Referendum possible on aircraft relocation issue: Iwakuni mayor
January 29, 2006Iwakuni Mayor Katsusuke Ihara said Sunday the city could hold a referendum on a plan to relocate airplanes for a U.S. aircraft carrier from the U.S. Navy's Atsugi base in Kanagawa Prefecture to the U.S. Marine Corps' Iwakuni base in Yamaguchi Prefecture. ''It is possible to put the relocation plan to a citizens' vote,'' Ihara told about 200 local residents who had gathered for his briefing on the plan, which is included in an interim agreement struck last October between Japan and the United States on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan.
Gov't eyes tougher penalties for securities fraud
January 29, 2006The Financial Services Agency and the Justice Ministry will soon start deliberations on whether to stiffen penalties for Securities and Exchange Law breaches in light of suspicions that the Livedoor Co. group dressed up financial statements, sources familiar with the matter said Sunday. Some legislators in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and other parties are calling for tougher penalties for offenders of the law following criticism that Japan imposes more lenient penalties on perpetrators of securities fraud than the United States, the sources said.
Financial, distribution experts eyed ahead of postal privatization
January 29, 2006Japan Post Corp. will recruit private-sector experts in financial and international parcel delivery services before the privatization of Japan's state-run postal services begins in 2007, company officials said Sunday. Securing such experts to compete with private-sector companies is a pressing task for the company, which mainly consists of officials from the public corporation Japan Post, they said.
4th GSDF contingent returns home from Iraq after 6-month dispatch
January 29, 2006About 100 Japanese ground troops returned to Tokyo's Haneda airport Sunday after finishing their six-month dispatch in Iraq, where they conducted humanitarian and reconstruction assistance. The Ground Self-Defense Force's fourth contingent to the southern Iraqi city of Samawah moved from the airport to the Defense Agency in Ichigaya, Tokyo, where they met their families.
Financial services minister opposes independent securities watchdog
January 29, 2006Financial Services Minister Kaoru Yosano reiterated his opposition Sunday to making Japan's Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission independent from the Financial Services Agency. ''When something happens, people tend to seek organizational change. But we need to think calmly,'' Yosano said on a television program, referring to the investigation into Livedoor Co. for alleged securities law violations.