Japan praised for developing Caribbean fisheries sector

Tuesday, February 03, 2015 | 12:43 PM    

BELMOPAN, Belize (CMC) – The executive director of the Belize-based Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM), Milton Haughton, has praised Japan for its support to the regional fishing industry over the past 20 years.

“The fact that Japan has been willing and steadfast in contributing so generously to promote sustainable use of marine resources in the CARICOM (Caribbean Community) countries, even in these challenging economic times, is in my opinion, a true reflection of the special bond of friendship and importance that Japan attaches to our relationship,” Haughton said.

“Over the past 20 years, Japan has emerged as the major contributor toward the development of the fisheries sector at the bilateral level within the Caribbean.

“Japan has been providing vital and substantial support in upgrading and improving the artisanal fishing fleet; fishing ports and other shore-based infrastructure for storage, processing and marketing of fish; as well as provision of training in gear technology, processing and quality assurance, resource management and conservation of fisheries,” Haughton added.

The 20-year partnership between Japan and CARICOM culminated with a series of in-country seminars in six regional countries, which discussed national level interventions supported by Tokyo, with presentations on the successes as well as the challenges.

Over the past 20 years, Caribbean countries have benefitted from the development and expansion of trade in fish and fishery products by CARICOM member states; the construction of port facilities for fishing boats, and fresh fish markets as well as training attachments of fisheries personnel in Japan.

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Japan praised for developing Caribbean fisheries sector

Citigroup selling its Japan retail bank business

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) – Citigroup said Thursday it was selling its century-old Japanese retail banking operations to major lender Sumitomo Mitsui as part of an effort to shrink its consumer business globally.

Financial details were not released, but Japanese news reports estimated the deal to be worth about 40 billion yen ($333 million).

Under the agreement, Sumitomo unit SMBC Trust Bank would acquire Citibank Japan’s operations including 32 retail branches, 740,000 customers, 1,600 employees, and deposits worth 2.5 trillion yen.

The transaction is expected to be completed in late 2015.

“The sale represents another step in Citi’s strategy of further streamlining its Global Consumer Bank,” the US company said in a statement, adding that it would keep its profitable Japanese commercial banking operations.

The US firm entered the Japanese market in 1902, one of the first foreign lenders to operate in the country.

Since the US bank brought in a new chief in late 2012, it has been cutting retail operations in a host of countries, including Honduras, Turkey, Romania, and Uruguay. 

In Japan, low interest rates, following years of economic slump, have squeezed retail businesses.

Two years ago British giant HSBC withdrew from retail banking in Japan and there are relatively few foreign lenders offering such services in the country.

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Citigroup selling its Japan retail bank business

Japan posts fifth straight current account surplus in November

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan posted a current account surplus for the fifth consecutive month in November as a weaker yen helped boost repatriated returns on foreign investment, official data showed yesterday.

Japan logged a surplus of 433.0 billion yen (US$3.7 billion) in the current account, reversing a deficit of 596.9 billion yen a year earlier, the finance ministry said.

The current account is the broadest measure of the country’s trade with the rest of the world, measuring not only trade in goods but also services, tourism and returns on foreign investment.

In November, Japan’s deficit in merchandise trade shrank sharply, helped by higher exports and falling oil bills.

Overall income, meanwhile, improved with higher gains from equity and other direct investment, as well as from investment in financial items, data showed.

The rise was inflated by a weaker yen, the consequence of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s pro-spending policy and the Bank of Japan’s massive monetary easing.

“On the back of the weak yen and the steady global economy, Japan’s investment income overseas is expanding remarkably,” said Daiki Takahashi, economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute in Tokyo.

“The nation’s trade deficit is also shrinking partially, thanks to a drop in oil prices,” Takahashi said. “Japan is likely to continue enjoying a current account surplus for now.”

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Japan posts fifth straight current account surplus in November

More bodies found at Japan volcano; toll now 36

Monday, September 29, 2014 | 8:58 AM    

KISO, Japan (AP) — Five more bodies were found near the summit of a Japanese volcano on Monday, bringing the total presumed dead to 36, police said, as toxic gases and ash from the still-erupting mountain forced rescue workers to halt efforts to recover the victims.

Eight more bodies were airlifted off Mount Ontake before work on the ash-blanketed peak was called off around 1:30 pm, said Naofumi Miyairi, a spokesman for the Nagano prefecture police.

Together with four victims brought down on Sunday, 12 bodies have now been recovered, leaving 24 near the summit. Exactly how they died remains unclear, though experts say it could be from suffocating ash, falling rocks, toxic gases or some combination of them. Some of the bodies had severe contusions.

Police said the latest victims were found near a shrine at the summit, the same area where other victims were reportedly found.

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More bodies found at Japan volcano; toll now 36

VIDEO: Thirty feared dead on Japan volcano

Thirty hikers found near the peak of Mount Ontake are feared dead after being found unresponsive, rescuers say.

