    (AP, 3/29/07)(AFP, 12/2/09)(AFP, 7/4/11)(AFP, 7/21/11)

2007        Mar 27, In Japan a Cabinet official said an electrical glitch has knocked out a satellite in a spy network Japan hoped to use to gather intelligence on North Korea and other trouble spots around the world.
    (AP, 3/27/07)

2007        Mar 28, A Japanese man was sentenced to death for murdering three people he lured through a suicide Web site by offering to die with them.
    (AP, 3/28/07)

2007        Mar 29, In Tokyo the director of a research institute said Japanese scientists have developed an oral vaccine for Alzheimer's disease that has proven effective and safe in mice.
    (Reuters, 3/29/07)

2007        Apr 2, Thailand's premier hailed ties with Japan as he prepared to sign a free-trade agreement with his country's top investor, easing international isolation of the kingdom since last year's coup. Army-installed PM Surayud Chulanont will sign the deal April 3, which Thailand hopes will boost investment from Japan.
    (AFP, 4/2/07)

2007        Apr 3, Japan and Thailand signed a free trade agreement that will cut tariffs on a wide range of traded goods, from seafood to automobiles.
    (AP, 4/3/07)

2007        Apr 8, In Japan Nationalist Shintaro Ishihara won a third term as governor of Tokyo.
    (Reuters, 4/8/07)

2007        Apr 9, Japan lent some 850 million dollars to PM Nuri al-Maliki's government as the oil-hungry Asian power looked to boost output from the war-torn country. Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki met with Japan's Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, starting off a four-day visit that was delayed after Iran refused to allow his plane to fly over its airspace.
    (AP, 4/9/07)

2007        Apr 10, Japan's Cabinet approved a six-month extension on trade sanctions against North Korea, which were imposed in the wake of the communist state's nuclear test last year.
    (AP, 4/10/07)

2007        Apr 11, Japanese and Chinese leaders heralded a new era of closer ties between the two Asian powers, moving to repair relations damaged by a harsh dispute over history and signing accords on energy and environmental protection.
    (AP, 4/11/07)

2007        Apr 12, Toyota named the first non-Japanese to its board of directors, appointing American James Press, the automaker's president of North American operations, amid growing fears of a political backlash for its booming US sales.
    (AP, 4/12/07)

2007        Apr 16, Five young Japanese were found dead inside a sealed van in an apparent group suicide.
    (AP, 4/16/07)

2007        Apr 17, In Japan the mayor of Nagasaki was shot outside a train station and is in critical condition. Police arrested Tetsuya Shiroo (59), who they said was the head of a local gang affiliated with Japan's largest "yakuza" group, the Yamaguchi-gumi. Mayor Itcho Ito (61) died the next day. The gangster arrested in the shooting had visited city offices more than 30 times seeking compensation for car damage caused by a pothole. In 2008 Shiroo was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder.
    (AP, 4/17/07)(Reuters, 4/18/07)(AP, 4/19/07)(AP, 5/26/08)

2007        Apr 20, In Paraguay Japanese businessman Hirokazu Ota, the leader of Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church in Paraguay, was freed following a 19-day abduction and a 140,000-dollar ransom payment.
    (AP, 4/20/07)

2007        Apr 22, Japan went to the polls in two upper-house by-elections and a chain of local elections that could further weaken the leadership of embattled PM Shinzo Abe.
    (AFP, 4/22/07)

2007        Apr 24, Joji Obara (54), a Tokyo businessman, was sentenced to life in prison for a wave of brutal assaults on women, but was cleared over the 2000 abduction and killing of British bar hostess Lucie Blackman.
    (AFP, 4/24/07)
2007        Apr 24, Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. reported that it outsold General Motors Corp. by around 90,000 vehicles in the first quarter, moving a step closer to unseating its US rival as the world's biggest automaker. Aside from a few strike-related blips GM had been the top US car seller since 1931.
    (Reuters, 4/24/07)(Econ, 4/28/07, p.76)

2007        Apr 25, Japan adopted stricter gun control guidelines following a spate of gangster shootings that rattled a nation renowned for its crime-free streets.
    (AP, 4/25/07)

2007        Apr 27, President Bush and visiting Japanese PM Shinzo Abe threatened stronger punitive actions against North Korea if it reneged on a promise to padlock its sole nuclear reactor.
    (AP, 4/27/08)
2007        Apr 27, Japan's Supreme Court upheld a ruling denying compensation to two Chinese women who were forced to work in military brothels during World War II. The court said that the women had no right to seek war compensation from Japan because of a 1972 agreement with China. The top court also overturned a lower court ruling awarding compensation to five Chinese who were forced to work for a Japanese construction company during the war.
    (AP, 4/27/07)

2007        Apr 29, Japan and the resources-rich United Arab Emirates agreed to launch a high-level dialogue aimed at boosting economic ties and to speed up talks on a free trade pact. Officials of the governmental Japan Bank for International Cooperation decided to extend massive loans to Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. in exchange for securing a stable oil supply for Japan.
    (AP, 4/29/07)(http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070430a2.html)

2007        May 1, Japan and Qatar stressed their solid energy partnership and agreed to launch initial negotiations on moves to stimulate Japanese investment in the Gulf state.
    (AP, 5/1/07)

2007        May 2, Egypt and Japan agreed to push together in a bid to end the crisis over Iran's nuclear ambitions, calling for a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction.
    (AFP, 5/2/07)
2007        May 2, James Abegglen, American-born chronicler of the rise of “Japan Inc.,” died in Japan. In the 1960s and 1970s he warned corporate America that Japan should be taken more seriously. His 9th book was titled “21st-Century Japanese Management.”
    (WSJ, 5/12/07, p.A8)

2007        May 5, A roller coaster traveling up to 46 mph hit a guardrail at an amusement park in western Japan, killing one person and injuring 21 others.
    (AP, 5/5/07)

2007        May 6, Japan pledged $100 million in grants to the Asian Development Bank to combat global warming and promote greener investment in the region and called for a stronger international agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
    (AP, 5/6/07)

2007        May 9, Japan's Supreme Court rejected compensation claims by Chinese victims of atrocities committed by Japan in the 1930s and 40s, which included the use of biological weapons and a massacre in the city of Nanjing.
    (AP, 5/10/07)

2007        May 10, A Japanese hospital opened the country's only anonymous drop box for unwanted infants despite government admonitions against abandoning babies.
    (AP, 5/10/07)

2007        May 15, It was discovered that a father used a Japanese drop box for unwanted babies to deposit a preschooler, and not an infant, during its first day of operation.
    (AP, 5/16/07)

2007        May 16, Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe approved an initiative to deregulate Japan’s aviation market. Japanese officials said the landlocked nation of Laos has agreed to join the International Whaling Commission at Japan's request and is highly likely to support Tokyo's high-profile pro-whaling campaign.
    (Econ, 5/26/07, p.40)(AP, 5/16/07)

2007        May 17, In central Japan a man went on a shooting rampage in his home, killing a policeman, wounding three other people, including his son and daughter, and taking his wife hostage.
    (AP, 5/17/07)

2007        May 18, In Japan a former gangster surrendered after a shooting rampage at his home that left one policeman dead and three other people, including his son and daughter, injured.
    (AP, 5/18/07)

2007        May 19, Japan's state and navy police raided a Japanese naval academy over an alleged leak of sensitive warship technology data shared between Japan and the US.
    (AP, 5/19/07)

2007        May 21, Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko arrived in Sweden, kicking off a 10-day tour of Europe that will take in the three Baltic nations and Britain, where they have faced protests in the past.
    (AP, 5/21/07)

2007        May 23, Japan passed a law to fund the reorganization of US forces in Japan and help move thousands of Marines from the country's south to the US territory of Guam. Fire broke out at a farm in northern Japan, killing about 2,000 pigs.
    (AP, 5/23/07)
2007        May 23, Philippine President Gloria Arroyo said she welcomed a greater global role by Japan as she discussed a stalled free trade agreement in Tokyo.
    (AP, 5/23/07)

2007        May 24, Japan's prime minister proposed cutting world greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050 as part of a new global warming pact for all countries, including top polluters United States and China.
    (AP, 5/24/07)
2007        May 24, Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko arrived in Estonia's seaside capital on their first-ever visit to a former Soviet republic.
    (AP, 5/24/07)

2007        May 28, Japan's agriculture minister died after hanging himself just hours before he was to face questioning in a political scandal.
    (AP, 5/28/07)
2007        May 28, In Alaska officials from 75 nations began talks critical to whale conservation amid pressure, notably from Japan, to lift a 20-year ban on commercial whale hunting.
    (AFP, 5/28/07)
2007        May 28, In Mexico City Riyo Mori, a 20-year-old dancer from Japan who hopes to someday open an international dance school, was crowned Miss Universe 2007.
    (AP, 5/28/07)

2007        May 29, In Japan an executive allegedly involved in a bid-rigging scam that has been linked to the suicide of the agriculture minister leaped to his death.
    (AP, 5/29/07)

2007        May 31, Japan failed in its bid to lift a moratorium on commercial whaling after stormy annual talks in Alaska of the 75-nation International Whaling Commission (IWC) and warned it might pull out of the organization.
    (AP, 6/1/07)

2007        May, In Japan a new corporate law was scheduled to take effect allowing foreign companies to use stock swaps to acquire Japanese firms.
    (Econ, 9/9/06, p.65)
2007        May, In Japan it was uncovered that the Social Insurance Agency was unable to match 50 million computerized pension records to people who have paid into public programs. Another 14 million records appeared to have never made it into the computer at system at all.
    (Econ, 7/28/07, p.24)

2007        Jun 2, Four people believed to have fled North Korea arrived at a port in northern Japan in a small boat and told police they want to go to South Korea.
    (Reuters, 6/2/07)
2007        Jun 2, The UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) decided to permit a one-off sale of 60 tons of ivory from Botswana, Namibia and South Africa to Japan, saying it would monitor closely the impact on poaching and population levels.
    (Reuters, 6/3/07)

2007        Jun 6, Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse held talks in Colombo with a top Japanese envoy on the future of the island's peace process following bloody recent clashes. A bomb detonated by suspected Tamil rebels derailed a train in eastern Sri Lanka.
    (AP, 6/6/07)

2007        Jun 8, The Japanese government donated 9.25 million dollars (6.42 million euros) to UNICEF to support its child survival programs in Nigeria.
    (AFP, 6/8/07)
2007        Jun 8, Japan’s Inamori Foundation announced that a California-based earthquake scientist, Japanese chemist and German choreographer have won the $410,000 Kyoto Prize for achievement in the arts and sciences. The basic sciences award went to Hiroo Kanamori of the California Institute of Technology for his research on major earthquakes along the Pacific Rim; Hiroo Inokuchi at the University of Tokyo received the advanced technology award for his work in organic electronics; German choreographer Pina Bausch was awarded the arts and philosophy prize for her pioneering work in developing a new genre of ballet dubbed "Tanztheater," or dance theater. The prizes were awarded on Nov 10.
    (AP, 6/9/07)(AP, 11/11/07)

2007        Jun 9, The Hawaiian canoe Hokulea sailed into the Japanese port of Yokohama, completing a five-month journey of more than 8,500 miles across the Pacific.
    (AP, 6/9/07)

2007        Jun 12, An official said Japan has agreed to offer direct aid to the Palestinian Authority, but will send it to president Mahmud Abbas and not Hamas militants.
    (AP, 6/12/07)

2007        Jun 14, Rifat Hadziahmetovic (39) of Montenegro and another "Pink Panther" member allegedly stole a diamond tiara worth 200 million yen (2.3 million dollars) and other gems from a jewelry store in Tokyo's upmarket Ginza district. Hadziahmetovic was arrested in 2009 in Cyprus. In 2010 he was extradited to Japan from Spain for the robbery in Tokyo. The other suspect in the heist, Radovan Jelusic (39) was arrested in Rome in May in possession of a forged Croatian passport.
    (AP, 8/14/10)
2007        Jun 14, Cambodian PM Hun Sen, visiting Japan, pledged to fight corruption to lure more investors from top donor Japan as he tries to wean his government away from foreign aid.
    (AP, 6/14/07)

2007        Jun 18, Japan changed the name of the Pacific island of Iwo Jima, site of the famous World War II battle, to its original name of Iwo To after residents there were prodded into action by two recent Clint Eastwood movies.
    (AP, 6/20/07)

2007        Jun 20, Japanese lawmakers approved a two-year extension of the country's air force transport mission in Iraq, despite criticism of Tokyo's involvement in the unpopular war.
    (AP, 6/20/07)

2007        Jun 26, A Japanese robot maker unveiled what it called the world's first prototype of an artificial hand with "air muscles" that can do even delicate work like picking up a raw egg.
    (AP, 6/26/07)
2007        Jun 26, Tokitaizan, whose real name is Takashi Saito (17), collapsed during a training session in Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture, and was confirmed dead a few hours later. On Oct 5 the Japan Sumo Association expelled stablemaster Junichi Yamamoto. On Feb 7, 2008, 3 wrestlers and a former trainer were arrested for Saito’s death.
    (Econ, 10/13/07, p.46)(www.japantoday.com/jp/news/419435)(Econ, 2/16/08, p.49)
 
2007        Jun 28, Shigetake Ogata (73), the former head of Japan's intelligence agency, was arrested on fraud allegations involving a $29 million purchase of the headquarters of the General Association of Korean Residents from a pro-North Korean group that he had monitored.
    (AP, 6/28/07)
2007        Jun 28, Kiichi Miyazawa (87), former PM of Japan (1991-1993), died.
    (AP, 6/28/07)

2007        Jul 3, Fumio Kyuma, Japan's defense minister, resigned under an avalanche of criticism for suggesting that the United States was justified in dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki because the attacks saved Japan from a Soviet invasion.
    (AP, 7/3/07)

2007        Jul 5, Japanese police arrested an American sailor on suspicion of attempted murder after two women were stabbed near a naval base south of Tokyo. In 2008 a Japanese court found sailor Joshua David Williams (20) guilty of stabbing the two Japanese women sentenced him to eight years in prison.
    (AP, 7/5/07)(AP, 6/19/08)

2007        Jul 13, A powerful typhoon pounded Japan's southern Okinawa island chain, cutting power to tens of thousands of households and grounding flights with winds up to 100 mph.
    (AP, 7/13/07)

2007        Jul 15, Typhoon Man-yi, one of the most powerful storms to hit Japan in decades, headed away from Tokyo after leaving four people dead or missing.
    (AFP, 7/15/07)

2007        Jul 16, A 6.8 earthquake struck northwestern Japan, destroying hundreds of homes, buckling seaside bridges and causing a fire at one of the world's most powerful nuclear power plants. 11 people were killed and hundreds were injured. The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant suffered a slew of problems, including spilled waste drums, leaked radioactive water, fires and burst pipes.
    (AFP, 7/16/07)(WSJ, 1/17/07, p.A1)(Econ, 7/21/07, p.41)(AP, 7/16/08)

2007        Jul 29, In Japan exit polls showed that PM Shinzo Abe's ruling party suffered humiliating losses in parliamentary elections after a string of political scandals, but Abe said he did not plan to resign. Official election results showed the LDP and its junior coalition partner, the New Komeito, with a total of 103 seats, a 30-seat loss that left it far short of the 122 needed to control the house. The main opposition Democratic Party grabbed 112 seats, up from 81. For the 1st time in its history the LDP was no longer the biggest party in the upper house.
    (AP, 7/29/07)(AP, 7/30/07)(Econ, 8/4/07, p.35)

2007        Jul 30, Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe rejected calls for his resignation, saying the country couldn't afford the resulting "power vacuum."
    (AP, 7/30/07)

2007        Aug 1, Norihiko Akagi, Japan's scandal-embroiled agriculture minister, stepped down, taking responsibility for a shattering election defeat for the ruling party. Akagi had been hit by an embarrassing accounting scandal, which was widely viewed as a major reason behind the ruling election loss.
    (AP, 8/1/07)

2007        Aug 10, Japan and the US signed an agreement aimed at protecting classified military information to be shared by the two countries promoting closer defense cooperation.
    (AP, 8/10/07)

2007        Aug 15, Japan's foreign minister launched plans for a joint Israeli-Palestinian industrial park in the West Bank that he said would promote peace in the region through prosperity.
    (AP, 8/15/07)

2007        Aug 16, Japan sizzled through its hottest day on record as a heat wave claimed at least nine lives and threatened power supplies strained by a recent earthquake. The mercury hit 105.6 degrees in the western city of Tajimi in the afternoon, breaking a previous national record of 105.4 degrees set in 1933.
    (AP, 8/16/07)

2007        Aug 20, In Okinawa, Japan, passengers used emergency slides to evacuate a China Airlines Boeing 737-800 just minutes before the plane burst into a fireball on the tarmac. All 165 people aboard escaped unhurt, including the pilot, who jumped from the cockpit at the last second.
    (AP, 8/20/07)(AP, 8/20/08)

2007        Aug 21, Japanese PM Shinzo Abe arrived in New Delhi to firm up billions of dollars of investment projects, expand trade ties and discuss India's controversial nuclear cooperation deal.
    (AFP, 8/21/07)

2007        Aug 31, Leading Japanese mobile phone carrier NTT DoCoMo Inc. said it will tie up with broadband provider ACCA Networks to introduce ultra-fast mobile WiMAX technology.
    (AFP, 8/31/07)

2007        Sep 1, Takehiko Endo, Japan's latest agricultural minister, acknowledged that a private farming group he leads exaggerated weather damage to the 1999 grape harvest in order to receive government compensation, which amounted to $9,930.
    (AP, 9/2/07)

2007        Sep 3, Takehiko Endo, Japan's scandal-hit farm minister, resigned dealing a fresh blow to PM Shinzo Abe just a week after he reshuffled his cabinet in the hope of cleaning up the government's image.
    (AP, 9/3/07)

2007        Sep 4, 5-nation war games began in the Bay of Bengal. Indian and US aircraft carriers launched fighter jets into the air as American submarines cruised below Japanese, Australian and Singaporean warships.
    (AP, 9/6/07)

2007        Sep 5, Japan and North Korea held talks for the first time in six months in a bid to ease tensions amid signs of cautious optimism for progress from the arch-foes. The meeting in the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator is part of a working group set up by six-nation talks designed to stop North Korea's nuclear weapons programs.
    (AFP, 9/5/07)

2007        Sep 6, Japan and North Korea wrapped up a rare meeting without a breakthrough in an emotional row over kidnappings, but they pledged to keep talking amid small signs of hope between the arch-rivals.
    (AP, 9/6/07)
2007        Sep 6, An unmanned Russian rocket carrying a Japanese communications satellite malfunctioned after liftoff, sending parts crashing in an uninhabited part of Kazakhstan and triggering concerns about environmental damage.
    (AP, 9/6/07)

2007        Sep 12, Japanese PM Shinzo Abe announced he will resign, ending a troubled year-old government that has suffered a string of damaging scandals and a humiliating electoral defeat.
    (AP, 9/12/07)

2007        Sep 14, Japan's space agency launched its much-delayed lunar probe, beginning what it calls the largest mission to the moon since the US Apollo flights. The Selenological and Engineering Explorer (SELENE), probe was launched aboard one of the space program's mainstay H-2A rockets from its launch-pad on remote Tanegashima island.
    (AP, 9/13/07)
2007        Sep 14, It was reported that researchers at Tokyo Univ. had developed a method, dubbed surrogate broodstocking, whereby they inject newly hatched, sterile Asian masu salmon with sperm-growing cells from rainbow trout. The grown salmon then produce trout.
    (SFC, 9/14/07, p.A14)

2007        Sep 15, Yasuo Fukuda (71), the front-runner to become Japan's next prime minister, vowed to extend his nation's support for US-led operations in Afghanistan. The Sept. 23 Liberal Democratic Party ballot to replace PM Shinzo Abe, who abruptly resigned earlier this week, will pit the liberal Fukuda against the more hawkish former Foreign Minister Taro Aso (66). Both candidates have said Japan cannot afford to drop out of the global war on terrorism.
    (AP, 9/15/07)

2007        Sep 20, Japan's Sharp Corp. said it had agreed to become the top shareholder in its financially troubled rival Pioneer Corp. as part of a broad business tie-up in response to growing competition.
    (AP, 9/20/07)

2007        Sep 23, Yasuo Fukuda, a veteran moderate, easily won election as Japan's ruling party president, pledging to keep a pro-US foreign policy and improve ties with Asia after he almost certainly becomes prime minister later this week.
    (AP, 9/23/07)

2007        Sep 25, Japan’s Parliament elected Yasuo Fukuda to be the prime minister, thrusting the moderate political insider into the job of taking on a resurgent opposition and rebuilding the scandal-scarred ruling party.
    (AP, 9/25/07)

2007        Sep 28, Japan suspended poultry imports from Canada after the H7N3 strain of avian influenza was found on a Saskatchewan chicken farm.
    (Reuters, 9/28/07)

2007        Sep 29, In southern Japan more than 100,000 people protested against the central government's order to modify school textbooks which say the country's army forced civilians to commit mass suicide at the end of World War II.
    (AP, 9/30/07)

2007        Oct 1, Japan began a 1-year process of privatizing its postal system, recognized as the world’s largest bank with over $2 trillion in assets.
    (Econ, 9/29/07, p.82)

2007        Oct 5, Japan put its first satellite into orbit around the moon, placing the country a step ahead of China and India in an increasingly heated space race in Asia.
    (AP, 10/5/07)

2007        Oct 8, Satoshi Nakamura (23), a Japanese tourist, was abducted in a restive region of southeast Iran bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan as he headed from his hotel for the ancient mud-built citadel of Bam. Nakamura was released on July 14. A bandit called Esmail Shahbakhsh, blamed for the kidnapping, had reportedly demanded the release of his arrested son in exchange for Nakamura.
    (AFP, 6/15/08)

2007        Oct 9, Japan's Cabinet approved plans to extend economic sanctions against North Korea, despite the communist state's agreement to disable its main nuclear complex by year's end.
    (AP, 10/9/07)

2007        Oct 10, Police in Japan arrested Kazunari Saito (33), who ran an Internet suicide site, for allegedly killing a woman who paid him to do so. He allegedly gave Sayaka Nishizawa (21) sleeping pills and suffocated her in April. Nishizawa had contacted the suspect through an Internet suicide site he hosted and paid him $1,700.
    (AP, 10/11/07)

2007        Oct 16,     Japan, Myanmar's largest aid donor, said it had canceled a multimillion dollar grant to protest the military-ruled nation's crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators.
    (AP, 10/16/07)

2007        Oct 17, Investigators began raids on Japanese companies accused of corruption in projects to remove chemical weapons abandoned in China during World War II. The allegations involve the illegal diversion of some of the $199 million the government has disbursed since 2004 to help dispose of 400,000 chemical weapons that retreating Japanese troops left in northeast China at war's end. China has said poisons have leaked from the weapons and killed about 2,000 people since 1945.
    (AP, 10/19/07)

2007        Oct 26, An official said Japan hopes to thwart potential terrorists from entering the country by fingerprinting and photographing all foreigners aged 16 or over on entry starting next month.
    (AP, 10/26/07)

2007        Oct 28, The USS Porter, a guided missile destroyer, fired on and destroyed two pirate boats tied to the Golden Nori, a hijacked Japanese-flagged chemical tanker. The ship was carrying a load of benzene off the coast of Somalia.
    (AP, 11/1/07)

2007        Oct 29, Japanese megabank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) said that its losses on US subprime loans soared by as much as six-fold over two months to $263 million.
    (AP, 10/29/07)

2007        Oct, In Japan a woman (19) in Hiroshima was allegedly raped by 4 US Marines. In 2008 Lance Cpl. Larry A. Dean (20) was sentenced to two years in prison for "wrongful sexual contact and indecent acts" but cleared of rape. 3 other Marines still faced court-martial.
    (AP, 5/9/08)

2007        Nov 1, Japan's defense minister ordered ships supporting US-led forces in Afghanistan to return home after opposition lawmakers refused to support an extension of the mission, saying it violated the country's pacifist constitution.
    (AP, 11/1/07)

2007        Nov 16, US President George W. Bush and Japanese PM Yasuo Fukuda met for talks aimed at bridging rifts on North Korea and Tokyo's military role in the "war on terror."
    (AP, 11/16/07)

2007        Nov 18, A defiant Japan embarked on its largest whaling expedition in decades, targeting protected humpbacks for the first time since the 1960s despite international opposition. 4 ships headed for the waters off Antarctica, resuming a hunt that was cut short by a deadly fire last February that crippled the fleet's mother ship. An anti-whaling protest boat awaited the fleet offshore.
    (AP, 11/18/07)

2007        Nov 20, Scientists in Japan and the US reported that they have made ordinary human skin cells take on the chameleon-like powers of embryonic stem cells, a startling breakthrough that might someday deliver the medical payoffs of embryo cloning without the controversy.
    (AP, 11/20/07)

2007        Nov 28, In Japan former Vice Defense Minister Takemasa Moriya (63) and his wife were arrested on suspicion they accepted lavish gifts from companies, including one linked to General Electric, in exchange for contracts.
    (AP, 11/28/07)
2007        Nov 28, A Chinese warship dropped anchor off Tokyo in the communist nation's first military visit to Japan since World War II, symbolizing improving ties.
    (AP, 11/28/07)

2007        Nov 29, ZMP of Japan began selling a two-legged walking robot that runs on Microsoft's new robotics software, a product the companies said will make it easier to transfer technology from one robot to another.
    (AP, 11/29/07)

2007        Dec 1, China and Japan began talks on trade and economic issues that are intended to bolster the recent warming of their long-uneasy relations.
    (AP, 12/1/07)

2007        Dec 2, China and Japan amicably wrapped up their first high-level trade and economic talks on Sunday by pledging greater overall cooperation, but left the touchy issue of gas exploration in the East China Sea unresolved.
    (AP, 12/2/07)

2007        Dec 10, Japanese drugmaker Eisai Co. said it will buy US biopharmaceutical company MGI Pharma Inc. for $3.9 billion in cash in a move aimed at boosting its cancer drug business and sustain sales growth.
    (AP, 12/10/07)

2007        Dec 12, Pirates freed a Japanese chemical tanker loaded with highly explosive benzene off the coast of Somalia, six weeks after seizing the vessel and its crew.
    (AP, 12/12/07)

2007        Dec 13, Japan said that Russia seized four Japanese fishing boats in disputed waters between the two countries, calling the detention unacceptable and demanding an explanation from Moscow.
    (AP, 12/13/07)

2007        Dec 17, Japan began sending warnings to an estimated 8.5 million people that their pension data may have gone missing, as the government seeks to clean up a scandal that has damaged its credibility.
    (AP, 12/17/07)
2007        Dec 17, Japan and the United Arab Emirates signed an accord to strengthen economic ties, including a deal for Japanese banks to extend a multibillion-dollar loan to a state-owned Abu Dhabi oil firm.
    (AP, 12/17/07)
2007        Dec 17, US trade officials said the US has reached a deal with the EU, Japan and Canada to keep its Internet gambling market closed to foreign companies, but is continuing talks with India, Antigua and Barbuda, Macau and Costa Rica.
    (AP, 12/17/07)

2007        Dec 18, Japan said it had shot down a ballistic missile in space high above the Pacific Ocean as part of joint efforts with the United States to erect a shield against a possible North Korean attack.
    (AP, 12/18/07)

2007        Dec 21, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said Japan is dropping its plan to kill humpback whales in the seas off Antarctica. The fleet will, however, kill some 935 minke whales, a smaller, more plentiful species, and 50 fin whales.
    (AP, 12/21/07)(AP, 12/22/07)

2007        Dec 28, China and Japan made no major breakthroughs in resolving a row over natural resources in the East China Sea, but a visit by Japanese PM Yasuo Fukuda signaled a new warmth in bilateral relations.
    (AP, 12/28/07)

2007        Dec 29, Shu Uemura (79), Japanese makeup artist, died. He had won acclaim in Hollywood and built an international cosmetics brand under his name.
    (AP, 1/8/08)(WSJ, 1/12/08, p.A10)

2007        Kenneth B. Pyle authored “Japan Rising: The Resurgence of Japanese Power and Purpose.”   
    (Econ, 3/31/07, p.94)

2007        Japan’s government debt this year stood at around 180% of GDP, the highest for any developed economy.
    (Econ, 12/1/07, SR p.3)
2007        Over Some 33,000 people took their lives in Japan this year, topping 30,000 for the tenth consecutive year despite a government campaign to reduce what is one of the highest suicide rates in the world.
    (Reuters, 6/19/08)
2008        Jan 10, Japan’s Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said it will drop the name of its charismatic founder and become Panasonic Corp. to strengthen its global image.
    (AP, 1/10/08)

2008        Jan 11, Japan's parliament cleared the way for its navy to return to the Indian Ocean on a US-backed anti-terror mission, after stiff lobbying from Washington in support of the measure.
    (AP, 1/11/08)

2008        Jan 12, Greenpeace said its protest ship located Japan's whaling fleet in Antarctic waters and is pursuing it to stop the hunt for the giant sea creatures.
    (AP, 1/12/08)

2008        Jan 13, In Sri Lanka Japan's peace envoy opened talks, hinting international donors may hold back much-needed foreign aid if the island's decades-long ethnic conflict escalates.
    (AP, 1/13/08)

2008        Jan 15, An Australian judge banned the company that conducts Japan's whale hunt from killing the animals in a large part of its regular hunting grounds off Antarctica. Japanese whalers said they are holding captive two activists who "illegally" boarded their vessel in the Southern Ocean, in a dramatic escalation in the battle between the two sides.
    (AP, 1/15/08)

2008        Jan 16, Japan's whaling fleet in the Antarctic halted its operations and scrambled to arrange the turnover of two activists who boarded one of its harpoon ships after a tense, high-seas chase, accusing the Sea Shepherd conservation group of piracy.
    (AP, 1/16/08)

2008        Jan 17, Australia said it would send a ship to pick up two anti-whaling activists who jumped on a Japanese harpoon vessel from a rubber boat in Antarctic waters, offering a solution to a tense, two-day standoff on the high seas.
    (AP, 1/17/08)

2008        Jan 18, Two activists who had jumped on board a Japanese whaling boat were returned to their ship by Australian officials.
    (AP, 1/18/08)

2008        Jan 24, Japan's national police, facing allegations that officers regularly squeeze confessions from suspects with abuse, issued guidelines for the first time setting limits on how far they can go in questioning sessions.
    (AP, 1/24/08)

2008        Jan 29, Japan's coast guard said it has sent a team of officers to protect its whaling fleet against intensifying protests by environmentalists.
    (AFP, 1/29/08)
2008        Jan 29, Japan said it was setting up a fund to help African countries enhance protection of intellectual property rights, calling it key to boosting the continent's economic potential.
    (AP, 1/29/08)

2008        Jan 31, In northern Sri Lanka a bomb being transported by a suicide bomber on a bicycle exploded prematurely, killing four people and injuring 13 others. Japan cautioned it will review its aid policy unless the violence subsided.
    (AP, 1/31/08)(AFP, 1/31/08)

2008        Feb 1, Scientists in Japan and New Zealand said they have created a "tear-free" onion using biotechnology to switch off the gene behind the enzyme that makes us cry.
    (AFP, 2/2/08)
2008        Feb 1, An  Australian report said that Japanese harpoonists killed five whales in one day after Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd ships, which had halted the hunt in Antarctic waters, were forced to return to port to refuel.
    (AFP, 2/1/08)

2008        Feb 3, Police said Japanese investigators found insecticide on the outside of six bags of Chinese-made dumplings in Japan after separate dumplings made by the same company sickened 10 people there.
    (AP, 2/3/08)

2008        Feb 9, In Japan the world's leading economies pledged to work together to secure stability in volatile markets but brushed off the idea of a single uniform remedy for the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations.
    (AP, 2/9/08)

2008        Feb 11, In Japan US Staff Sergeant Tyrone Luther Hadnott was arrested after a 14-year-old girl said he raped her in his car. Hadnott was released Feb 29 after the girl withdrew her criminal complaint against him. He still faced a US military investigation. On May 16 Hadnott (38) was found guilty of abusive sexual conduct and sentenced to four years in prison.
    (AFP, 2/12/08)(AP, 3/1/08)(AP, 5/16/08)

2008        Feb 16, A company source said Toshiba Corp is planning to give up on its HD DVD format for high-definition video, conceding defeat to the competing Blu-Ray technology backed by Sony Corp.
    (Reuters, 2/16/08)

2008        Feb 19, A Japanese navy destroyer equipped with advanced radar plowed into a fishing boat off the Pacific coast, splitting the boat in two and plunging two fishermen into the chilly waters. The men remained missing.
    (AP, 2/19/08)
2008        Feb 19, Japan’s Toshiba Corp. announced it would no longer develop, make or market high-definition HD DVD players and recorders, conceding defeat to the competing Blu-Ray technology backed by Sony Corp.
    (AP, 2/19/08)

2008        Feb 23, Japan's space agency launched an experimental communications satellite designed to enable super high-speed data transmission at home and in Southeast Asia.
    (AP, 2/24/08)

2008        Feb 27, Japan and Israel shared their concerns about Iranian nuclear programs and agreed to cooperate to prevent Tehran from going nuclear.
    (AP, 2/27/08)

2008        Mar 5, In western Japan 3 vessels collided in a strait, killing one Filipino crew member and leaving three others missing when their cargo ship sank. The body of Gold Leader's captain, Tomas Nirid Demandaco Jr. (51), was found the next day. A suspected right-wing activist committed suicide by shooting himself in the head in front of Japan's parliament in apparent protest against Japan's warming ties with China.
    (AP, 3/5/08)(AP, 3/6/08)

2008        Mar 7, Captain Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a protest ship harassing Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean, said he was shot in a high-seas clash and his crew members pelted with flash grenades, injuring one. Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith and Japanese officials insisted only warning devices were fired.
    (AFP, 3/7/08)

2008        Mar 11, In Japan authorities arrested in Osaka arrested Hatsue Shimizu (64) and Yoshiko Ishii (55), two sisters, for allegedly hiding millions of dollars worth of cash in their garage to evade inheritance taxes. Their father, who was in the real-estate lease business, died in 2004, leaving $72.9 million to his family.
    (AP, 3/12/08)
2008        Mar 11, The US space shuttle Endeavour blasted off from a seaside Florida launch pad to deliver part of a long-awaited Japanese space laboratory and a Canadian-built robotic system to the International Space Station.
    (AP, 3/11/08)

2008        Mar 15, In Japan Tony Blair, during a meeting of senior officials from the world's top 20 greenhouse gas emitters, urged the world's heaviest polluters including the United States, China and India to agree to binding emissions cuts, saying failure to act on global warming would be "unforgivably irresponsible."
    (AP, 3/15/08)

2008        Mar 19, In Japan Masaaki Takahashi (61) of Tokyo was found fatally stabbed in his cab in Yokosuka, about a half-mile from a US naval base. US and Japanese authorities soon began searching for a US sailor for questioning in the killing of the Japanese taxi driver. On April 2  US sailor Olatunbosun Ugbogu (22), a Nigerian national, admitted during police questioning that he had killed the man. On July 30, 2009, Ugbogu was sentenced to life in prison.
    (AP, 3/21/08)(AFP, 4/2/08)(AP, 7/30/09)

2008        Mar 23, In eastern Japan a person was stabbed to death and at least seven others were hurt by a man who went on a knifing spree at a shopping mall. Police arrested Masahiro Kanagawa (24), who was also wanted over the earlier slaying of a 72-year-old man.
    (AP, 3/23/08)

2008        Mar 25, America’s baseball season opened in Japan as the Boston Red Sox beat the Oakland Athletics 6-5.
    (Econ, 3/29/08, p.83)

2008        Mar 26, Italian officials held a crisis meeting after Japan and South Korea banned imports of mozzarella following the discovery of high dioxin levels in buffalo milk used to make the famed cheese.
    (AP, 3/26/08)

2008        Mar 31, The US investment banking company Lehman Brothers sued the Japanese trading company Marubeni, seeking to recover $350 million in financing it says was obtained fraudulently.
    (AP, 3/31/08)

2008        Mar 31, Scientists in Japan reported that they have designed artificial molecules that when used with rats successfully reversed liver cirrhosis, a serious chronic disease in humans that until now can only be cured by transplants.
    (Reuters, 3/31/08)

2008        Apr 3, Japanese police arrested Olatunbosun Ugbogu (22), a Nigerian national serving in the US Navy, in the March 19 stabbing death of a taxi driver near an American naval base outside Tokyo. He was handed over to Japanese authorities just before the arrest under a bilateral security pact.
    (AP, 4/3/08)

2008        Apr 5, In Japan G8 development officials began a two-day ministerial meeting in Tokyo on how to ease suffering in Africa and other impoverished states as well as bolster their efforts in foreign development aid.
    (AFP, 4/5/08)

2008        Apr 6, In Japan the Group of Eight (G8) rich nations vowed to step up cooperation with emerging donors such as China and India and said they remained committed to a goal to double their own aid to Africa by 2010.
    (AP, 4/6/08)

2008        Apr 9, Japanese lawmakers approved Masaaki Shirakawa as the new central bank chief, ending a power vacuum that had left the nation's top economic job vacant for weeks with global markets in disarray.
    (AP, 4/9/08)

2008        Apr 14, Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) said they had finished signing a deal to tear down trade barriers between the world's second-largest economy and the 10-member bloc.
    (AFP, 4/14/08)
2008        Apr 14, Japan’s government said violent clashes with animal rights groups and fewer whale sightings forced its whaling fleet to head home from the Antarctic with only 55 percent of its 985-whale hunting target.
    (AP, 4/14/08)

2008        Apr 21, In Japan PM Yasuo Fukuda met with South Korea’s Pres. Lee Myung-bak and both declared a new era of closer cooperation.
    (WSJ, 4/22/08, p.A10)
2008        Apr 21, Pirates in the Gulf of Aden fired on a Japanese oil tanker, unleashing hundreds of gallons of fuel into the sea. The attack took place 170 miles off the coast of Yemen while the 150,000-ton tanker was heading to Saudi Arabia.
    (AP, 4/21/08)

2008        Apr 25, In Japan protesters waved the Tibetan flag and denounced China's rulers as the Beijing Olympic torch arrived for the latest leg of a worldwide relay marred by demonstrations.
    (AP, 4/25/08)

2008        May 4, In Japan thousands of activists, artists and scholars gathered for an international peace conference outside Tokyo, vowing to promote the Japanese Constitution's war-renouncing Article 9 as a global standard and prevent the clause from being weakened.
    (AP, 5/4/08)

2008        May 6, Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Tokyo for a feel-good visit that will use ping pong and pandas to take the edge off more contentious problems like border disputes, historical animosity and concerns over China's rule in Tibet.
    (AP, 5/6/08)

2008        May 7, The leaders of Japan and China agreed to resolve a territorial row and start regular summits to ease decades of tension, pledging that Asia's two largest economies would not see each other as a threat.
    (AP, 5/7/08)
2008        May 7, It was reported that Japan was experiencing a problem with a growing population of crows. Over the last 2 years utilities in Tokyo had reported almost 1400 cases of crows cutting fiber optic cables.
    (SFC, 5/7/08, p.A10)

2008        May 19, Japan’s tourism ministry named Hello Kitty as its choice to represent the country in China and Hong Kong, two places where she is wildly popular among kids and young women.
    (AP, 5/19/08)
2008        May 19, Nissan Motor Co. and NEC corp. announced plans to begin mass-producing lithium-ion batteries for electric cars. Nissan and Renault planned to have an all-electric car in the US and Japan by 2010.
    (WSJ, 5/20/08, p.B1)

2008        May 23, Japan allocated $54 million in emergency grants to the UN to help Afghanistan, Africa and Palestinian refugees cope with the ongoing food crisis.
    (AP, 5/23/08)