The hikers were not breathing and their hearts had stopped, reports said. Final confirmation of death in Japan always comes via a medical examination.

The volcano, about 200km (125 miles) west of Tokyo, erupted at about noon on Saturday, spewing ash and rocks.

The BBC Rupert Wingfield-Hayes says the continuing eruptions have hampered rescue efforts.

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VIDEO: Thirty feared dead on Japan volcano

More than 250 trapped after Japan volcano erupts

Sept. 27, 2014: Dense fumes are spewed out from several spots on the slope of Mt. Ontake as the volcano erupts in central Japan. (AP)

TOKYO –  A volcano erupted in central Japan on Saturday, catching mountain climbers by surprise and trapping more than 250 people. At least 11 people were injured, including seven who were unconscious.

With a sound likened to thunder, Mount Ontake erupted shortly before noon, spewing large white plumes of ash high into the sky and sending people on the mountainside fleeing, covering some in ash.

More than 250 people were trapped on the mountain and a nearby peak in areas that were dangerous to approach, though some had decided to try making their way down as sunset approached, said Nagano prefecture crisis management official Minoru Kashiwabara.

Eleven people were injured, eight seriously, including the seven who lost consciousness, Kashiwabara said.

On the Gifu prefecture side of the mountain, 52 people were able to descend, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said.

The 3,067-meter (10,062-foot) Mount Ontake sits on the border of Nagano and Gifu prefectures, on the main Japanese island of Honshu.

One witness told Japanese public broadcaster NHK that the eruption started with large booms that sounded like thunder.

In a YouTube video shown on Japanese TV, shocked climbers can be seen moving quickly away from the peak as an expanding plume of ash emerges above and then engulfs them.

Mikio Oguro, an NHK journalist who was on the slope on an unrelated assignment, told the station that he saw massive smoke coming out of the crater, blocking sunlight and reducing visibility to zero.

“Massive ash suddenly fell and the entire area was totally covered with ash,” he said by phone. He and his crew had to use headlights to find a lodge to take refuge.

“My colleagues later told me that they thought they might die,” Oguro said.

Japan’s meteorological agency raised the alert level for Mount Ontake to 3 on a scale of 1 to 5. It warned people to stay away from the mountain, saying ash and other debris could fall up to 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) away.

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More than 250 trapped after Japan volcano erupts

Ronald Sanders: China will cast a huge shadow as Japan meets CARICOM

Sir Ronald Sanders

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Thursday July 2014 - The word will not be spoken in any formal speeches and it won’t be mentioned in final statements and declarations, but it will be talked about in the corridors and it will be at the back of everyone’s mind as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visits five Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) nations from July 25 to August 2. The word is “China”.

Animosity between China and Japan has been steadily increasing over the last few years and relations are now tense at best and hostile at worst. From the Chinese side, according to Professor Zhou Yong-Sheng at the China Foreign Affairs University, “Japan can develop as a military superpower and boss around the region again”. He adds “China is no longer the country it is was 120 years ago and, therefore, Japan should not commit the folly of starting a war with its western neighbour”. Those are fighting words and there have been skirmishes in both the sea and air over claims to sovereignty of five small islands known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. This had led to a military build-up in Japan that has been criticised by China on almost a daily basis. The heat generated over this was fanned into a flame by the Prime Minister’s insistence on visiting the Yasukuni shrine that venerates Japan’s war dead who China regards as invaders and from the World War 11 occupation of Chinese territory.

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The Japanese leader is visiting the five LAC nations in the wake of a very successful visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping in which he signed agreements that exceed US$10 billion with Argentina, US$5 billion with Venezuela, and US$1.8 billion with Cuba. Additionally, Xi offered to extend a line of credit of up to US$10 billion to members of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean states (CELAC) and to create a US$20 billion fund to finance infrastructure projects in LAC countries. China is also LAC’s second largest trading partner after the United States of America. In 2013, trade reached US$261 billion of which China enjoys a surplus. Nonetheless, Chinese investment, particularly in infrastructure, has helped to boost economies in LAC countries, including the 9 Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries that have diplomatic relations with China.

The Japanese Prime Minister is very keen to boost trade with Latin America and the Caribbean which, while it nearly doubled over the past decade, still accounts for just 5% of Japan’s foreign trade. He will also want to expand Japan’s stock of foreign investment in LAC which is now lagging behind China at US$60 billion.

The name of the game is two-fold. The first is economic and includes access to LAC resources, such as oil, gas and minerals, as well as investment in large infrastructural projects that would give Japan a sizeable return. In this regard, Chile, Colombia, Brazil and Mexico are the main targets. The second part of the game is political influence particularly in Japan’s quest for a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for which elections will be held in October 2016. In both cases, Japan comes up against China.

While China is one of the five permanent members of the UNSC, it has been openly campaigning against Japan’s candidacy for the single UNSC seat that will be available to Asia. Japan is contending with Bangladesh whose candidature China avidly promotes in order to block Japan.