2008        May 26, In Japan the Group of Eight (G8) environment chiefs pledged "strong political will" toward cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050, declaring that developed nations should take the lead in battling global warming, but failed to agree on much more contentious near-term targets.
    (AP, 5/26/08)

2008        May 28, African leaders, in Japan for a major development conference, lashed out at rich nations for erecting trade barriers that prevent the continent's economic development even as they make lofty pledges to boost aid. Japan pledged to double aid to Africa by 2012 and to help the continent boost rice production two-fold to ease food shortages.
    (AFP, 5/28/08)

2008        May 30, In Japan participants closed a 3-day African development conference saying they aim to double rice production in Africa in 10 years and expand irrigated land by 20 percent in five years.
    (AP, 5/30/08)

2008        Jun 8, G8 leaders meeting in Japan pledged to fight skyrocketing energy prices by increasing efficiency and accelerating investment in new technologies, while urging producers to expand production.
    (AP, 6/8/08)
2008        Jun 8, In Tokyo police arrested Tomohiro Kato, a blood-spattered 25-year-old man, who they said drove a truck into a crowd of people, then got out and began a frenzied knife attack stabbing 17 people leaving at least 7 dead. On March 24, 2011, a court sentenced the former auto plant worker to death.
    (Reuters, 6/8/08)(WSJ, 6/9/08, p.A1)(SFC, 6/10/08, p.A3)(AFP, 3/24/11)

2008        Jun 10, Japan’s Toyota said it will start making the Camry hybrid in Australia and Thailand as part of the its efforts to step up production of "green" cars around the world.
    (AP, 6/10/08)
2008        Jun 10, A Japanese patrol boat unintentionally sank a recreational fishing boat from Taiwan near the Senkaku islands, controlled by Japan, but also claimed by Taiwan and China. The vessel picked up all 16 passengers and crew.
    (Econ, 6/21/08, p.55)

2008        Jun 11, In Japan the upper house, newly controlled by the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), passed its first ever censure motion against the government.
    (Econ, 6/14/08, p.55)
2008        Jun 11, Japanese pharmaceutical firm Daiichi Sankyo said it would buy control of top Indian generics firm Ranbaxy for up to 4.6 billion dollars, entering the fast expanding non-branded drugs market.
    (AFP, 6/11/08)

2008        Jun 14, In Japan G8 finance ministers said soaring oil and food prices are emerging as serious threats to global economic growth, while vowing to work together to address the problem.
    (AP, 6/14/08)
2008        Jun 14, In northern Japan a magnitude-7.2 earthquake ripped across mountains and rice fields, killing at least 13 people as it sheared off hillsides, jolted buildings and shook nuclear power plants. 10 people remained missing.
    (SFC, 6/17/08, p.A8)(AP, 6/18/08)(AFP, 7/10/08)

2008        Jun 16, The FCX Clarity, Honda's new zero-emission, hydrogen fuel cell car, rolled off a Japanese production line and headed to Southern California, where Hollywood is already abuzz over the latest splash in green motoring.
    (AP, 6/16/08)

2008        Jun 17, In Japan serial killer Tsutomu Miyazaki (45), who mutilated the bodies of four young girls and reportedly drank the blood of one of his victims, was among three convicted murderers executed for crimes an official called indescribably cruel. Also executed were Shinji Mutsuda (45), who had been on death row for the murder and robbery of two people, and Yoshio Yamasaki (73), who was convicted of killing two people for the insurance money.
    (AP, 6/17/08)

2008        Jun 18, China and Japan agreed to end a dispute over control of offshore natural gas fields and to jointly develop the fields in the East China Sea.
    (SFC, 6/19/08, p.A12)

2008        Jun 23, A Japanese fishing boat capsized and sank off the country's eastern coast, leaving four crew members dead and 13 missing.
    (AP, 6/23/08)

2008        Jun 24, A Japanese warship steamed into a Chinese port, the first such visit since World War Two, in a military exchange aimed at putting relations between the former bitter enemies on a firmer footing.
    (AP, 6/24/08)

2008        Jun 26, In Japan foreign ministers from the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations agreed on the need to step up efforts to secure Afghanistan's borders and stabilize food and oil prices to avoid a global crisis.
    (AP, 6/26/08)

2008        Jun 27, In Japan Group of Eight (G8) powers warned they could take further action against Sudan at the UN Security Council unless it complies with demands to bring Darfur war crimes suspects to justice.
    (AFP, 6/27/08)

2008        Jul 2, Japan and Middle Eastern leaders agreed on a project to bring thousands of badly needed jobs to the West Bank, voicing hope it would lay the groundwork for a Palestinian state.
    (AFP, 7/2/08)

2008        Jul 4, Japan announced it will provide $50 million in new emergency food aid to help developing countries cope with the impact of soaring food prices.
    (AP, 7/4/08)

2008        Jul 5, In northern Japan more than 1,000 people marched to protest an upcoming summit of the G8 industrialized countries. Police arrested four protesters after a brief scuffle.
    (AP, 7/5/08)

2008        Jul 7, In Japan G8 leaders raised the prospect of more sanctions against Zimbabwe unless quick progress is made to end a political crisis after a violent election that extended President Robert Mugabe's 28-year rule. The G8 met with seven African leaders at its annual summit. African leaders urged the Group of Eight nations to tackle spiking oil and food prices. Japan included 5 “outreach” countries (Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa) for brief discussions with the G8.
    (Reuters, 7/7/08)(AFP, 7/7/08)(Econ, 7/5/08, p.33)

2008        Jul 8, In Japan G8 leaders endorsed halving world emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050. The G8 also agreed to impose targeted sanctions against leading Zimbabwean officials after a violent election last month that extended President Robert Mugabe's 28-year rule.
    (AP, 7/8/08)

2008        Jul 9, In Japan G8 leaders reiterated their commitment for doubling aid to Africa by 2010 and instituted new accountability procedures to ensure that wealthy countries fulfill their promises of aid there. They also agreed to combat global warming but developing nations declined o endorse emissions targets.
    (SFC, 7/10/08, p.A7)(WSJ, 7/10/08, p.A1)

2008        Jul 13, Thousands of Japanese rallied against the permanent basing of the nuclear-powered USS George Washington aircraft carrier near Tokyo, saying a recent onboard fire made it unsafe.
    (AP, 7/13/08)

2008        Jul 14, South Korea said it will recall its ambassador from Japan over a rekindled debate about disputed islands between the countries, as the new Seoul government seeks to lift its sagging popularity at home with an appeal to nationalism.
    (AP, 7/14/08)

2008        Jul 15, Fishermen across Japan went on a massive one-day strike to protest skyrocketing fuel prices, the latest blow to the country's foundering fishing industry.
    (AP, 7/15/08)

2008        Jul 28, In central Japan 4 people died after being swept away in torrential rains that caused floods and mudslides and prompted an evacuation order for 50,000 people.
    (AP, 7/28/08)

2008        Jul, Japan for the first time exported more to China this month than to America. Japan’s public sector debt stood at 170% of GDP, the highest among the big rich economies.
    (Econ, 9/6/08, p.87)

2008        Aug 5, In Japan 4 people were missing after being washed away by a surge of sewage water while working in a manhole in downtown Tokyo.
    (AP, 8/5/08)

2008        Aug 7, Japan accepted over 200 Indonesian nurses into the country, an unprecedented move as Tokyo struggles to quell a labor shortage triggered by sinking fertility rates.
    (AP, 8/7/08)
2008        Aug 7, A new US Embassy report released by the Japanese Foreign Ministry said the USS Houston submarine was already leaking during nine earlier port calls in Japan and the amount of radiation leaked was larger than initially reported. It "has been steadily leaking a small amount" of radiation from June 2006 to July 2008 when it entered a drydock in Hawaii.
    (AP, 8/7/08)

2008        Aug 10, Japan's Masato Uchishiba has won his second straight Olympic gold medal, pinning France's Benjamin Darbelet just seconds into their final match in the men's 66-kilogram division and bringing Japan its first judo gold of the Beijing Games.
    (AP, 8/10/08)

2008        Aug 21, Armed pirates hijacked a Japanese chemical tanker with 19 crew, an Iranian bulk carrier with 29 crew, and a German cargo ship with a crew of 9 off Somalia's coast.
    (AP, 8/21/08)(AP, 8/22/08)

2008        Aug 22, Japanese scientists said they had derived stem cells from wisdom teeth, opening another way to study deadly diseases without the ethical controversy of using embryos.
    (AP, 8/22/08)

2008        Aug 23, Pirates fired on a Japanese-operated cargo ship off Somalia and attempted to board the vessel but failed to seize it.
    (AP, 8/23/08)

2008        Aug 26, A UN team in Herat, Afghanistan, said it found "convincing evidence" that 90 civilians, including 60 children, were killed in US-led air strikes last week. Aerial bombardment was clearly evident with some 78 houses having been totally destroyed and serious damage to many others. Kazuya Ito (31), a Japanese aid worker, was kidnapped at gunpoint with his driver near Jalalabad. Ito was found killed the next day. A group of Taliban fighters attacked a police checkpoint in Nad Ali district of Helmand province, sparking a clash that killed 18 militants. An air strike killed 30 Taliban in southeastern Afghanistan close to the border with Pakistan.
    (AP, 8/26/08)(AP, 8/27/08)(Reuters, 8/27/08)

2008        Aug 29, Central Japan was hit by heavy rains and flooding forcing the evacuation of over a million people. At least one person was killed and several more were missing.
    (WSJ, 8/30/08, p.A1)(http://english.pravda.ru/news/hotspots/29-08-2008/106251-japan_flood-0)

2008        Aug 30, China’s tallest building, the 101-story, 1,614-foot Shanghai World Financial Center, opened 14 years after Minoru Mori, its Japanese developer, began the $1.13 billion project. The family owned Mori Building Co. owned 70% of the project.
    (SFC, 8/29/08, p.A1)(WSJ, 9/2/08, p.B2)

2008        Sep 1, Japan's chronically unpopular PM Yasuo Fukuda (72), suddenly announced his resignation after less than a year in office, throwing the world's second-largest economy into political confusion.
    (AP, 9/1/08)

2008        Sep 5, In Japan right-leaning former Foreign Minister Taro Aso announced that he will run for ruling party president in a move that would put him on track to take over as Japan's next prime minister.
    (AP, 9/5/08)

2008        Sep 6, Yahoo! Japan announced support for victimized users whose Yahoo IDs were used illegally. The company admitted that its online auction site suffered a huge security breach and agreed to reimburse users who had been charged fees relating to fraudulent transactions.
    (http://blog.trendmicro.com/caution-needed-jp-yahoo-auctions-site-phished/)(Econ, 10/18/08, p.76)
2008        Sep 6, In Greece the body of Amphithea Tanida (36) was found wrapped in sheets in a bathroom in her parents' villa at Amarynthos on Evia. Masami Tanida (77), a retired Japanese diplomat, and his wife Maria (67) were arrested the next day and charged with murdering their daughter.
    (AP, 9/8/08)

2008        Sep 11, Japan said it was ending an air mission in Iraq, wrapping up a military deployment which was historic for the pacifist nation but deeply unpopular among the public.
    (AFP, 9/11/08)

2008        Sep 16, A Japanese researcher said he has taught a beluga whale to "talk" by using sounds to identify three different objects, offering hope that humans may one day be able to hold conversations with sea mammals.
    (Reuters, 9/16/08)
2008        Sep 16, Urgently trying to keep cash flowing amid a Wall Street meltdown, the Federal Reserve pumped another $70 billion into the nation's financial system to help ease credit stresses. Late in the day the Federal Reserve agreed to a 2-year $85 billion loan to insurance giant American International Group (AIG) in exchange for a 79.9% equity stake in the form of warrants called equity participation notes. Central banks in the US, Europe and Japan pumped tens of billions into their banking systems to keep money flowing.
    (AP, 9/16/08)(SFC, 9/17/08, p.A1)(WSJ, 9/17/08, p.A1)

2008        Sep 19, Japan's agriculture minister resigned in a widening scandal over rice contaminated with mold and pesticide that was sold as food for thousands of people, including schoolchildren and nursing home patients.
    (AP, 9/19/08)

2008        Sep 22, Brash conservative Taro Aso easily won the presidency of Japan's struggling ruling party, virtually ensuring his election as prime minister later this week amid political and economic turmoil.
    (AP, 9/22/08)
2008        Sep 22, Nomura Holdings Inc., Japan's largest brokerage, reached a deal to buy the Asian operations of bankrupt US investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in a deal valued at around $225 million.
    (AP, 9/22/08)

2008        Sep 23, Japan’s Nomura Holdings said it will buy the European and Middle Eastern equities and investment banking operations of Lehman Brothers for an undisclosed sum.
    (AFP, 9/23/08)

2008        Sep 24, Taro Aso (68), former foreign minister and flamboyant conservative of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), took charge as Japan's new prime minister, pledging to work for a "cheerful" nation by reviving an economy in the doldrums.
    (AP, 9/24/08)(Econ, 9/27/08, p.53)(Econ, 11/1/08, p.51)

2008        Sep 29, Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ said it would take a 21% stake in Morgan Stanley at a cost of $9 billion.
    (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-09/30/content_10134094.htm)
2008        Sep 29, The US Federal Reserve with the help of the ECB, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan agreed to lend banks a further $620 billion.
    (Econ, 10/04/08, p.73)

2008        Oct 1, In Japan a pre-dawn fire raged through an adult video theater in the western city of Osaka, killing at least 15 people and injuring 10 others.
    (AP, 10/1/08)

2008        Oct 8, Six central banks jolted markets by cutting interest rates together in an attempt to shore up confidence in the world's crisis-stricken financial system. The US Fed reduced its key rate from 2% to 1.5%. The Bank of England unexpectedly slashed its key lending rate by a half-point to 4.5%. The Bank of Canada cut its key interest rate by 50 basis points to 2.5%. China also cut its key interest rates for a second time in less than one month to 6.9%. The European Central Bank sliced its rate by half a point to 3.75%. Sweden, and Switzerland also cut rates. Earlier in a day Japan's Nikkei showed its biggest drop since the October, 1987 stock market crash. The IMF said the world economy is entering a major downturn.
    (AP, 10/8/08)(AFP, 10/8/08)(Econ, 10/11/08, p.100)

2008        Oct 2, Nissan unveiled the Nuvu, a prototype for an electric city car.
    (WSJ, 4/9/09, p.B2)(http://odeo.com/episodes/23832952-Nissan-NuVu-Concept-EV)

2008        Oct 9, The central banks of Taiwan and South Korea cut interest rates as Japan and others pumped more cash into the financial markets.
    (WSJ, 10/10/08, p.A4)

2008        Oct 15, Armed pirates hijacked a Japanese-operated bulk carrier with 21 Filipino crew members in the Gulf of Aden near Somalia. The ship African Sanderling was released on January 12, 2009.
    (AP, 10/15/08)(AP, 1/13/09)

2008        Oct 17, The UN added Japan, Austria, Turkey, Mexico and Uganda as members to the 10 non-permanent seats of the Security Council, replacing Belgium, Indonesia, Italy, Panama and South Africa.
    (AP, 10/17/08)

2008        Oct 24, Tokyo and Beijing agreed to establish a hotline between their leaders to build mutual trust, as Prime Minister Taro Aso held his first meeting as Japanese leader with his Chinese counterparts.
    (AP, 10/24/08)

2008        Oct 28, Namibia sold more than seven tons of ivory for $1.1 million, in the first legal auction of elephant tusks in nearly a decade, exclusively for Chinese and Japanese buyers.
    (AP, 10/28/08)

2008        Oct 30, Japan unveiled a $51.5 billion stimulus package to buttress its economy against the fallout of the global financial crises.
    (WSJ, 10/31/08, p.A9)

2008        Oct 31, In Japan an essay by Gen. Toshio Tamogami, head of Japan’s air force, was published. He had won a competition for best essay denying Japan’s wartime role as an aggressor and sponsor of atrocities. The contest was sponsored by Toshio Motoya, the head of a hotel chain. Within hours of publication Gen. Toshio Tamogami was out of a job.
    (Econ, 11/8/08, p.57)    
2008        Oct 31, The Leakey Foundation awarded its Leakey Prize to American primatologist Jane Goodall and Japanese scientist Toshidada Nishida for their work with chimpanzees.
    (SFC, 10/30/08, p.B1)

2008        Nov 6, Japanese researchers said they had created functioning human brain tissues from stem cells, a world first that has raised new hopes for the treatment of disease.
    (AFP, 11/6/08)

2008        Nov 10, In Japan a California-based computer scientist, a Canadian philosophy professor and a Canadian molecular biologist each received US$500,000 at an awards ceremony for this year's Kyoto Prizes for achievement in the arts and sciences.
    (AP, 11/10/08)

2008        Nov 12, LCD makers LG Display of South Korea, Sharp of Japan, and Chunghwa Picture tubes of Taiwan pleaded guilty to US charges of price fixing and will pay fines totaling $585 million.
    (WSJ, 11/13/08, p.B3)

2008        Nov 13, Vietnam's premier pledged to probe a corruption case in which Japanese businessmen have admitted bribing a Vietnamese official in the latest scandal involving a foreign aid-funded road project.
    (AP, 11/13/08)

2008        Nov 14, In Pakistan a Japanese and an Afghan journalist were shot in the frontier city of Peshawar, the third attack on foreigners in three days. Motoki Yotsukura from the Asahi Shimbun newspaper was wounded in the leg. Abdul Sami Yousafzai, was more seriously hurt. Missiles apparently fired by US unmanned aircraft in North Waziristan killed at least 12 people, including 9 militants.
    (AP, 11/14/08)(AFP, 11/14/08)(WSJ, 11/15/08, p.A1)

2008        Nov 17, The mother ship in Japan's whaling fleet left for the country's annual hunt in the Antarctic. Greenpeace anti-whaling activists vowed to disrupt the expedition once again after high-seas clashes forced an early halt last year.
    (AP, 11/17/08)
2008        Nov 17, Australia said it will invest millions of dollars in non-lethal whale research to show Japan that the animals do not need to be killed in order to be studied.
    (AP, 11/17/08)
2008        Nov 17, US Automakers begged governments to save them amid a spreading global recession. Cash-strapped General Motors Corp. said it will sell its entire stake in Suzuki Motor Corp. for 22.37 billion yen ($230 million), the automaker's latest move to stay afloat while awaiting a decision on government aid for the industry.
    (AP, 11/17/08)

2008        Nov 18, In Japan Takehiko Yamaguchi (66) and his wife Michiko (61) were found dead near the doorway of their home in Saitama, just outside Tokyo. Evidence showed the pair had been stabbed repeatedly. On Nov 22 Takeshi Koizumi (46) turned himself in to police saying that he had killed the retired vice health minister. Authorities later said they suspected the attacks were connected to the ministry's mishandling of millions of pension records, a debacle that has drawn intense ire from the public, many of whom lost their retirement funds as a result. It was later reported that Koizumi accused the ministry of killing his childhood pet dog.
    (AP, 11/23/08)(AP, 11/24/08)

2008        Nov 28, Japan announced it would end its airlift operations in Iraq by the end of the year, citing security improvements and moves toward democracy in Iraq.
    (AP, 11/28/08)

2008        Dec 5, Japan approved a law that will grant citizenship to all children born out of wedlock to Japanese fathers who acknowledge them, regardless of the nationality of their mothers.
    (AP, 12/5/08)

2008        Dec 9, Sony said it is slashing 8,000 jobs, or 4 percent of its global work force, aiming to cut costs by $1.1 billion a year as an economic downturn and a stronger yen batter profits at the Japanese electronics maker.
    (AP, 12/9/08)

2008        Dec 13, Japan, China and South Korea moved to ward off the effects of the global financial crunch at a trilateral summit in Japan, while Tokyo and Seoul criticized North Korea for stalling denuclearization talks.
    (AP, 12/13/08)

2008        Dec 20, Militant environmental activists said they had intercepted the Japanese whaling fleet in Antarctic waters and attempted to attack one of the boats with stink bombs.
    (AP, 12/20/08)

2008        Dec 22, Toyota Motor Corp. projected its first-ever operating loss since 1939, acknowledging  that its nine-year stretch of global vehicle-sales growth had stalled. Pres. Katsuaki Watanabe projected an operating loss of $1.7 billion.
    (AP, 12/22/08)(WSJ, 12/23/08, p.A7)

2008        Dec 25, Japan and Vietnam signed an economic partnership pact with a promise to cut tariffs on some 92% of goods and services traded between the two nations within a decade.
    (AFP, 12/25/08)

2008        Japan’s Olympus Corp. paid a $687 advisory fee relating to the purchase of Gyrus, a British medical devices firm. The fee was over 30% of the purchase price. In 2011 the company confessed that the deals were designed to hide losses on securities dating back to the 1990s.
    (Econ, 11/12/11, p.74)

2009        Jan 20, In Japan Toyota tapped Akio Toyoda, grandson of the automaker's founder, as president, paying homage to its roots at a time when the company faces its first operating loss in 70 years.
    (AP, 1/20/09)

2009        Jan 21, GM reported an 11% drop in 2008 vehicle sales, relinquishing its crown as the world’s biggest auto maker to Toyota after 77 years.
    (WSJ, 1/22/09, p.B3)

2009        Jan 22, Asian economic gloom worsened when China said growth plunged in the final quarter of 2008 while Japan said exports fell at a record pace in December amid weakening Western consumer demand.
    (AP, 1/22/09)

2009        Jan 23, Japan’s space agency (JAXA) launched Ibuki (breath), the first satellite dedicated to monitoring carbon dioxide emissions. Officials hoped to gather information on climate change and help the country compete in the lucrative satellite-launching business.
    (AP, 1/23/09)(Econ, 2/14/09, p.90)

2009        Jan 27, Japan announced a $16.7 billion stimulus package to help businesses that have en decimated by the global financial crisis.
    (www.uiowa.edu/ifdebook/timeline/Credit_Crisis_Timeline.pdf)
2009        Jan 27, Japan’s No. 38 Yoshi Maru fishing boat was seized by Russian authorities in waters between the two countries and was taken to the Russian port of Nakhodka. On Feb 7 Russian authorities released all 10 Japanese crew members seized after allegedly straying into Russian waters.
    (AFP, 1/28/09)(AP, 2/7/09)

2009        Jan 28, Japan's defense minister ordered the dispatch of ships to fight pirates off the shores of Somalia, joining other countries in the battle against the outlaws.
    (AP, 1/28/09)
2009        Jan 28, Japan’s territorial row with Russia was re-ignited as Japan announced that it had cancelled humanitarian aid to the four disputed Russian-held islands, north of Japan's main northern island of Hokkaido, following new Russian demand that a disembarkation card be submitted in addition to the usual procedures.
    (AP, 1/28/09)
2009        Jan 28, Japan's former prime minister Shinzo Abe signed a partnership accord with Iraq, on a rare visit to the country for a senior leader of the close US ally.
    (AFP, 1/28/09)

2009        Jan 29, Japan hanged four convicted murderers, carrying out the country's first executions of the year despite international criticism.
    (AFP, 1/29/09)

2009        Feb 2, A volcano near Tokyo erupted, shooting up billowing smoke and showering parts of the capital with a fine ash that sent some city residents to the car wash and left others puzzled over the white powder they initially mistook for snow.
    (AP, 2/2/09)

2009        Feb 9, Nissan said it is slashing 20,000 jobs, or 8.5 percent of its global work force, to cope with what Japan's third-largest automaker expects will be its first annual loss in nine years.
    (AP, 2/9/09)
2009        Feb 9, Scientists in Japan reported that they have identified an enzyme which appears to suppress breast cancer and they hope the finding will spur new therapies to control the second most common cancer in the world.
    (Reuters, 2/9/09)

2009        Feb 16, Japan warned it was in the deepest economic crisis since World War II, after Asia's biggest economy suffered its worst contraction in almost 35 years.
    (AFP, 2/16/09)
2009        Feb 16, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton launched her Asia tour in Japan calling US-Pacific ties "indispensable" for curbing problems like climate change, the global financial crisis and nuclear weapons.
    (AP, 2/16/09)

2009        Feb 17, Japan's Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa abruptly resigned over allegations he made a drunken appearance at a G-7 news conference, shaking PM Taro Aso's already deeply unpopular government. On Oct 4 Nakagawa (56) was found dead in his home. Police ruled out foul play.
    (AP, 2/17/09)(AP, 10/4/09)
2009        Feb 17, In Japan US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned North Korea against following through on a threatened missile launch, saying it would damage its prospects for improved relations with the United States and the world. Clinton also signed an agreement with Japan that will move 8,000 Marines off the southern Japanese island of Okinawa to the US territory of Guam.
    (AP, 2/17/09)

2009        Feb 18, Japanese PM Taro Aso met Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on an island near disputed resource-rich maritime territory, hoping to make progress toward resolving a dispute lingering since World war II.
    (AP, 2/18/09)

2009        Feb 23, Honda Motor Co. named Takanobu Ito (55), head of core automaking operations, as its new chief executive, in an effort to provide fresh leadership to battle a global crisis in the auto industry. He replaced Takeo Fukui (64) as CEO and president.
    (AP, 2/23/09)

2009        Feb 24, President Barack Obama told Japanese PM Taro Aso that his nation was the cornerstone of US security policy in East Asia and America's links to the world economy.
    (AP, 2/24/09)
2009        Feb 24, In southern Afghanistan a roadside bomb killed four US troops in the deadliest single attack on international forces this year. Japan said it will pay the salaries of Afghanistan's 80,000 police officers for six months as part of its ongoing financial support for the country.
    (AP, 2/24/09)

2009        Feb 27, A court ordered the Japanese government to pay 5.6 billion yen ($57.7 million) to compensate people whose lives are disrupted by the noise of warplanes at a US air base on the southern island of Okinawa. The Fukuoka High Court ruling doubled the 2.8 million yen compensation awarded in 2005 to the people living around Kadena Air Base, and upheld the appeals of 5,540 residents.
    (AP, 2/27/09)

2009        Mar 5, A political scandal in Japan widened when government figures, including an influential former premier, said they had taken money linked to a firm whose murky donations have shaken the opposition.
    (AFP, 3/5/09)

2009        Mar 10, Two cargo ships collided off the coast of a central Japanese island, leaving 16 South Korean and Indonesian crew members missing.
    (AP, 3/10/09)

2009        Mar 13, Japan said it could shoot down any threatening object falling toward its territory, after North Korea said a planned rocket launch would send it across Japanese territory.
    (AP, 3/13/09)

2009        Mar 21, In Botswana Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone opened a development conference and warned that the global economic crisis would affect Africa for at least two years.
    (AP, 3/21/09)

2009        Mar 23, In Japan an MD-11 aircraft operated by FedEx crashed at Tokyo's main international airport, killing its two-member crew. Though largely retired from passenger use for economic reasons, the MD-11 aircraft is still employed for cargo transport.
    (AP, 3/23/09)

2009        Mar 24, Prosecutors charged a top aide to Japan's opposition leader in connection with a political donations scandal, but the lawmaker said he would stay on as party chief and continue his quest to become the country's next prime minister. Ichiro Ozawa, the head of the Democratic Party of Japan, said he still believed he and his aide have not broken any laws. But he apologized for causing the concerns because of the scandal.
    (AP, 3/24/09)

2009        Apr 6, Japan’s Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano said PM Taro Aso has ordered a $100 billion stimulus plan to boost the national economy. PM Aso and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez agreed to deepen ties in energy, investment and trade, with Japanese companies ready to participate in gas and crude production in the Latin American country.
    (WSJ, 4/7/09, p.A8)(AP, 4/6/09)

2009        Apr 10, Japan renewed and strengthened sanctions against North Korea, but disagreed with the US over how the UN Security Council should censure Pyongyang for its rocket launch.
    (AP, 4/10/09)

2009        Apr 16, Japan promised to pledge up to $1 billion in aid for cash-strapped Pakistan at a donors conference as allies pressed the country for commitments to fight an Islamist insurgency and implement economic reforms.
    (Reuters, 4/16/09)

2009        Apr 17, Thirty-one international donors, led by the US and Japan, pledged $5.3 billion to stabilize Pakistan's troubled economy and fight the spread of terrorism in the Islamic nation and neighboring Afghanistan.
    (AP, 4/17/09)(Econ, 4/25/09, p.81)

2009        Apr 21, Japan's highest court upheld the death sentence of a woman convicted of murdering four neighbors and sickening dozens more with arsenic-laced curry more than a decade ago. A district court had convicted Masumi Hayashi (47) in 2002 of deliberately lacing a pot of curry with arsenic and serving it to neighbors at a festival in July 1998 in Wakayama city.
    (AP, 4/21/09)

2009        Apr 22, The film “City of Life and Death,” written and directed by Chuan Lu, opened in China. It depicted the 1937 Japanese assault on Nanjing.
    (Econ, 5/2/09, p.43)(www.imdb.com/title/tt1124052/)

2009        Apr 27, In Japan Univ. of Wyoming professor Craig Arnold (41), an award-winning poet, was reported missing after he failed to return from a hike on the tiny island of Kuchinoerabu-jima, about 30 miles (50 km) off the coast of southern Kyushu island.
    (AP, 5/5/09)
2009        Apr 27, America, Canada, Europe and Japan promised to cooperate on validating alternatives to using animals in medical research. An estimated 50-100 million animals were used in research annually around the world.
    (Econ, 5/9/09, p.18)

2009        Apr 29, The prime ministers of China and Japan pledged to lay a stronger foundation for cooperation between the historic Asian rivals amid global economic and health crises.
    (AFP, 4/29/09)

2009        Apr 30, In Beijing Japan’s PM Taro Aso called for Tokyo and Beijing to unite in facing the world's environmental and economic challenges, while playing down concerns over China's military power.
    (AP, 4/30/09)

2009        May 1, In Cambodia a court official said Japan has donated $4.17 million to the UN-backed genocide tribunal trying former Khmer Rouge leaders on war crimes charges, just as the troubled court was running out of funding.
    (AP, 5/1/09)

2009        May 2, India's biggest drug maker Ranbaxy announced the recall of an antibiotic, on sale in the US, because of manufacturing problems, marking a new setback for the company. The Japanese-controlled company said it was voluntarily recalling all lots of nitrofurantoin capsules, an antibiotic used in the treatment of urinary tract infections.
    (AFP, 5/2/09)

2009        May 9, Australia and Japan joined the ranks of affected countries with confirmed H1N1 swine flu. New Zealand, the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to confirm cases, reported two more for a total of seven.
    (AP, 5/9/09)

2009        May 11, Ichiro Ozawa, head of Japan’s opposition DPJ, resigned following a fund raising scandal involving his main political aide.
    (Econ, 5/30/09, p.42)

2009        May 14, Japan’s Sony Corp. reported its first annual net loss in 14 years and forecast a bigger loss this year, saying the pressure from sliding sales, competition in gadget prices and a strong yen was expected to continue.
    (AP, 5/14/09)

2009        May 16, Japan's main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan, which hopes to take control of the country in elections later this year, chose Yukio Hatoyama, the grandson of a former prime minister, as its chief.
    (AP, 5/16/09)
2009        May 16, Japan said 8 high school students had tested positive for swine flu amid fears the virus was spreading in at least two cities where scores of students said they felt ill.
    (AP, 5/16/09)

2009        May 18, In Japan health officials said a wave of new confirmations sent the number of H1N1 flu cases soaring to more than 120, prompting the government to order the closure of schools and the cancellation of community events.
    (AP, 5/17/09)

2009        May 21, Japan’s PM Taro Aso again urged the public to stay calm as a total of 292 swine flu cases were reported, including the third in greater Tokyo, the world's largest urban area.
    (AFP, 5/21/09)

2009        May 28, It was reported that Japanese researchers have added genes to monkeys that cause the animals to glow under a fluorescent light, and that the new genetic attributes can pass to their offspring.
    (SFC, 5/28/09, p.A9)

2009        Jun 7, China and Japan pledged to throw their combined weight behind efforts to revive the struggling world economy after talks aimed at boosting trade between the two powers.
    (AFP, 6/7/09)

2009        Jun 19, Isamu Akasaki (80), a professor at Nagoya University in central Japan, was among the winners of this year's Kyoto Prizes. He will receive the advanced technology award for his pioneering work in the development of blue light-emitting diodes, or LEDs. Peter (72) and Rosemary Grant (72), a husband-and-wife team of biologists from Princeton University, won for their decades of research on evolution in the Galapagos Islands and will share an award of $515,000. This year's award in arts and philosophy went to French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez (84).
    (AP, 6/19/09)

2009        Jul 2, The UN nuclear agency's governing board (IAEA) chose Yukiya Amano, a veteran Japanese diplomat as its new head. The term of the present head, Mohamed ElBaradei, ends in November.
    (AP, 7/2/09)
2009        Jul 2, Manabu Kurita caught a 22-pound, 4-ounce largemouth bass on Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake. On Jan 8, 2010, the Florida-based International Game Fish Association credited him with tying the 77-year-old world record for catching the biggest largemouth bass.
    (AP, 1/9/10)

2009        Jul 13, Japan passed a law that will allow children to receive organ transplants for the first time, reversing a ban that doomed many young patients or forced them to seek medical care abroad.
    (AP, 7/13/09)

2009        Jul 17, In Japan 10 senior citizen climbers were found dead in the northern mountains of Hokkaido, apparently from hypothermia. Police began investigating possible negligence by the tour organizers.
    (AP, 7/17/09)

2009        Jul 21, Japan’s PM Taro Aso dissolved the powerful lower house of the parliament and vowed his divided ruling party will make a new start in national elections next month despite forecasts it may lose the grip it has held on the nation for most of the past 55 years.
    (AP, 7/21/09)
2009        Jul 21, In southern Japan torrential rains triggered floods and landslides, leaving at least six people dead and 10 others missing, including elderly residents at a nursing home.
    (AP, 7/22/09)

2009        Jul 23, In Japan Jerry Yu (30), a US citizen who worked for a Japanese communications company in Tokyo, was found dead of probable hypothermia off a trail just below the peak of Mount Fuji. His colleague, Takeshi Nakamura (27), was found dead the next day.
    (AP, 7/24/09)

2009        Jul 30, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata described his test of new underwear, called J-Wear, as the shuttle Endeavour prepared to come home after over 2 weeks aloft. Wakata tested the high-tech underwear for a month at a time during his 4½ months aboard the ISS.
    (SFC, 7/31/09, p.A9)

2009        Aug 6, Japan's first jury trial since World War II concluded with a mixed group of citizens and professional judges convicting a man of murder and sentencing him to a tougher-than-expected 15 years in prison.
    (AP, 8/6/09)

2009        Aug 10, Typhoon Etau slammed into the west coast of Japan. 13 people were killed in raging floodwaters and landslides, and 10 others were missing.
    (AP, 8/10/09)

2009        Aug 13, In Japan a woman (23) crashed her moped when it hit a rope that was stretched across the road. She suffered a fractured skull after being thrown from her bike near western Tokyo's US Yokota Air Base. Police later arrested four children, three boys and one girl aged between 15 and 18, of US military personnel on suspicion of attempted murder.
    (AFP, 12/5/09)

2009        Aug 15, Japan's PM Taro Aso expressed deep regret over the suffering his country inflicted on Asian countries during World War II in a solemn ceremony that marked the 64th anniversary of Tokyo's surrender.
    (AP, 8/15/09)

2009        Aug 22, The West Australian town of Broome, with deep historical ties to Japan, voted to sever its sister city relationship with the Japanese village of Taiji to protest an annual dolphin slaughter near there. At an extraordinary meeting on October 13 Broome rescinded the decision, which it said was made in haste and without wide consultation, and issued an apology to the Japanese community in Broome and Taiji, their families and friends for any disrespect caused by council's resolution. But it noted that it did not condone the harvest of dolphins in Taiji, with which it forged sister-city relations in 1981.
    (AP, 8/24/09)(AFP, 10/16/09)

2009        Aug 25, Sony Corp. unveiled a new electronic book reader for the American market, dubbed the “Daily Edition.” It was scheduled to become available in December for $399 and compete with Amazon’s Kindle.
    (Econ, 8/29/09, p.56)

2009        Aug 30, Japan's ruling party conceded a crushing defeat as voters were poised to hand the opposition a landslide victory in nationwide elections, driven by economic anxiety and a powerful desire for change. The left-of-center Democratic Party of Japan, under Yukio Hatoyama (62), won 308 of the 480 seats in the lower house of parliament, ousting the Liberal Democrats, who have governed Japan for all but 11 months since 1955.
    (AP, 8/30/09)(Econ, 9/5/09, p.29)

2009        Sep 1, In Japan dolphin hunting season opened in Taiji. Over the next 6 months fishermen were expected to catch about 2,300 of Japan’s annual quota of 20,000 dolphins, to be sold for meat and to aquariums.
    (SSFC, 9/20/09, p.A20)

2009        Sep 3, Japan’s Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co. said it is acquiring US drug maker Sepracor Inc., which makes insomnia drug Lunesta, for about $2.6 billion in an effort to expand in the US market.
    (AP, 9/3/09)

2009        Sep 7, Yukio Hatoyama, Japan's next prime minister, vowed to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 25% from 1990 levels by 2020.
    (AP, 9/7/09)

2009        Sep 10, The Japanese space agency successfully launched a new rocket carrying an unmanned cargo ship on a $680 million maiden voyage to the Int’l. Space Station.
    (SFC, 9/11/09, p.A9)
2009        Sep 10, Amnesty International issued a new report saying Japan executes mentally ill prisoners, some of whom are driven insane by harsh treatment while on death row.
    (AP, 9/10/09)
2009        Sep 10, Australia announced liquefied natural gas (LNG) deals worth up to 60 billion US dollars with Japan and South Korea, raising its status as a major energy supplier.
    (AP, 9/10/09)

2009        Sep 16, Japan opposition leader Yukio Hatoyama took office as prime minister, naming a new Cabinet and vowing to rebuild the economy and refocus Japan's place on the world stage with his largely untested party. Japan’s debt was almost 200% of GDP. Shizuka Kamei, founder of the People’s New Party (PNP) (2005), took office as the new minister for financial and postal services.
    (AP, 9/16/09)(Econ, 9/5/09, p.69)(Econ, 9/26/09, p.88)

2009        Sep 24, Japan’s Tokyo Game Show, billed as the world's largest computer entertainment fest, kicked off with hopes that depressed sales of game consoles will enjoy a holiday resurrection.
    (AP, 9/24/09)

2009        Sep 25, Japan's new government launched an investigation into whether previous administrations entered secret security pacts with Washington, including one said to endorse US nuclear-armed ships despite a policy of barring such weapons.
    (AP, 9/25/09)

2009        Sep 28, In China foreign ministers from China, Japan and South Korea pledged to deepen cooperation on non-proliferation and disarmament, as pressure grew on Pyongyang over its nuclear program.
    (AFP, 9/28/09)

2009        Sep 29, Toyota Motor Corp. issued its largest-ever US recall, involving 3.8 million vehicles. Toyota and the government warned owners to remove the mats from their vehicles that could cause accelerators to get stuck and lead to a crash.
    (AP, 9/30/09)

2009        Oct 2, In Denmark the IOC opened a meeting hearing the cases led by government leaders and kings to win the right to stage the 2016 Olympic Games. US Pres. Obama spoke for Chicago, Japan's new PM Yukio Hatoyama spoke for Tokyo, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva spoke for Rio de Janeiro, and Spain's King Juan Carlos and PM Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero spoke for Spain. Brazil won the bid.
    (AFP, 10/2/09)(AP, 10/3/09)

2009        Oct 7, The first British-built Honda Jazz auto rolled off the assembly line after production was switched from Japan in a move the manufacturer hopes will end a troubled year for the factory.
    (AFP, 10/7/09)

2009        Oct 8, Typhoon Melor tore through Japan's main island, peeling roofs off houses, cutting electricity to hundreds of thousands and forcing flight cancellations before turning back toward the sea. Two men died.
    (AP, 10/8/09)