It is because of the vote for the UNSC that Japan is particularly interested in meeting the 14 independent CARICOM nations in Trinidad and Tobago on July 28. If they all vote for Japan, Prime Minister Abe would be delighted.

And that is where the challenge and the opportunity arise for the 14 independent CARICOM states. For the five that do not have diplomatic relations with China (they are tied to Taiwan), supporting Japan poses no challenge at all, but the others do have to be mindful of the consequences of supporting Japan for the UNSC. Dealing with this issue will call for skilful diplomacy.

The opportunity for the 14 independent CARICOM nations is the face-to-face meeting with Prime Minister Abe. It presents an opportunity to bargain in the region’s interest just as the Japanese leader will be seeking benefits for Japan.

On the economic front, like China, Japan has been pledging large regional aid and investment packages to Africa and Southeast Asia, the value of which are US$43 billion and US $20 billion, respectively. It is unlikely that transactions of such sizes will be extended to all of the LAC countries. The LAC nations are a low priority for the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) which provided only US$450 million to the entire region in 2012. This means that the CARICOM countries got only a fraction of that total.

It would be worth drawing that reality to Prime Minister Abe’s attention even as CARICOM leaders describe the plight of their economies and the restricted space in which they operate because of rules made by institutions in which Japan has a powerful voice. The face-to-face meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister offers a golden opportunity to remind him that his country has enjoyed a sizeable trade surplus with CARICOM countries for many years – a trade surplus that is greater than the amount of official development assistance Japan provides.

The value of the trade surplus may not be huge in Japanese terms, but it is large for CARICOM states.

Additionally, the meeting with Mr Abe also provides a chance to lever support from Japan in critical areas such as: providing help to address debt (many of the CARICOM countries now have a debt-to-GDP ratio of over 60%); active support in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Financial Action Task Force for compensation for the high costs that result from compliance with their rules; financing for Climate Change adaptation; advocacy in the IMF and World Bank to make CARICOM states eligible for concessionary loans; and more Japanese investment in renewable energy and infrastructure.

Over all these discussions, of course, China casts a long shadow.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Sir Ronald Sanders. Sir Ronald Sanders is a Consultant and former Caribbean diplomat. Copyright to this article is held by Sir Ronald Sanders and may not be reproduced, republished, shared, hosted, transmitted, or distributed without prior written permission unless indicated otherwise.

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Ronald Sanders: China will cast a huge shadow as Japan meets CARICOM

Japan to fund ice wall to contain reactor leaks

Business

BY APWednesday, September 04, 2013

TOKYO, Japan — THE Japanese Government yesterday announced that it will spend US$470 million on a subterranean ice wall and other steps in a desperate bid to stop leaks of radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant after repeated failures by the plant’s operator.The decision is widely seen as an attempt to show that the nuclear accident won’t be a safety concern just days before the International Olympic Committee chooses among Tokyo, Istanbul and Madrid as the host of the 2020 Olympics.The Fukushima Dai-ichi plant has been leaking hundreds of tons of contaminated underground water into the sea since shortly after a massive 2011 earthquake and tsunami damaged the complex. Several leaks from tanks storing radioactive water, in recent weeks, have heightened the sense of crisis that the plant’s owner, Tokyo Electric Power Co, isn’t able to contain the problem.“Instead of leaving this up to TEPCO, the Government will step forward and take charge,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said after adopting the outline. “The world is watching if we can properly handle the contaminated water, but also the entire decommissioning of the plant.”The Government plans to spend an estimated 47 billion yen (US$470 million) through the end of March 2015 on two projects — 32 billion yen (US$320 million) on the ice wall and 15 billion yen (US$150 million) on an upgraded water treatment unit that is supposed to remove all radioactive elements except water-soluble tritium — according to energy agency official Tatsuya Shinkawa.The Government, however, is not paying for urgently needed water tanks and other equipment that TEPCO is using to contain leaks. Shinkawa said the funding is limited to “technologically challenging projects”, but the government is open to additional help when needed.The ice wall would freeze the ground to a depth of up to 30 metres (100 feet) through a system of pipes carrying a coolant as cold as minus 40 degrees Celsius. That would block contaminated water from escaping from the facility’s immediate surroundings, as well as keep underground water from entering the reactor and turbine buildings, where much of the radioactive water has collected.The project, which TEPCO and the Government proposed in May, is being tested for feasibility by Japanese construction giant Kajima Corp, and is set for completion by March 2015.Similar methods have been used to block water from parts of tunnels and subways, but building a 1.4-kilometre (0.9-mile) wall that surrounds four reactor buildings and their related facilities is unprecedented.An underground ice wall has been used to isolate radioactive waste at the US Department of Energy’s former site of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee that produced plutonium, but only for six years, according to the MIT Technology Review magazine.Some experts are still skeptical about the technology and say the running costs would be a huge burden. This aerial photo of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant at Okuma in northern Japan. (PHOTO: KYODO NEWS)

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Japan to fund ice wall to contain reactor leaks