2009        Oct 9, Japanese officials said they have obtained rights to develop platinum mines in South Africa and Botswana in a bid to ensure a stable supply of the metal. The government-backed Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp. (JOGMEC) said it has signed a contract with Discovery Metals in Australia to jointly develop nickel and platinum mines in northeast Botswana. It has also inked another deal with Canadian firm Platinum Group Metals to explore for platinum in South Africa.
    (AFP, 10/9/09)

2009        Oct 10, Japan said it has suspended beef shipments from an American meatpacking plant after finding cattle parts banned under an agreement to prevent the spread of mad cow disease. The suspension only affected Tyson's factory in Lexington, Nebraska, one of 46 meatpacking plants approved to export beef to Japan.
    (AP, 10/10/09)
2009        Oct 10, China, Japan and South Korea held a 3-way summit in Beijing.
    (Econ, 10/10/09, p.43)

2009        Oct 16, Eight countries called on Tokyo to allow divorced foreign parents access to their children living in Japan and to sign a treaty against international parental child abductions.
    (AFP, 10/16/09)

2009        Oct 19, Japan said it has caught 59 whales off Hokkaido, one short of the maximum allowed by international guidelines, under a research program that critics say is a cover for commercial whaling.
    (AP, 10/19/09)

2009        Oct 20, Japan’s government said it would reverse the privatization of Japan Post along with its enormous banking unit. On Oct 28 the new government ousted the president of Japan Post and almost the entire board.
    (Econ, 10/24/09, p.50)(Econ, 10/31/09, p.73)

2009        Oct 27, The Japanese destroyer JS Kurama collided with the South Korean container ship Carina Star in the Kanmon Strait near the southern main island of Kyushu and both were engulfed in flames.
    (AP, 10/27/09)

2009        Nov 2, In Japan it was revealed that PM Yukio Hatoyama had failed to declare some $800,000 in income from stock sales. He already faced flak for falsified fundraising reports.
    (SSFC, 11/8/09, p.A10)

2009        Nov 6, Japan pledged $5.5 billion in aid over 3 years for Southeast Asia's 5 Mekong River nations (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam), seeking to deepen ties with the region amid growing influence from China.
    (AFP, 11/6/09)

2009        Nov 7, In Japan a 66-year-old man was hit by a car and killed. Investigators later linked a US Army soldier to the hit-and-run accident in Okinawa. On Jan 7 Clyde Gunn (27), a staff sergeant from Oxford, Mississippi, was charged with the fatal hit-and-run.
    (AP, 11/19/09)(AP, 1/7/10)

2009        Nov 10, Japan announced $5 billion in fresh aid to Afghanistan even as it plans to bring home refueling ships supporting US-led forces there. The pledge came just days before President Barack Obama arrives in Tokyo for talks that are sure to focus on the countries' military alliance.
    (AP, 11/10/09)

2009        Nov 13, President Barack Obama met with Japanese PM Yukio Hatoyama on his first major trip to Asia. He emphasized cooperation and opened with a warning to North Korea that there will be tough, unified action by the US and its Asian partners if the Koreans fail to abandon their nuclear weapons programs. Obama and Hatoyama agreed to joint efforts to realize a nuclear weapons-free world.
    (AP, 11/13/09)(SFC, 11/13/09, p.A4)

2009        Nov 14, Pres. Obama spoke in Tokyo and then flew to Singapore for a 21-nation summit of Asia-Pacific leaders. In his Tokyo speech Pres. Obama declared the United States a "nation of the Pacific and reached out warmly to China, applauding Beijing's robust strides as a burgeoning economic giant.
    (AP, 11/14/09)
2009        Nov 14, In South Korea at least ten people, including eight Japanese tourists, were killed and six others injured in a blaze at an indoor shooting range in Busan.
    {South Korea, Japan}
    (AFP, 11/14/09)

2009        Nov 16, A Yemeni security official and the Japanese Embassy said armed tribesmen have kidnapped a Japanese engineer working on the construction of a school and demanded the government release one of their imprisoned tribe members. Takeo Mashimo was released on Nov 23.
    (AP, 11/17/09)(AP, 11/24/09)

2009        Nov 19, Four whaling ships left Japan for a five-month hunt in the Southern Ocean, using a loophole in an international moratorium that allows their killing for lethal "research."
    (AFP, 11/20/09)

2009        Nov 27, China and Japan agreed to conduct their first joint military training exercise, in the latest sign of warming ties between the Asian neighbors, long marked by mutual suspicion and spats over a range of issues.
    (Reuters, 11/27/09)

2009        Nov 28, Japan launched its fifth spy satellite into orbit in a bid to boost its ability to independently gather intelligence.
    (AP, 11/28/09)

2009        Dec 1, In Vienna Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano took the helm of the UN atomic watchdog (IAEA), pledging a steady hand to steer the agency through the storm surrounding Iran's nuclear drive. Mohamed ElBaradei (67), the outgoing Egyptian chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), handed over his leadership to Yukiya Amano.
    (AP, 11/30/09)(AFP, 12/1/09)

2009        Dec 5, Australia welcomed a 90 billion dollar (82 billion US) deal to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to a Japanese power company in what is believed to be the country's biggest export sales contract.
    (AFP, 12/6/09)

2009        Dec 9, Germany’s Volkswagen announced that it has agreed to pay $2.5 billion for a 19.9% stake in Suzuki, a family-owned Japanese maker of small cars and motorcycles.
    (Econ, 12/12/09, p.72)

2009        Dec 10, Ichiro Ozawa, Japan’s “shadow shogun,” flew 645 people in 5 airplanes, including 143 members of the DPJ, to meet with China’s Premier Hu Jintao.
    (Econ, 12/19/09, p.75)

2009        Dec 11, Australia's PM Kevin Rudd threatened legal action against Japan if it does not stop its research whaling program that kills up to 1,000 whales a year.
    (AP, 12/11/09)

2009        Dec 23, Japanese whalers and militant conservationists clashed in the Antarctic Ocean over two days, with weapons including water cannon, blinding lasers and bottles of rancid acid.
    (AP, 12/23/09)

2009        Dec 24, Two former aides to Japanese PM Yukio Hatoyama were charged with falsifying reports of campaign contributions, dashing the promise of the leader who vowed to usher in a new, cleaner era in the country's politics.
    (AP, 12/24/09)

2009        Dec 27, Japanese PM Yukio Hatoyama arrived in India on a three-day visit aimed at strengthening economic and security cooperation with the emerging giant.
    (AFP, 12/27/09)

2009        In Japan the first two volumes of “IQ84,” a novel by Haruki Murakami, were published and a million copies were sold in a few weeks. English translations became available in 2011.
    (Econ, 11/19/11, p.95)
2009        Japan became the first large country to ban handheld mobile phone use while driving.
    (Econ, 4/16/11, p.37)
2009        Japan’s population of 127 million was set to decline.
    (Econ, 5/16/09, p.50)
2009        In Japan the yakuza, the country’s organized crime groups, boasted some 84,000 members, with half as part timers. The were estimated to bring in about $21 billion annually.
    (Econ, 2/28/09, p.44)

2010        Jan 1, In Japan a robber bored a hole through the wall of jewelry shop and walked off with about 200 luxury watches worth 300 million yen ($3.2 million) in Tokyo's upscale Ginza district. On Jan 7-8 three men and 3 women were arrested in Hong Kong in connection with the jewelry heist. Police suspect many of the watches were mailed from Japan to Hong Kong, with some then sent to mainland China.
    (AP, 1/2/10)(AP, 1/9/10)

2010        Jan 6, In the waters off Antarctica the trimaran Ady Gil, a Sea Shepherd Conservation Society boat, had its bow sheared off and was taking on water after it was struck by the Shonan Maru 2, a Japanese whaling ship. The trimaran’s 6 crew members were safely transferred to the bob Barker, another of the Society's vessels. The Ady Gil was left to sink the next day after a tow rope snapped and the Bob Barker resumed its pursuit of the Japanese whalers.
    (AP, 1/6/10)(SFC, 1/6/10, p.A2)(AP, 1/8/10)

2010        Jan 13, Japanese prosecutors raided the fund-raising office of ruling party kingpin Ichiro Ozawa over a widening money scandal, dealing a fresh blow to the troubled government.
    (AP, 1/13/10)
2010        Jan 13, In Seattle, Washington Tohru Shigemura (71), a Japanese psychiatrist traveling the world as a big game hunter, was charged in connection with smuggling black bear gall bladders. He had pretended to be a US citizen to buy guns, which he used to kill 6 black bears in and around the Quinault Indian Reservation.
    (SFC, 1/14/10, p.A4)

2010        Jan 19, Japan Airlines filed for one of the country's largest bankruptcies ever, entering a restructuring that will shrink Asia's top carrier and its presence around the world.
    (AP, 1/19/10)

2010        Jan 21, Toyota said it is recalling 2.3 million vehicles in the US to fix accelerator pedals with mechanical problems that could cause them to become stuck. The announcement comes just months after it recalled 4.2 million vehicles due to gas pedals that could become trapped under floor mats, causing sudden acceleration.
    (AP, 1/22/10)

2010        Jan 24, Japanese voters in Nago city on Okinawa island elected a mayor who opposes plans for a controversial new US air base, complicating a row with Washington over relocating troops.
    (AP, 1/24/10)

2010        Jan 26, Toyota Motor Corp. announced it would halt sales of some of its top-selling models to fix gas pedals that could stick and cause unintended acceleration. Last week, Toyota issued a recall for the same eight models affecting 2.3 million vehicles. Toyota said it is also suspending production at six North American car-assembly plants beginning the week of Feb. 1. It gave no date on when production could restart.
    (AP, 1/27/10)

2010        Jan 28, Toyota Motor Corp extended its safety recall of millions of its most popular cars to Europe and China in a further blow to the reputation of the world's largest auto maker.
    (Reuters, 1/28/10)

2010        Jan 29, Honda Motor Co. said it would recall a total 646,000 units of the Fit/Jazz and City models globally, including 140,000 in the United States. The recall was to fix a defective master switch, which could cause water to enter the power window switch and in some cases cause a fire.
    (Reuters, 1/29/10)

2010        Jan 30, In Japan thousands of protesters from across Japan marched in central Tokyo to protest the US military presence on Okinawa, while a Cabinet minister said she would fight to move a Marine base Washington considers crucial out of the country.
    (AP, 1/30/10)

2010        Jan 31, Mexican President Felipe Calderon arrived in Japan for a three-day visit, as the countries mark 400 years of official ties.
    (AFP, 1/31/10)

2010        Feb 1, Thailand and the United States began their annual Cobra Gold military exercise, now in its 29th year, with South Korea taking part for the first time. Singapore, Japan and Indonesia will also participate in the three-week training exercise, describes as the largest of its type in the world.
    (AP, 2/1/10)

2010        Feb 6, Japanese naval ships returned home at the close of an eight-year refueling mission in support of US-led military operations in Afghanistan.
    (AFP, 2/6/10)
2010        Feb 6, The anti-whaling ship the Bob Barker and a Japanese harpoon boat collided in the icy waters off Antarctica — the second major clash this year in the increasingly aggressive confrontations between conservationists and the whaling fleet.
    (AP, 2/6/10)

2010        Feb 7, Newspapers said Toyota will recall 300,000 Prius hybrid vehicles because of brake flaws. Toyota said that it will soon announce plans to deal with braking problems in its prized Prius hybrid amid reports it has decided to issue a recall for the latest model in Japan, a possible new embarrassment for the world's biggest automaker.
    (AFP, 2/7/10)(AP, 2/7/10)

2010        Feb 9, Toyota officials went to Japan's Transport Ministry to formally notify officials the company is recalling the 2010 Prius gas-electric hybrid. The automaker is also recalling two other hybrid models in Japan, the Lexus HS250h sedan, sold in the US and Japan, and the Sai, which is sold only in Japan. The total recall amounted to 437,000 Prius and other hybrid vehicles worldwide to fix brake problems.
    (AP, 2/9/10)
2010        Feb 9, Honda Motor Co. added 378,000 US vehicles and 41,000 in Canada to its 15-month-old global recall for faulty air bags in the latest quality problem to hit a Japanese automaker. The next day 17,000 cars in Japan were added to the list.
    (AP, 2/10/10)

2010        Feb 11, In the Antarctic Ocean Sea Shepherd protesters shot butyric acid, produced from stinking rancid butter, at Japanese whalers to try to disrupt the annual whale hunt. The activists maintained that butyric acid is nontoxic.
    (AP, 2/12/10)

2010        Feb 15, In Antarctic waters Peter Bethune, a member of the US-based Sea Shepherd activist group, jumped aboard the Shonan Maru 2 from a Jet Ski with the stated goal of making a citizen's arrest of the ship's captain and presenting him with a $3 million bill for the destruction of a protest ship last month. The Japanese government said Bethune will be charged with trespassing and assault and tried under Japanese law.
    (AP, 2/16/10)

2010        Feb 16, New US Treasury data said China's holdings of US Treasury bonds tumbled in December, allowing Japan to take over as the top holder of American government debt.
    (AFP, 2/16/10)

2010        Feb 24, Akio Toyoda, scion of the beleaguered Toyota empire, apologized before a US House committee investigating deadly flaws that sparked the recall of 8.5 million cars.
    (AP, 2/24/10)

2010        Feb 26, Australia warned Japan that "diplomacy comes to an end this year" on whaling, after presenting a bold plan to phase out the controversial hunts in the Southern Ocean.
    (AFP, 2/26/10)

2010        Feb 27, Militant anti-whalers declared an end to this season's pursuit of Japanese harpoon ships in Antarctic waters, saying it was their most successful and intensely fought campaign so far.
    (AFP, 2/27/10)

2010        Mar 1, In China Toyota President Akio Toyoda apologized in Beijing to Chinese customers for the company's quality problems and emphasized the importance of the fast-growing market to his company.
    (AP, 3/1/10)

2010        Mar 7, In the US Academy Awards the film “The Hurt Locker” triumphed with six prizes and made Kathryn Bigelow the first woman ever to win the directing Oscar. Sandra Bullock won as best actress for "The Blind Side"; Jeff Bridges as best actor for "Crazy Heart"; Mo'Nique as supporting actress for "Precious: Based on the Novel `Push' by Sapphire"; and Christoph Waltz as supporting actor for "Inglourious Basterds." The best documentary feature was won by “The Cove,” an examination of a bloody dolphin hunt filmed with hidden cameras in Taiji, Japan.
    (AP, 3/8/10)(SSFC, 3/14/10, p.A4)

2010        Mar 9, Japan confirmed for the first time the existence of once-secret Cold War-era pacts with the US that tacitly allowed nuclear-armed warships to enter Japanese ports in violation of Tokyo's postwar principles.
    (AP, 3/9/10)

2010        Mar 18, In Qatar the CITES convention said consumer appetite for caviar is pushing sturgeon to the brink of extinction. Fishing nations led by Japan rejected a US backed proposal to ban export of the Atlantic bluefin tuna. A proposal to ban the int’l. sale of polar bear skins also failed to pass.
    (SFC, 3/19/10, p.A2,5)

2010        Mar 19, Japan said it will boost its aid to quake-hit Haiti to 100 million dollars as the country's foreign minister prepared to visit the impoverished Caribbean nation this weekend.
    (AFP, 3/19/10)

2010        Mar 22, Japan deported Abubakar Awudu Suraj, a Ghanaian who had lived illegally in Japan for 22 years and was married to a Japanese citizen. Suraj was forced onto a plane for Cairo and died shortly after his forced boarding.
    (Econ, 5/15/10, p.48)

2010        Mar 24, Japan’s government passed a 92 trillion yen budget for the fiscal year beginning April 1.
    (Econ, 4/3/10, p.77)

2010        Mar 27, In Turin, Italy, Mao Asada (19) of Japan toppled Olympic champion Yu-Na Kim in a triumphant season finale which saw her claim her second world title at the world figure skating championships.
    (AFP, 3/27/10)

2010        Mar 28, The Pritzker Architecture Prize was awarded to Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, partners in Sanaa Ltd. of Tokyo. Their work included NYC’s New Museum of Contemporary Art, completed in 2007.
    (SFC, 3/29/10, p.A6)

2010        Mar 29, In Japan more than 2,000 people who suffer from a rare neurological disorder agreed to accept a settlement proposal and abandon their lawsuits against the Japanese government and the company they say made them sick by dumping mercury. Minamata disease was first diagnosed in 1956 and later was linked to the consumption of fish from southern Kyushu island's Minamata Bay, where chemical company Chisso Corp. dumped tons of mercury compounds.
    (AP, 3/29/10)

2010        Mar 30, Japan’s government approved a plan to halt the privatization of Japan Post, the world’s biggest bank, and increased the amount of deposits it can take from a customer to 20 million yen. The government will retain a stake of over one-third, giving it veto power.
    (Econ, 4/3/10, p.77)

2010        Apr 6, China said it had executed a Japanese man for drug smuggling, the first execution of a Japanese citizen since the countries established relations in 1972. Mitsunobu Akano (65) was convicted in 2008 of attempting to smuggle 2.5 kg (4.8 pounds) of drugs from China to Japan in 2006. He was executed in Liaoning province.
    (AP, 4/6/10)

2010        Apr 7, Auto giants Renault, Nissan and Daimler launched a partnership to save billions of euros and accelerate sales of low-pollution electric cars.
    (AP, 4/7/10)

2010        Apr 25, In Japan nearly 100,000 protesters attended a rally on Okinawa to demonstrate against Futenma, a US air base, in a row that is dominating Japan's national politics and souring its ties with Washington.
    (AP, 4/25/10)(Econ, 5/1/10, p.46)

2010        May 7, Japanese researchers said they had found high mercury levels in residents of the dolphin-hunting town of Taiji, but no cases of related illness.
    (AFP, 5/7/10)

2010        May 16, Thousands of Japanese linked hands and encircled a Marine Corps base in Okinawa to protest its presence on the island, putting more pressure on Tokyo to resolve an impasse over the base's future.
    (AP, 5/16/10)

2010        May 21, In China some 1900 workers at a Honda auto parts factory in Guangdong province went on strike demanding higher pay. Monthly pay at the facility in Foshan city was about $117 per month. Similar companies paid between $292 and $365 a month. Honda announced a settlement on June 4.
    (www.china.org.cn/business/2010-05/28/content_20133668.htm)(SSFC, 5/30/10, p.A4)(AP, 6/4/10)

2010        May 28, Japan and Washington agreed to keep a contentious US Marine base in Okinawa, with PM Yukio Hatoyama highlighting the importance of the Japanese-American security alliance amid rising tension on the nearby Korean peninsula.
    (AP, 5/28/10)
2010        May 28, Australia said it will challenge Japan's whale hunting in the Antarctic at the International Court of Justice, a major legal escalation in its campaign to ban the practice despite Tokyo's insistence on the right to so-called scientific whaling.
    (AP, 5/28/10)

2010        May 30, In Japan a small party decided to leave PM Yukio Hatoyama's ruling coalition over his broken campaign promise to move a US Marine base off Okinawa island, as he faced calls Sunday to resign and dim prospects in upcoming elections.
    (AP, 5/30/10)

2010        May 31, Australia filed an international lawsuit against Japan arguing that its whale cull does not qualify for a scientific exemption to a 1986 ban. Japan said the next day that it would staunchly defend its research hunt that kills hundreds of whales per year.
    (AP, 6/1/10)

2010        Jun 2, Japanese PM Yukio Hatoyama resigned to improve his party's chances in an election next month, after his popularity plunged over his broken campaign promise to move a US Marine base.
    (AP, 6/2/10)

2010        Jun 4, In Japan Naoto Kan (63), a straight-talking populist, was named the new prime minister. He faced a host of daunting tasks, from reviving the nation's stagnant economy to cutting back its ballooning national debt.
    (AP, 6/4/10)

2010        Jun 11, Japan's new PM Naoto Kan pledged a fiscal policy overhaul to reduce the country's massive public debt mountain, warning of a Greece-style meltdown.
    (AFP, 6/12/10)

2010        Jun 13, Japan’s Hayabusa space probe, which scientists hope contains material from the surface of an asteroid returned to Earth, landed in the remote Australian outback following a 7-year journey.
    (AFP, 6/13/10)(SFC, 6/15/10, p.A2)

2010        Jun 17, Japanese PM Naoto Kan's ruling party outlined its determination to rebuild the nation's finances and slash its deficit in its new manifesto ahead of elections next month.
    (AFP, 6/17/10)

2010        Jun 21, The Japanese distributor for the “The Cove,” a documentary about dolphin hunting in Japan, said the film would be in 6 Japanese theaters on July 3.
    (SFC, 6/22/10, p.A2)

2010        Jun 23, Japan placed Paul Watson (59), the Canadian founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a US-based anti-whaling organization, on an international wanted list for allegedly masterminding the group's disruption of Japanese whale hunts in the Antarctic Ocean.
    (AP, 6/25/10)
2010        Jun 23, South Korean and Japanese activists floated hundreds of thousands of leaflets by balloon toward the border with North Korea to condemn the country's government amid tensions over the sinking of a South Korean warship.
    (AP, 6/23/10)

2010        Jul 1, Japanese electronics maker Toshiba Corp. said it's jumping into the battery business for electric vehicles in a development deal with Mitsubishi Motors Corp.
    (AFP, 7/1/10)

2010        Jul 4, In Japan Toyota started recalling more than 90,000 luxury Lexus and Crown vehicles over defective engines.
    (AP, 7/4/10)

2010        Jul 7, A Tokyo court convicted a New Zealand activist of assault and obstructing Japanese whaling ships in the Antarctic Ocean, and sentenced him to a suspended prison term. Peter Bethune (45) was also found guilty on three other charges: trespassing, vandalism and possession of a knife. Bethune was deported 2 days later.
    (AP, 7/7/10)(AP, 7/9/10)

2010        Jul 11, In Japan the center-left government of new PM Naoto Kan lost its majority in parliament's upper house in elections, spelling the threat of legislative paralysis.
    (AFP, 7/11/10)

2010        Jul 12, In China a strike began at the Atsumitec Co. in the city of Foshan, with about 90 of the plant's 200 workers stopping work to demand a nearly 60% pay increase. The plant supplied parts for Japan's Honda Motor. On July 14 nearly all of the remaining employees joined the stoppage in response to a threat from factory management to fire the strikers.
    (AP, 7/15/10)

2010        Jul 25, In Japan 5 people died when a rescue helicopter sent to help a party of climbers crashed in mountains near Tokyo.
    (Reuters, 7/25/10)

2010        Jul 27, Japan and China agreed in Tokyo to seek an early conclusion to talks over plans to jointly exploit oil and gas fields in a disputed area of the East China Sea.
    (AFP, 7/27/10)

2010        Jul 28, Japan hanged two convicted killers, including a man who burned six women to death, in the country's first executions in a year. The justice minister said she wants renewed debate on whether to continue the punishment.
    (AP, 7/28/10)
2010        Jul 28, Japan’s Nissan said is new car models will feature air conditioners that pump breathable vitamin C and stress-reducing seats.
    (AFP, 7/28/10)
2010        Jul 28, In the waters off Oman an explosion damaged an oil tanker carrying 270,000 tons of oil, near the mouth of the Persian Gulf. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines said the blast on its tanker M. Star caused one minor injury but did not cause an oil leak. Officials said the damage was caused by a freak wave. Japan's ministry said "A crew member saw light on the horizon just before the explosion, so (Mitsui O.S.K.) believes there is a possibility it was caused by an outside attack.” On Aug 4 an obscure al-Qaida-linked group said one of its suicide bombers  attacked the Japanese oil tanker, a claim that, if true, would be the first time the terror network has attacked the Japanese. On Aug 6 the Emirates' WAM news agency quoted an unnamed government official as saying the investigation revealed traces of homemade explosives on the hull of the tanker.
    (AP, 7/28/10)(Reuters, 7/28/10)(AP, 8/4/10)(AP, 8/6/10)

2010        Jul 29, Toyota Motor Corp said it would recall nearly 417,000 high-end passenger cars and SUVs in the United States and Canada to fix steering problems.
    (AP, 7/29/10)

2010        Jul 30, It was reported that China has overtaken Japan to become the world's second-largest economy.
    (Reuters, 7/30/10)

2010        Aug 2, In the Philippines the 2010 winners of the Ramon Magsaysay Awards were announced. Winners included Tadatoshi Akiba, the three-term mayor of Hiroshima, who spearheaded a global campaign for nuclear disarmament, and photographer Huo Daishan (56), who documented river pollution in his native China. The awards are considered Asia's equivalent of the Nobel Prize. Other awardees were physicists Christopher Bernido and wife Maria Victoria Carpio-Bernido of the Philippines, who introduced a novel way of teaching science, and Bangladeshi A.H.M. Noman Khan, who set up service-and-training centers for helping persons with disabilities.
    (AP, 8/2/10)

2010        Aug 6, The US for the first time attended a ceremony commemorating its atomic bombing of Hiroshima, 65 years after the Japanese city's obliteration rang in the nuclear age.
    (AFP, 8/6/10)

2010        Aug 10, Japan apologized to South Korea for its colonial rule over the country, seeking to strengthen ties between the two countries ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Japanese annexation of the Korean peninsula.
    (AP, 8/10/10)

2010        Aug 11, Toyota said it has suspended auto exports to Iran indefinitely in line with global sanctions against Tehran's nuclear program.
    (AFP, 8/11/10)

2010        Aug 16, Mazda Motor Corp announced a recall of 215,000 Mazda 3 and Mazda 5 vehicles sold in the United States because of the risk that they could lose power steering without warning.
    (AP, 8/18/10)

2010        Aug 24, Researchers in Japan reported the creation of a highly accurate sensor that can detect smells and gases using genetically engineered frog eggs.
    (Reuters, 8/24/10)

2010        Sep 3, Japan imposed new sanctions against Iran, including an assets freeze on people and entities linked to its contentious nuclear program and tighter restrictions on financial transactions.
    (AFP, 9/3/10)

2010        Sep 6, A Japanese court convicted two members of Greenpeace of stealing whale meat they claim was intended for illegal consumption, giving each suspended jail terms. Junichi Sato (33) and Toru Suzuki (43) were found guilty of stealing 50 pounds (23 kg) of whale meat from a delivery service company warehouse in April 2008. The meat came from whales killed during Japan's controversial government-backed research hunts.
    (AP, 9/6/10)

2010        Sep 7, A Health Ministry official said Japan has confirmed the nation's first case of a new gene in bacteria that allows the microorganisms to become drug-resistant superbugs, detected in a man who had medical treatment in India.
    (AP, 9/7/10)
2010        Sep 7, A Chinese fishing boat collided with two Japanese patrol vessels near a chain of disputed islands. On Nov 1 Japanese lawmakers said a coast guard video shows a Chinese trawler intentionally ramming Japanese vessels in the incident, which sparked the worst row in years between the Asian powers.
    (AFP, 11/1/10)

2010        Sep 8, Diplomatic tensions between China and Japan escalated when Beijing called in Japan's ambassador for a second time after a Chinese fishing boat collided with two Japanese patrol vessels near a chain of disputed islands.
    (AP, 9/8/10)

2010        Sep 11, Japan launched a rocket carrying a satellite intended to improve global positioning systems.
    (AFP, 9/11/10)

2010        Sep 13, Japan freed 14 crew members of a Chinese fishing ship nearly a week after their vessel and two Japanese patrol boats collided near disputed southern islets. But China lashed out at Tokyo's decision to keep the captain in custody.
    (AP, 9/13/10)

2010        Sep 17, Japan's PM Naoto Kan named a new cabinet, including a hawkish foreign minister to handle an escalating row with China.
    (AFP, 9/17/10)

2010        Sep 18, In China protesters in several cities marked a politically sensitive anniversary, the start of a brutal Japanese invasion in 1931, with anti-Japan chants and banners, as authorities tried to stop anger over a diplomatic spat between the Asian giants from getting out of control.
    (AP, 9/18/10)

2010        Sep 19, China said it has suspended high-level contacts with Japan over the extended detention of a Chinese fishing boat captain arrested after a Sep 7 collision near disputed islands.
    (AP, 9/19/10)

2010        Sep 22, San Francisco’s Recurrent Energy said it has agreed to be purchased by Sharp Corp., Japan’s biggest solar panel manufacturer for as much as $305 million.
    (SFC, 9/23/10, p.D1)

2010        Sep 23, China detained four Japanese citizens for allegedly videotaping at a military installation in Hebei province. 3 of the men were released on Sep 30. The 4th was held as investigations continued. The 4th Japanese contractor was freed on Oct 9.
    (SFC, 10/1/10, p.A4)(AP, 10/9/10)

2010        Sep 24, Japan said it would free Zhan Qixiong (41), a Chinese fishing boat captain, whose arrest in disputed waters over two weeks ago sparked the worst row in years between the Asian giants.
    (AFP, 9/24/10)

2010        Sep 25, Japan refused to apologize for detaining a Chinese boat captain, showing no signs of softening in a dispute between the two economic powers after Japan gave ground and released him. China made a second call for an apology and compensation from Tokyo, demanding "practical steps" to resolve the diplomatic row.
    (Reuters, 9/25/10)(AFP, 9/25/10)

2010        Sep 30, Japanese researchers said they had developed a hybrid vehicle motor that is free of rare earths, the minerals that are now almost exclusively produced by China.
    (AFP, 9/30/10)

2010        Oct 4, Japan issued a travel alert for Europe, joining the United States and Britain in warning of a possible terrorist attack by al-Qaida or other groups, but tourists appeared to be taking the mounting warnings in stride.
    (AP, 10/4/10)
2010        Oct 4, Tokyo-based Toshiba unveiled the world's first high definition liquid crystal display 3-D television that does not require special glasses, one of the biggest consumer complaints about the technology.
    (AP, 10/4/10)

2010        Oct 6, An American and two Japanese scientists won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for finding new ways to bond carbon atoms together, methods now widely used to make medicines and in agriculture and electronics. Richard Heck, Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki were honored for their development in the 1960s and '70s of one of the most sophisticated tools available to chemists today, called palladium-catalyzed cross coupling.
    (AP, 10/6/10)

2010        Oct 12, In Japan residents of Taiji village, notorious for the dolphin hunt documented in the film "The Cove," slaughtered a pod of dolphins but spared the youngest animals.
    (AP, 10/12/10)

2010        Oct 16, Thousands of Chinese marched in the streets in sometimes violent protests against Japan and its claim to disputed islands. Thousands of protesters marched through Tokyo to demonstrate against what they called China's invasion of disputed islands that both countries claim. Beijing expressed "deep concern" at anti-China protests by Japanese nationalists over a diplomatic spat centered on a group of disputed islands.
    (AP, 10/16/10)(Reuters, 10/16/10)(AFP, 10/16/10)
2010        Oct 16, German Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle said Germany will help Japan gain access to vital rare earth minerals which are being withheld by China in a territorial dispute.
    (AFP, 10/16/10)

2010        Oct 21, Toyota said it is recalling 1.53 million Lexus, Avalon and other models, mostly in the US and Japan, for brake fluid and fuel pump problems, the latest in a string of quality lapses for the world's No. 1 automaker.
    (AP, 10/21/10)

2010        Oct 25, The leaders of India and Japan signed a broad agreement in Japan aimed at increasing trade and agreed to speed up talks toward a civilian nuclear energy deal despite sensitivity in Japan over India's past atomic test blasts. PM Naoto Kan and PM Manmohan Singh also agreed to speed up talks toward a civilian nuclear cooperation deal that would allow Japanese companies to export nuclear power generation technology and equipment to India.
    (AP, 10/25/10)

2010        Oct 27, Japan offered $2 billion in aid to help developing nations reach species-preserving goals that are being debated at a UN conference, a move that could jolt the stalled talks forward.
    (AP, 10/27/10)

2010        Oct 29, A feud between China and Japan deepened at the East Asian Summit in Vietnam, as China accused its rival of making false comments and hopes for landmark talks between their leaders evaporated.
    (AFP, 10/29/10)

2010        Oct 30, In Japan representatives to a UN conference on biodiversity agreed to expand protected areas on land and at sea in the hopes of slowing the rate of extinction of the world’s animals and plant. Scientists have estimated that the Earth is losing species at 100 to 1,000 times the historical average.
    (SFC, 10/30/10, p.A2)

2010        Oct 31, Japan’s PM Naoto Kan said Vietnam has chosen Japan as a partner to mine rare earth metals and develop nuclear power.
    (SFC, 11/1/10, p.A2)

2010        Nov 1, Russia's Pres. Medvedev visited Kunashiri Island in the Pacific Ocean claimed by both Russia and Japan, triggering immediate protests from Tokyo, which is already involved in a heated dispute with China over islands to the south.
    (AP, 11/1/10)

2010        Nov 2, Russia said Pres. Medvedev planned more trips to a group of islands seized by the Soviet Union from Japan at the end of World War Two, deepening a serious rift with Tokyo.
    (Reuters, 11/2/10)

2010        Nov 13, In Japan thousands of demonstrators waving Japanese flags and shouting anti-China slogans marched against Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit for an economic summit that comes as a territorial dispute strains ties between the Asian giants.
    (AP, 11/13/10)
2010        Nov 13, Japan's PM Naoto Kan strongly protested Russian Pres. Medvedev's Nov 1 visit to the disputed island of Kunashiri and said in a meeting on the sidelines of a Pacific Rim leaders' conference that the two nations must build mutual trust. Pres. Obama attended the 2-day APEC summit in Yokohama.
    (AP, 11/13/10)(Econ, 11/13/10, p.48)

2010        Nov 14, Japan and Peru said they have reached an agreement on a free-trade deal. The 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group ended their summit in Japan with pledges to press ahead with moves toward freer trade, with an eventual goal of a region-wide free trade zone.
    (AFP, 11/14/10)(AP, 11/14/10)

2010        Nov 23, Australia promised to be a future long-tem supplier of rare earths to Japan, after China suspended shipments of the minerals to its neighbor.
    (Reuters, 11/23/10)

2010        Nov 26, The Japanese parliament passed an extra budget worth 58 billion dollars to cover a new stimulus package aimed at averting the threat of a "double-dip" recession.
    (AFP, 11/26/10)

2010        Nov 28, In Japan the governor of Okinawa island was reelected and immediately called for the removal of a controversial US military base which has strained ties between Tokyo and Washington.
    (AFP, 11/28/10)

2010        Dec 6, The US, South Korea and Japan all urged China to help rein in its ally North Korea and vowed solidarity in defending Seoul from any further attacks from the North.
    (AFP, 12/7/10)

2010        Dec 8, Japan’s space agency said its “Akatsuki” space probe has hurtled past Venus after failing to enter the planet's orbit as planned, but it voiced hope for a successful rendezvous six years from now.
    (AFP, 12/8/10)

2010        Dec 9, In Japan the 3rd International Pole Dancing Championships concluded. The competition was held in a large arena near the Tokyo Dome, the Japanese capital's main sports stadium, with competitors from countries ranging from Malaysia to Moldova. Japan's Mai Sato defended her title as the women's champion, and Duncan West of Australia won in men's. This year also had a disabled division, which was won by hearing-impaired Eri Kamimoto of Japan.
    (AP, 12/10/10)

2010        Dec 13, The Oriental Rose, Japanese-operated chemical tanker, was strafed by gunfire from an unidentified vessel off the Somali coast slightly wounding two crew members.
    (AP, 12/14/10)

2010        Dec 15, In Japan the city of Tokyo restricted the sale of manga comics and anime films with extreme depictions of rape, incest and other sex crimes, despite industry charges of censorship.
    (AFP, 12/15/10)

2010        Dec 16, India's Hero Group said it was ending a 26-year-old joint venture with Honda Motor and buying out the Japanese firm's stake in the biggest Indian motorcycle manufacturer by sales.
    (AFP, 12/16/10)

2010        Dec 21, Toyota Motor Corp. agreed to pay the US government a record $32.4 million in additional fines to settle an investigation into its handling of two recalls at the heart of its safety crisis. The latest settlement, on top of a $16.4 million fine Toyota paid earlier in a related investigation, brought the total penalties levied on the company to $48.8 million.
    (AP, 12/21/10)

2010        Dec 28, Japan postponed the creation of a greenhouse gas emission trading system by a year until after April 2014 in the face of strong resistance from the business lobby.
    (AFP, 12/30/10)

2010        Jeff Kingston authored “Contemporary Japan: History, Politics and Social Change Since the 1980s.”
    (Econ, 8/21/10, p.68)
2010        Kosuke Motani authored “The Real Face of Deflation,” in which he argued that deflation in Japan is a structural problem linked to bad business decisions and demography.
    (Econ, 2/12/11, p.85)
2010        Japan’s new capital could be built by this time.
    (WSJ, 9/24/96, p.B12)
2010        Japan’s nominal GDP of $5.474 trillion in 2010 put it behind China's $5.879 trillion. China first eclipsed Japan in the second quarter.
    (AP, 2/14/11)
2010        Japan’s population was about 127 million. Some 2 million foreigners lived there legally. It was expected to fall to around 100 million by 2050.
    (Econ, 5/15/10, p.49)(Econ, 7/17/10, p.68)

2011        Jan 1, Japan said it has logged 1.19 million deaths in 2010, the biggest number since 1947 when the health ministry's annual records began. As a result the population contracted by 123,000 people, which was the most ever and the fourth consecutive year of decline.
    (AP, 1/1/10)
2011        Jan 1, Japanese whalers shot water cannons at anti-whaling activists, hours after the activists tracked down the hunting fleet in the remote and icy seas off Antarctica.
    (AP, 1/1/10)

2011        Jan 5, In Japan a giant bluefin tuna fetched a record 32.49 million yen, or nearly $396,000, in Tokyo, in the first auction of the year at the world's largest wholesale fish market.
    (AP, 1/5/11)

2011        Jan 11, Japan said it plans to buy at least a fifth of the initial installment of the bonds being sold to finance Europe's bailout fund, which is aimed at rescuing Ireland.
    (AP, 1/11/11)

2011        Jan 17, Japanese researchers said they will launch a project this year to resurrect the long-extinct mammoth by using cloning technology to bring the ancient pachyderm back to life in around five years time.
    (AP, 1/17/11)

2011        Jan 22, A Japanese rocket carrying supplies for the International Space Station lifted off from a remote island on a mission designed to help fill a hole left by the retirement of NASA's space shuttle program.
    (AP, 1/22/11)

2011        Jan 26, Japan-based Toyota Motor Corp. said it was recalling a wide range of models, including the IS and GS Lexus luxury models in North America and the Avensis sedan and station wagon models in Europe for various defects that may cause fuel leakage.
    (AP, 1/26/11)

2011        Jan 27, Standard & Poor's cut Japan's credit rating for the first time since 2002, saying Tokyo had no plan to deal with its mounting debt, a warning that could rattle other heavily indebted rich countries.
    (Reuters, 1/27/11)

2011        Jan 28, In Cambodia a tribunal statement said Japan has agreed to make a contribution of $11.7 million to the UN-assisted genocide tribunal that is trying former leaders of Cambodia's communist Khmer Rouge. Japan has provided a total of about $67 million to the tribunal, about 49 percent of all contributions.
    (AP, 1/28/11)

2011        Jan 31, Japanese ruling party powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa was charged over a funding scandal, adding to PM Naoto Kan's woes as he struggles to survive in the face of a divided parliament and sagging support.
    (Reuters, 1/31/11)

2011        Feb 3, In Japan a proposed merger was announced between Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest steelmaker, and rival Sumitomo Metals.
    (Econ, 2/5/11, p.76)

2011        Feb 7, Japan's PM Naoto Kan led a large rally demanding the return of the southern Kuril islands held by Russia since the end of World War II and calling the recent visit there by Russia's president an outrage. Japan has designated Feb. 7 as "Northern Territories Day," saying that a treaty dating back to that day in 1855 supports its claim to the islands.
    (AP, 2/7/11)

2011        Feb 9, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev made it clear he will not give up the southern Kuril islands to Japan. In fact, he said Russia will send more weapons to the disputed islands to keep them secure.
    (AP, 2/9/11)

2011        Feb 14, A group of Japanese citizens filed a lawsuit challenging a civil law that effectively stops women from keeping their surnames when they marry.
    (AP, 2/14/11)

2011        Feb 15, Japanese police sought charges against two senior sumo wrestlers in an alleged gambling scam.
    (AP, 2/15/11)

2011        Feb 16, A government official said Japan, as of Feb 10, has temporarily suspended its annual Antarctic whaling after repeated harassment by a conservationist group.
    (AP, 2/16/11)

2011        Feb 24, In Japan the world's first robot marathon kicked off in Osaka, with five two-legged participants racing on an indoor track. The race was expected to last through Feb 27.
    (AP, 2/24/11)
2011        Feb 24, Toyota Motor Corp. recalled 2.17 million vehicles in the United States to address accelerator pedals that could become entrapped in floor mats or jammed in driver's side carpeting, prompting federal regulators to close its investigation into the embattled automaker.
    (AP, 2/24/11)

2011        Feb 26, In Japan Nintendo's latest game machine, offering glasses-free 3-D images, went on sale ahead of a global rollout. Analysts said it promises to be the world's first 3-D mass-market product.
    (AP, 2/26/11)

2011        Mar 3, Japanese researchers said they have developed a human-shaped mobile phone with a skin-like outer layer that enables users to feel closer to those on the other end.
    (AFP, 3/3/11)

2011        Mar 6, Japan's foreign minister Seiji Maehara suddenly quit for having accepted a political donation from a foreigner, a violation of Japanese law, dealing another blow to the embattled administration of PM Naoto Kan.
    (AP, 3/6/11)(SFC, 3/7/11, p.A2)

2011        Mar 7, Japan's health ministry halted the use of vaccines made by Pfizer Inc and Sanofi-Aventis SA that prevent meningitis and pneumonia following the recent deaths of four children. The deaths happened between March 2 and March 4.
    (Reuters, 3/7/11)
2011        Mar 7, Ten Japanese companies said they plan to install electric vehicle chargers at the sites of beverage vending machines across Japan in a cost-cutting tie-up.
    (AFP, 3/7/11)

2011        Mar 9, Japan's center-left government named as its new foreign minister Takeaki Matsumoto, who hails from a powerful political family but faces tricky relations with the US, China and Russia.
    (AFP, 3/9/11)

2011        Mar 11, A ferocious tsunami spawned by an 8.9 earthquake, one of the largest ever recorded, slammed Japan's eastern coast, killing hundreds of people as it swept away boats, cars and homes while widespread fires burned out of control. At least 574 people were killed including 74 elementary school students and 10 teachers at the Okawa primary school. Estimates put the toll as high as 1300. At least 10,000 people were missing. Japan declared states of emergency for five nuclear reactors at two power plants after the units lost cooling ability in the aftermath of the earthquake. The quake (the fourth-largest recorded since 1900) was caused when the Pacific tectonic plate dove under the North American plate, which shifted Eastern Japan towards North America by about 13 feet.
    (AP, 3/11/11)(AP, 3/12/11)(http://tinyurl.com/5sphrbr)(SFC, 1/25/12, p.A3)

2011        Mar 12, In Japan an explosion at the the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station destroyed a building housing the reactor, but a radiation leak was decreasing despite fears of a meltdown from damage caused by a powerful earthquake and tsunami. Japanese nuclear agency spokesman Shinji Kinjo acknowledged there were still fears of a meltdown.
    (AP, 3/12/11)

2011        Mar 13, People across a devastated swath of Japan suffered for a third day without water, electricity and proper food, as the country grappled with the enormity of a massive earthquake and tsunami that left more than 10,000 people dead in one area alone. Japanese officials raised their estimate of the quake's magnitude to 9.0. Japan also fought to avert a meltdown at three earthquake-crippled nuclear reactors.
    (AP, 3/13/11)(Reuters, 3/13/11)

2011        Mar 14, In Japan a second hydrogen explosion in three days rocked the Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima, devastating the structure housing one reactor and injuring 11 workers. Water levels dropped precipitously at another reactor, completely exposing the fuel rods and raising the threat of a meltdown.
    (AP, 3/14/11)

2011        Mar 15, Japan faced a potential catastrophe after a quake-crippled nuclear power plant exploded and sent low levels of radiation floating toward Tokyo, prompting some people to flee the capital and others to stock up on essential supplies.
    (Reuters, 3/15/11)

2011        Mar 16, Japanese emergency workers forced to retreat from the tsunami-stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant when radiation levels soared prepared to return tonight after emissions dropped to safer levels. Japan's national news agency, Kyodo, said that 33 percent of the fuel rods at the No. 2 reactor were damaged and that the cores of both reactors were believed to have partially melted. Nearly 3,700 people were officially listed as dead. Officials believed the toll will climb over 10,000 since several thousand more were listed as missing.
    (AP, 3/16/11)

2011        Mar 17, Japan tried high-pressure water cannons, fire trucks and even helicopters that dropped batches of seawater in increasingly frantic attempts to cool an overheated nuclear complex as US officials warned the situation was deteriorating. More than 5,300 people were officially listed as dead, but officials believed the toll will climb to well over 10,000.
    (AP, 3/17/11)

2011        Mar 18, The Japanese government acknowledged that it was overwhelmed by the scale of last week's twin natural disasters. The earthquake and tsunami has now officially left more than 6,900 dead and more than 10,700 missing.  Japanese engineers conceded that burying a crippled nuclear plant in sand and concrete may be a last resort to prevent a catastrophic radiation release. Authorities raised the rating of the nuclear crisis to a Level 5 from a Level 4 on a seven-point international scale. Radiation at the crippled Fukushima No.2 nuclear reactor was recorded at 500 microsieverts per hour.
    (AP, 3/18/11)(Reuters, 3/18/11)(Reuters, 3/23/11)
2011        Mar 18, The US Federal Reserve and Bank of Canada confirmed that they had intervened to cool the soaring yen, in concert with other G7 central banks.
    (AFP, 3/18/11)

2011        Mar 19, One of Japan's six tsunami-crippled nuclear reactors appeared to stabilize but the country suffered another blow after discovering traces of radiation in food and water from near the stricken power plant. Crews fighting to cool reactors managed to connect a power line. Japan halted sales of food products near Fukushima because of contamination by a radioactive element which can pose a short-term health risk. Japan's police agency said 7,348 are dead and 10,947 are missing after last week's earthquake and tsunami.
    (AP, 3/19/11)(AFP, 3/19/11)(Reuters, 3/19/11)

2011        Mar 20, Japan’s ministry official Yoshifumi Kaji said that tests found excess amounts of radioactive elements on canola and chrysanthemum greens, in addition to spinach. He said the areas where the tainted produce was found included three prefectures that previously had not recorded such contamination. Tokyo Electric Power Company said two of the six reactor units are now safely under control after their fuel storage pools cooled down. The toll of dead or missing from Japan's worst natural disaster in almost a century neared 21,000.
    (AP, 3/20/11)(Reuters, 3/20/11)(AFP, 3/20/11)

2011        Mar 21, In Japan gray smoke rose from two reactor units, temporarily stalling critical work to reconnect power lines and restore cooling systems to stabilize the Fukushima radiation-leaking nuclear complex. Police officials estimated that the toll from the massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami will exceed 18,000 deaths.
    (AP, 3/21/11)

2011        Mar 22, Japanese crews connected all six reactors at the troubled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant to the electrical grid, a day after smoke triggered an evacuation from the facility. But the plant's operator cautioned that pumps, motors and other equipment must be checked before the power can be turned on. It's likely to be days or weeks before cooling systems can resume functioning. A Japanese nuclear safety official said a pool for storing spent fuel at the crippled nuclear plant is heating up, with temperatures around the boiling point. Police said nearly 9,100 people are dead after an earthquake and tsunami with almost 13,800 are missing.
    (AP, 3/22/11)

2011        Mar 23, Japan said the cost of rebuilding the country after its biggest recorded earthquake could be as much as 25 trillion yen ($309 billion). A spike in radiation levels in Tokyo tap water, twice the level acceptable for infants, spurred new fears about food safety. Rising smoke forced another evacuation of workers trying to stabilize the Fukushima nuclear plant. Police said nearly 9,500 people are dead after an earthquake and tsunami with over 16,000 still missing.
    (AFP, 3/23/11)(AP, 3/23/11)

2011        Mar 25, Japanese officials said a suspected breach in Unit 3 reactor at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant could mean more serious radioactive contamination, as PM Naoto Kan called the country's ongoing fight to stabilize the plant "very grave and serious." The official death toll jumped past 10,000. With the cleanup and recovery operations continuing and more than 17,400 listed as missing, the final number of dead was expected to surpass 18,000.
    (AP, 3/25/11)

2011        Mar 26, Japanese officials said radiation levels have surged in seawater near the tsunami-stricken nuclear power station in Fukushima, as engineers battled to stabilize the plant in hazardous conditions.
    (AFP, 3/26/11)

2011        Mar 27, In Japan emergency workers struggling to pump contaminated water from the stricken Fukushima nuclear complex fled from one of the troubled reactors after reporting a huge increase in radioactivity, a spike that officials later apologetically said was inaccurate. Police said the death toll from earthquake and tsunami stood at 10,668, with more than 16,574 people missing. Hundreds of thousands of people remained homeless.
    (AP, 3/27/11)

2011        Mar 28, In Japan power company officials said plutonium has been detected in 5 locations in the soil outside of the stricken Fukushima nuclear complex. A TEPCO official said the amounts were very small and were not a risk to public health. TEPCO said highly radioactive water has leaked from the reactor. Environmental group Greenpeace said it had detected high levels of radiation outside an exclusion zone.
    (AP, 3/28/11)(Reuters, 3/28/11)

2011        Mar 30, Japan weighed a series of creative solutions to its unfolding nuclear disaster, from draping reactors with special fabric to sending in military robots to do the risky work. TEPCO said 4 of the 6 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plants were damaged beyond repair. UN nuclear agency officials said that readings outside the exclusion zone of the Japan nuclear disaster showed radiation exceeding recommended evacuation levels by the agency.
    (AP, 3/30/11)(SFC, 3/31/11, p.A4)

2011        Mar 31, Japan said that its crisis-hit nuclear plant must be scrapped, but currently had no plans to evacuate more people, despite calls for a larger exclusion zone around the crippled facility.
    (AFP, 3/31/11)

2011        Apr 2, In Japan highly radioactive water spilled into the ocean from the tsunami-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex as PM Naoto Kan surveyed the damage in a town gutted by the wave.
    (AP, 4/2/11)

2011        Apr 3, Workers at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant struggled to stop a radioactive water leak into the Pacific, as the government warned the facility may spread contamination for months. TEPCO workers used a polymer and even newspapers to try to close off pipes through which the water has flowed into a cracked concrete pit, from where it has run into the sea. An earlier attempt to seal the crack with cement failed to stop the leak.
    (AFP, 4/3/11)

2011        Apr 4, Japanese engineers were forced to release radioactive water into the sea while resorting to desperate measures to try to find the source of leaks at a crippled Fukushima nuclear power complex hit by a tsunami on March 11. Tokyo Electric Power said it had found radioactive iodine-131 at 7.5 million times the legal limit in seawater near the facility. Biologists admitted that the contamination could eventually find its way into the ocean food chain.
    (Reuters, 4/4/11)(SFC, 4/6/11, p.A3)(SFC, 4/6/11, p.A1)
2011        Apr 4, BP said that it has agreed to sell its ARCO Aluminum unit to a Japanese consortium for $680 million ($421 million) as it seeks to meet the costs of last year's disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
    (AFP, 4/4/11)

2011        Apr 5, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, said it had reduced the flow of highly radioactive water out of a reactor. The government set its first radiation safety standards for fish after the nuclear plant reported radioactive contamination in nearby seawater measuring at several million times the legal limit.
    (Reuters, 4/5/11)(AP, 4/5/11)

2011        Apr 6, In Japan workers halted a leak of highly radioactive water into the ocean that had raised concerns about the safety of seafood. Officials did not rule out the chance of contaminated water still leaking into the sea from other points. Engineers prepared to inject nitrogen into containment vessels around the cores to deter any hydrogen explosions.
    (AP, 4/6/11)

2011        Apr 7, Japan was rattled by a strong 7.1 magnitude aftershock and tsunami warning nearly a month after a devastating earthquake and tsunami flattened the northeastern coast. At least 4 people died in the aftershock, the worst since  the March 11 9.0 quake.
    (AP, 4/7/11)(AFP, 4/8/11)

2011        Apr 11, In Japan a strong 7.0 earthquake rattled the northeast as the government urged more people living near a tsunami-crippled nuclear plant to leave, citing concerns about long-term health risks from radiation.
    (AP, 4/11/11)
2011        Apr 11, Australia fined Japan Airlines (JAL) Aus$5.5 million (US$5.8 million) after the carrier admitted its role in a long-running cargo cartel case involving 15 airlines. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said JAL admitted to "making and giving effect to illegal price-fixing understandings with other international airlines" on fuel, insurance and security surcharges.
    (AFP, 4/11/11)

2011        Apr 12, Japan raised the crisis level at its crippled nuclear plant to a severity on par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, citing high overall radiation leaks that have contaminated the air, tap water, vegetables and seawater. Japanese nuclear regulators said they raised the rating from 5 to 7, the highest level on an international scale of nuclear accidents.
    (AP, 4/12/11)
2011        Apr 12, In Japan a powerful 6.0 earthquake struck near the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, shaking buildings in Tokyo. No tsunami warning was issued and no damage immediately reported.
    (AFP, 4/12/11)

2011        Apr 13, Japan's government downgraded its assessment of the economy for the first time in six months to reflect last month's devastating earthquake and tsunami. Wholesale prices rose at the fastest pace in more than two years in an ominous sign for company profit margins.
    (Reuters, 4/13/11)

2011        Apr 15, Japan's government ordered the embattled operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant to offer payouts to tens of thousands of people made homeless by the ongoing crisis.
    (AP, 4/15/11)

2011        Apr 16, TEPCO, the Japanese operator of a stricken nuclear plant, said it has started dumping a mineral into the sea that absorbs radioactive substances, aiming to slow down contamination of the ocean.
    (AFP, 4/16/11)
2011        Apr 16, A strong earthquake of magnitude 5.8 hit central Japan.
    (AP, 4/16/11)
2011        Apr 16, A Qatari state-controlled gas producer said it has agreed to send Japan more than 60 extra tanker shipments of liquefied natural gas to help power the Asian nation in the wake of its tsunami disaster.
    (AP, 4/16/11)

2011        Apr 17, TEPCO, the operator of Japan's crippled nuclear plant, laid out a blueprint for stopping radiation leaks and stabilizing damaged reactors within the next six to nine months as a first step toward allowing some of the tens of thousands of evacuees to return to the area.
    (AP, 4/17/11)

2011        Apr 18, In Japan a pair of thin robots on treads sent to explore buildings inside the crippled Fukushima nuclear reactor came back with disheartening news: Radiation levels are far too high for repair crews to go inside.
    (AP, 4/18/11)

2011        Apr 21, A group of Japanese internet service providers started blocking access to child porn websites as part of efforts to crack down on the spread of sexually explicit images of children.
    (AFP, 4/21/11)

2011        Apr 22, Japan announced a $49 billion special budget for areas devastated by last month's quake and tsunami and said it would extend an evacuation zone around a nuclear plant crippled by the disaster.
    (AP, 4/22/11)

2011        Apr 23, In Japan former Sony president Norio Ohga (81), died. He served as president from 1982 to 1995 and led the evolution of the electronics manufacturer into a global entertainment empire covering music, movies and computer games. Ohga helped transform the music industry with the development of the compact disc format (1982).
    (AFP, 4/24/11)

2011        Apr 24, In Japan thousands of people marched in Tokyo to demand an end to nuclear power and a switch to alternative energy after the crisis at an atomic plant hit by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
    (AFP, 4/24/11)

2011        Apr 25, Japan sent nearly 25,000 soldiers to recover bodies killed in last month’s earthquake and tsunami. Some 14,300 were confirmed dead with 12,000 still missing.
    (SFC, 4/25/11, p.A2)

2011        Apr 26, Japanese electronics and entertainment giant Sony unveiled its first tablet computers, codenamed S1 and S2, in a direct but belated challenge to Apple's iPad.
    (AFP, 4/26/11)

2011        Apr 27, Ratings agency Standard & Poor's cut its outlook on Japan's sovereign debt following last month's quake-tsunami disaster and warned that reconstruction costs could pass $600 billion.
    (AFP, 4/27/11)

2011        Apr 29, In Japan senior nuclear advisor Toshiso Kosako resigned saying the government was not adequately protecting the public from radiation.
    (SSFC, 5/1/11, p.A7)

2011        May 1, In Japan Sony executives bowed in apology for a security breach in the company's PlayStation Network that caused the loss of personal data of some 77 million accounts on the online service. Sony suspected it was under attack by hackers starting April 17.
    (AP, 5/1/11)

2011        May 2, Japan's parliament passed a $48 billion tsunami recovery budget that will only start to cover the cost of what was the most expensive disaster ever.
    (AP, 5/2/11)

2011        May 3, Japan’s Nikkei newspaper said Israel's Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has decided to buy Japan's third-largest generic drug company Taiyo Pharmaceutical Industry for about $500 million.
    (AFP, 5/3/11)

2011        May 4, New computer modeling showed that Japan's many language variants descended from a common ancestor some 2,182 years ago -- coinciding with the major wave of migration from the Korean Peninsula.
    (AP, 5/5/11)

2011        May 6, Japan's PM Naoto Kan ordered the suspension of operations at an ageing nuclear power plant southwest of Tokyo because it is located close to a dangerous tectonic faultline.
    (AP, 5/6/11)

2011        May 7, In Japan thousands of people rallied to demand a shift away from nuclear power after an earthquake and tsunami sparked the world's worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl a quarter-century ago.
    (AFP, 5/7/11)

2011        May 9, The operator of Japan's ageing Hamaoka nuclear plant, located near a tectonic faultline southwest of Tokyo, said it would temporarily shut down its last two running reactors.
    (AP, 5/9/11)

2011        May 10, Japan’s PM Naoto Kan said Japan will scrap a plan to obtain half of its electricity from nuclear power and will instead promote renewable energy and conservation as a result of its ongoing nuclear crisis. The president of TEPCO submitted a request for Japanese government aid in compensating those affected by its stricken nuclear power plant, as the utility said it faced funding problems.
    (AP, 5/10/11)(AFP, 5/10/11)

2011        May 11, Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, said it accepted the government-set reorganization plan. TEPCO agreed to drastic restructuring and cost-cutting in exchange for a government plan to support the company in its obligations to compensate people affected by the crisis. The government planned to inject about $62 billion into a fund to help TEPCO compensate victims.
    (AP, 5/11/11)(Reuters, 5/11/11)

2011        May 12, In Japan TEPCO officials said one of the reactors at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant has been damaged more severely than originally thought, a serious setback for efforts to stabilize the radiation-leaking complex.
    (AP, 5/12/11)

2011        May 13, Japan announced a plan to help Tokyo Electric Power compensate victims of the crisis at its tsunami-crippled nuclear plant without going broke while it struggles to resolve the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.
    (Reuters, 5/13/11)

2011        May 14, Japan shut down the final working reactor at a nuclear plant near a tectonic faultline as PM Naoto Kan pledged a new law to help compensate victims of the Fukushima nuclear crisis. A worker at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant died, bringing the death toll at the complex to 3 since a massive earthquake and tsunami in March.
    (AFP, 5/14/11)(Reuters, 5/14/11)

2011        May 15, Japan started the first evacuations of homes outside the 20-km government exclusion zone radius from the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami crippled one of the country's nuclear power plants.
    (AFP, 5/15/11)

2011        May 19, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. said it will buy Switzerland's Nycomed for $13.6 billion, giving Japan's biggest drugmaker coveted access to emerging markets.
    (AP, 5/19/11)

2011        May 20, Japan's Cabinet approved a plan to join a global child custody treaty, amid foreign pressure on Tokyo to revise policies some say allow Japanese mothers to too easily take their children away from foreign fathers.
    (AP, 5/20/11)
2011        May 20, Japan's Tokyo Electric Power posted a record $15 billion loss and Masataka Shimizu, its under-fire president, resigned to take responsibility for the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl 25 years ago.
    (AFP, 5/20/11)
2011        May 20, BP said that it had recovered more than $1.0 billion in costs linked to last year's devastating Gulf of Mexico oil spill from a US subsidiary of Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co. MOEX USA Corporation held a 10-percent stake in the Macondo well project.
    (AP, 5/20/11)

2011        May 21, The leaders of Japan, China and South Korea travelled to Fukushima in a show of solidarity over the ongoing nuclear crisis, visiting evacuees left homeless by the quake and tsunami.
    (AFP, 5/21/11)

2011        May 22, In Japan the leaders of China and South Korea agreed to bolster efforts to aid disaster recovery as they met with the Japanese prime minister to smooth over differences on Tokyo's handling of its post-tsunami nuclear crisis.
    (AP, 5/22/11)

2011        May 23, In Japan furious parents at the center of the atomic crisis and hundreds of their supporters rallied in Tokyo against revised nuclear safety standards in schools they say are putting children at risk. A new limit allowed exposure of up to 20 millisieverts a year, 20 times the radiation that was permissible before the March 11 tsunami caused a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant.
    (AFP, 5/23/11)

2011        May 24, In Japan major international mission to investigate the flooded, radiation-leaking nuclear complex began as new information suggested that nuclear fuel had mostly melted in two more reactors in the early days after the March 11 tsunami.
    (AP, 5/24/11)
2011        May 24, Japan’s Sony Corp. said it discovered a security breach affecting 8,500 user accounts in a music entertainment website in Greece that comes on the heels of a hacker attack which forced its flagship gaming site offline.
    (AP, 5/24/11)

2011        May 26, Tokyo Electric Power, the operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, detailed a new leak of radioactive water as Greenpeace slammed the country's "inadequate response" to a growing threat to sea water and health.
    (Reuters, 5/26/11)

2011        May 27, Japan's PM Naoto Kan used a G8 summit in France to reassure Tokyo's most powerful allies that his country would learn the lessons of its nuclear disaster and recover fully.
    (AP, 5/27/11)

2011        May 28, Japan and the EU agreed at a summit meeting to begin negotiations on a free trade agreement that would deepen economic ties between two of the world's largest economies. As a bloc, the EU is the world's largest economy; Japan is number four.
    (AP, 5/28/11)

2011        May 30, European anti-trust regulators launched in-depth probes into proposed US takeovers of South Korean and Japanese businesses manufacturing computer hard disk drives (HDD). The planned acquisitions of the hard disk drive operations of South Korean electronics giant Samsung by Seagate Technology, and the storage business of Japan's Hitachi by Western Digital Corporation in a sector with just five manufacturers worldwide have raised concerns. Brussels officials have until October 10 to decide what action if any they will take.
    (AFP, 5/30/11)

2011        May 31, In northeastern Japan an oil spill and a small explosion caused limited damage, but no further radiation leaks. TEPCO said damage to a gas cylinder caused a loud noise outside a reactor building at the Fukushima nuclear plant as rubble was being cleared away.
    (AP, 5/31/11)(Reuters, 5/31/11)

2011        Jun 4, Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported that Japan has frozen $4.4 billion in assets belonging to Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi and his entourage under the terms of a UN Security Council resolution.
    (AFP, 6/4/11)

2011        Jun 11, In Japan protesters held mass demonstrations across the country against nuclear power in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that left over 23,000 dead.
    (SSFC, 6/19/11, p.A7)

2011        Jun 18, Japan’s Tokyo Electric Power Co. halted an operation to clean highly contaminated waste water at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi facility due to higher-than-expected radiation levels.
    (AFP, 6/18/11)

2011        Jun 19, Japanese game maker Sega said hackers have stolen the personal data of some 1.29 million customers of the, in a theft via a website of its European unit.
    (AP, 6/19/11)

2011        Jun 20, RIKEN and Fujitsu took first place on the 37th TOP500 list at the 26th International Supercomputing Conference (ISC'11) held in Hamburg, Germany. This ranking is based on a performance measurement of the "K computer(1)," currently under their joint development.
    (www.fujitsu.com/global/news/pr/archives/month/2011/20110620-02.html)

2011        Jun 21, Japan and the United States agreed to drop a 2014 deadline for building a new airstrip on Okinawa and transferring US Marines from that Japanese island to Guam.
    (Reuters, 6/21/11)
2011        Jun 21, Japanese researchers said they had developed a self-propelled remote controlled capsule endoscope that can "swim" through the digestive tract.
    (AFP, 6/21/11)

2011        Jun 22, Japan passed legislation easing the process for non-profit organizations to get favorable tax status.
    (Econ, 7/9/11, p.39)
2011        Jun 22, In Japan TEPCO, owner of the tsunami-damaged nuclear plant, said it will pay an estimated $1 billion (88 billion yen) to thousands of residents who evacuated homes near the radiation-leaking plant and don't yet know when they can return.
    (AP, 6/22/11)
2011        Jun 22, Iraq said it would donate 10 million dollars in disaster relief to Japan and offered oil sales, as Tokyo struggles with the devastation of a March 11 tsunami.
    (AFP, 6/22/11)

2011        Jun 23, Japanese inventors were reported to have pushed the frontiers of technology with the ultimate companion for lonely singles, a wired torso-shaped device that you can hug and that hugs you back.
    (AFP, 6/23/11)
2011        Jun 23, In Japan a 6.7 earthquake rattled the northeast, that same area of march 11 quake, which triggered a massive tsunami.
    (SFC, 6/23/11, p.A2)

2011        Jun 24, UNESCO added the Ningaloo Coast in Western Australia, Japan's remote Ogasawara Islands and the Kenya Lake System in the Rift Valley province, to its heritage list.
    (AFP, 6/24/11)

2011        Jun 26, In Japan angry parents of children in Fukushima city marched along with hundreds of people to demand protection for their children from radiation more than three months after a massive quake and tsunami triggered the worst nuclear disaster in 25 years.
    (Reuters, 6/26/11)

2011        Jul 10, In Japan a 7.1 earthquake hit the northeastern coast. There were no reports of immediate damage.
    (SSFC, 7/10/11, p.A6)

2011        Jul 11, Japanese scientists were reported to have found a "superbug" strain of gonorrhea that is resistant to all recommended antibiotics. They said it could transform a once easily treatable infection into a global public health threat.
    (Reuters, 7/11/11)

2011        Jul 13, In Japan radiation fears mounted after news that contaminated beef from a farm just outside the Fukushima nuclear no-go zone has been shipped across the country and probably eaten.
    (AFP, 7/13/11)

2011        Jul 17, Japan’s female soccer team, fourth place finishers at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, came from behind twice to beat world-number ones and twice champions the United States 3-1 on penalties in the final of the World Cup in Frankfurt. It was the first football World Cup title for any Asian country.
    (AFP, 7/19/11)

2011        Jul 29, Yahoo Inc., Japan's Softbank Corp. and the China’s Alibaba Group said they have agreed on a compensation plan involving the Web payment service Alipay.
    (AP, 7/29/11)

2011        Jul 31, Japan’s PM Naoto Kan criticized the country's nuclear safety agency for allegedly trying to plant questions aimed at supporting atomic energy at public forums. An estimated 1,700 people rallied in the capital of the Fukushima region, home to a crippled atomic power plant, calling for an end to nuclear energy.
    (AP, 7/31/11)(AFP, 7/31/11)

2011        Aug 2, Japan’s Tokyo Electric Power Co. reported its 2nd deadly radiation reading in as many days at its wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant.
    (SFC, 8/3/11, p.A2)

2011        Aug 3, Japan’s Parliament passed legislation allowing the use of public money to shore up Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), the company operating the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant to help it pay expected billions in compensation claims.
    (SFC, 8/4/11, p.A5)

2011        Aug 26, Japanese PM Naoto Kan announced he would resign after almost 15 months in office amid plunging approval ratings over his government's handling of the tsunami disaster and nuclear crisis. He would officially quit as prime minister after the ruling party votes on Aug 29 to pick a new leader, the country's sixth prime minister in five years.
    (AP, 8/26/11)

2011        Aug 30, Japan’s Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda (Democratic Party of Japan) became the country’s sixth new prime minister in five years, inheriting an in-tray groaning with disaster recovery, nuclear crisis and economic gloom in the ageing, debt-choked nation.
    (AFP, 8/30/11)(SSFC, 9/4/11, p.A4)

2011        Aug 31, Britain's biggest retailer Tesco announced that it is pulling out of Japan after eight years and putting its 129 small supermarkets on sale to focus on other operations in Asia.
    (AP, 8/31/11)

2011        Aug, in Japan Mitsubishi Heavy was attacked with viruses apparently programmed to breach its computers and servers to gain unauthorized access to protected data. The attack was not made public until September when it was reported that no sensitive information was known to have been lost.
    (AP, 9/20/11)

2011        Sep 3, Typhoon Talas cut across western Japan leaving at least two people dead and five missing after heavy rains and fierce winds.
    (AFP, 9/3/11)

2011        Sep 4, In Japan record rain and mudslides from powerful Typhoon Talas left at least 37 people dead as the storm moved slowly northward past the country's western coast. Over 50 others remained missing.
    (AP, 9/4/11)(AFP, 9/5/11)

2011        Sep 10, Japan's new trade minister, Yoshio Hachiro, resigned over a remark seen as insensitive to nuclear evacuees, dealing a blow to a government that took office just eight days ago in the hopes it could better tackle the daunting tsunami recovery.
    (AP, 9/10/11)

2011        Sep 13, Nine North Koreans who spent five days at sea in a small wooden boat were towed to a Japanese port after they were spotted off the coast of central Japan.
    (AP, 9/13/11)

2011        Sep 14, Japanese researchers from Hitachi working with university scientists unveiled a headset they say can measure activity in the brain and could be used to improve performance in the classroom or on the sports field.
    (AFP, 9/14/11)

2011        Sep 15, Japan's Fisheries Agency said that its fleet has harvested 49 minke, 95 sei and 50 Bryde's whales and one sperm whale during its three-month Pacific expedition.
    (AP, 9/15/11)

2011        Sep 19, In Japan Kyodo news agency said websites of some Japanese government agencies were hit by cyberattacks over the weekend, temporarily blocking access to them.
    (AFP, 9/19/11)

2011        Sep 21, Typhoon Roke slammed into Japan, leaving at least 13 people dead or missing in south-central regions and halting trains in Tokyo before grazing a crippled nuclear plant in the tsunami-ravaged northeast. Over 1.2 million people were evacuated from the area.
    (AP, 9/21/11)(SFC, 9/22/11, p.A6)

2011        Sep 28, ANA, a Japanese airline, flew the first commercial Dreamliner into Tokyo.
    (Econ, 10/1/11, p.42)

2011        Oct 14, Japan's Olympus Corp fired Michael Woodford (51), its CEO and president, blaming the Briton in unusually blunt terms for trying to shake up 92 years of the firm's management culture. The 30-year Olympus veteran only became president in April and CEO this month with glowing reports on his performance.
    (Reuters, 10/14/11)

2011        Oct 18, Japan's PM Yoshihiko Noda started a visit to South Korea aimed at smoothing prickly relations, bringing with him a set of historic books seized by his country decades ago.
    (AFP, 10/18/11)

2011        Oct 25, Japanese officials said computers in the parliament have been found to be infected with a virus.
    (SFC, 10/26/11, p.A4)

2011        Oct 27, France's nuclear monitor said that the amount of cesium 137 that leaked into the Pacific from the Fukushima disaster was the greatest single nuclear contamination of the sea ever seen.
    (AFP, 10/27/11)

2011        Oct 31, Japan and Vietnam agreed to move ahead with a plan to export Japanese nuclear technology to build reactors in Vietnam despite Japan's ongoing nuclear crisis. PM Yoshihiko Noda and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Tan Dung also agreed to jointly mine rare earth minerals in Vietnam.
    (AP, 10/31/11)

2011        Nov 1, Japan approved a plan to send a unit of ground troops to South Sudan as part of a UN nation-building force, where they are expected to help construct infrastructure for the fledgling nation.
    (AFP, 11/1/11)

2011        Nov 2, Japan restarted its first nuclear reactor since the Fukushima disaster in March, in a boost to its beleaguered atomic power industry faced with a deeply skeptical public.
    (AFP, 11/2/11)

2011        Nov 4, Japan agreed to give TEPCO, the operator of the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant, $11.5 billion to help it pay compensation to those affected by the worst atomic disaster in 25 years.
    (AFP, 11/4/11)

2011        Nov 6, Japan's coastguard arrested the captain of a Chinese fishing boat that allegedly intruded into Japanese territorial waters.
    (AFP, 11/6/11)

2011        Nov 9, Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp. said it is recalling about 550,000 vehicles worldwide, mostly in the United States, for problems that could make it harder to steer. Toyota has received a total of 79 reports about the defect dating back to 2007, but there have been no reports of accidents or injuries related to the problems.
    (AP, 11/9/11)

2011        Nov 10, In Japan American scientist John W. Cahn received Japan's annual Kyoto Prize, winning 50 million yen, or about $650,000, for his contributions in materials science that led to the creation of stronger, lighter alloys used in cellphones and many electronic devices. Astrophysicist Rashid Sunyaev (68), a dual citizen of Russia and Germany, was awarded the basic sciences prize for his contributions in astronomy. Tamasaburo Bando V, a Japanese kabuki actor who specializes in female roles, was presented with the arts and philosophy prize.
    (AP, 11/10/11)

2011        Nov 19, Japan’s the new Institute of Science and Technology was inaugurated as a graduate university in Okinawa.
    (Econ, 11/19/11, p.91)

2011        Nov 22, The Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) announced a merger with the Osaka Securities Exchange (OSE).
    (Econ, 11/19/11, p.87)

2011        Nov 30, Amid fears of a eurozone collapse, central banks of the United States, the eurozone, Britain, Japan, Canada and Switzerland said that they would cut the cost of providing dollars to banks. The move pushed the DJIA up 490 points, its biggest gain since March 2009.
    (AFP, 12/1/11)(SFC, 12/1/11, p.D1)

2011        Dec 6, Japan's whaling fleet left port for the country's annual hunt in Antarctica.
    (AFP, 12/6/11)
2011        Dec 6, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said it believes 150 liters (40 US gallons) of waste water including highly harmful strontium, linked with bone cancers, has spread to the open ocean. The announcement came a day after TEPCO said it found 45 tons of waste water pooled around the leaky water-treatment system at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. In the weeks after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami hit the plant, TEPCO dumped 10,000 tons of lower-level radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean.
    (AFP, 12/6/11)

2011        Dec 7, Japan offered a "heartfelt apology" for the systematic mistreatment of Canadian prisoners during World War Two, helping to heal ties between the two nations.
    (Reuters, 12/8/11)

2011        Dec 9, In Japan Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa and Kenji Yamaoka, the minister for consumer affairs were censured. Ichikawa was slapped down for a series of gaffes that riled the people of Okinawa, reluctant hosts to a large US military presence. Yamaoka was admonished for alleged ties with shady business groups. The main opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has threatened to boycott parliament from January if the pair stay in place.
    (AFP, 12/9/11)
2011        Dec 9, Japanese workers discovered a nuclear plant leak. 1.8 ton of radioactive water leaked from the cooling system at the idled reactor at the Genkai nuclear plant in Saga prefecture in the southern Kyushu region. The leak was contained within the system.
    (AFP, 12/10/11)

2011        Dec 13, Japanese news reports said Japan's government has selected the Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighter to bolster its aging air force and is likely to announce the multibillion-dollar deal by the end of the week.
    (AP, 12/13/11)

2011        Dec 16, Japan's PM Yoshihiko Noda announced that the country's Fukushima Dai-ichi tsunami-damaged nuclear plant has achieved a stable state of "cold shutdown," a crucial step toward the eventual lifting of evacuation orders and closing of the plant.
    (AP, 12/16/11)

2011        Dec 20, Japan chose the as-yet unproven F-35 stealth jet for its next-generation mainstay fighter.
    (AFP, 12/20/11)

2011        Dec 21, The Japanese government set a 40-year timeline for cleanup of the Dai-ichi nuclear plant at Fukushima.
    (SFC, 12/22/11, p.A5)

2011        Dec 25, China and Japan announced an agreement to let Japan buy Chinese sovereign debt. No sum or timetable was disclosed.
    (Econ, 12/31/11, p.59)
2011        Dec 25, Russian and Japanese rescue vessels and a helicopter searched for five people missing in a fierce storm off Russia's east coast after a Cambodia-flagged fishing ship, the Ginga, sank early in the day. 3 bodies were recovered from the icy waters of the La Perouse Strait, between the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan.
    (AP, 12/25/11)
2011        Dec 25, Anti-whaling activists intercepted Japan's harpoon fleet far north of Antarctic waters, with the help of a military-style drone.
    (AFP, 12/25/11)
2011        Dec 25, Sori Yanagi (96), the pioneer of Japan's industrial design, died. His designs for stools and kitchen pots brought the simplicity and purity of Japanese decor into the everyday.
    (AP, 12/26/11)

2011        Dec 31, In Japan Makoto Hirata (46), a senior member of the doomsday cult behind the 1995 nerve gas attack on Tokyo's subways, surrendered to police. Akemi Saito, also a member of Aum Shinrikyo, was arrested on Jan 10, 2012, for helping him evade police for nearly 17 years. On Jan 20 Hirata was indicted for his role in the abduction and confinement of a follower's relative in 1995.
    (AP, 1/10/12)(AP, 1/20/12) 

2011        Mark West authored “Lovesick Japan: Sex, Marriage, Romance, Law.”
    (Econ, 6/4/11, p.92)

2012        Jan 4, Anti-whaling activists claimed a small victory in their Antarctic campaign with the discovery of a Japanese harpoon ship.
    (AFP, 1/4/12)

2012        Jan 5, In Japan a deep-pocketed restaurateur shelled out nearly $750,000 for a tuna at the Tsukiji fish market, smashing the record price for a single bluefin.
    (AFP, 1/5/12)

2012        Jan 8, The anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd said three Australian activists were being held as "prisoners" by the Japanese harpoon fleet after sneaking aboard one of their vessels overnight to protest. The activists were transferred to an Australian customs vessel on Jan 13.
    (AFP, 1/8/12)(AP, 1/13/12)

2012        Jan 13, Japan's PM Yoshihiko Noda said the government has yet to decide on whether it will reduce oil imports from Iran in line with US sanctions, saying businesses implications need to be considered.
    (AP, 1/13/12)
2012        Jan 13, Japanese energy firm Inpex and French giant Total announced a huge $34 billion gas project in Australia, as Tokyo looks for alternatives to nuclear power in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.
    (AFP, 1/13/12)

2012        Jan 18, A book titled "My Father, Kim Jong Il and Me," by Tokyo-based journalist Yoji Gomi, went on sale. The author said it is based primarily on email exchanges he had with Kim Jong Nam over many years.
    (AP, 1/18/12)

2012        Jan 20, In Japan Estonian sumo wrestler Baruto won his first tournament, logging an unbeatable 13th straight victory with only two bouts to go in the New Year basho.
    (AFP, 1/20/12)

2012        Jan 23, Japanese high-tech giant Hitachi said it will stop making televisions by the end of September as intense price competition hurts TV earnings at many electronics manufacturers worldwide.
    (AFP, 1/23/12)

2012        Jan 25, Japan’s Nissan said it will invest $2 billion in a new auto plant in Aguascalientes, Mexico.
    (SFC, 1/26/12, p.A5)

2012        Jan 28, The foreign ministers of Japan and Russia agreed to strengthen economic and security cooperation but made no progress on resolving a long-standing territorial dispute that has kept the two nations from concluding a peace treaty.
    (AP, 1/28/12)

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