Japan slides into recession, 1st time since 2001
By TOMOKO A. HOSAKA, Associated Press

TOKYO – Japan's economy slid into a recession for the first time since 2001, the government said Monday, as companies sharply cut back on spending in the third quarter amid the unfolding global financial crisis.

The world's second-largest economy contracted at an annual pace of 0.4 percent in the July-September period after a declining an annualized 3.7 percent in the second quarter. That means Japan, along with the 15-nation euro-zone, is now technically in a recession, defined as two straight quarters of contraction.

The result was worse than expected. Economists surveyed by Kyodo News agency had predicted an annualized 0.1 percent rise in the third quarter.

Japan's Economy Minister Kaoru Yosano said following the data's release that "the economy is in a recessionary phase," according to Kyodo.

But the worst may be yet to come in the wake of the global financial crisis, especially with dramatic declines in demand from consumers overseas for Japan's autos and electronics gadgets. Hurt also by a strengthening yen, a growing number of exporters big and small are slashing their profit, sales and spending projections for the full fiscal year through March.

Toyota Motor Corp., for example, has cut net profit full-year profit forecast to 550 billion yen ($5.5 billion) �\ about a third of last year's earnings.

Compared to the previous quarter, gross domestic product shrank 0.1 percent, the Cabinet Office said. Business investment �\ a main driver of Japan's six-year economic recovery since 2002 �\ dropped 1.7 percent from the previous quarter.

"As the global economy is expected to slow down for the time being, downward movements (in Japan) are expected to continue," Yosano said, according to Kyodo.

Since taking office in late September, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso has unveiled two economic stimulus packages in an effort to cushion the blow. His latest 27 trillion-yen ($275.7 billion) proposal includes expanded credits for small businesses and a total 2 trillion yen ($20.4 billion) in cash disbursements to households.

At its last meeting, the Bank of Japan cut its key interest rate for the first time in more than seven years, lowering it to 0.3 percent, joining central banks around the world in trimming borrowing costs.

In its semiannual outlook report, the central bank slashed its projection for economic growth to just 0.1 percent for the year through March, compared with a 1.2 percent gain it projected in July. It said both exports and domestic private demand have weakened.

The deteriorating conditions also recently led Masamichi Adachi, senior economist at JPMorgan Securities in Tokyo, to downgrade his outlook on the Japanese economy.

"We are now looking for a severe recession, similar to that during Japan's own financial market crisis in 1997 to 1998, and to the current US recession, in terms of depth of real GDP contraction," he said in a report.

Monday's data showed that net exports sapped 0.2 percentage point from growth, as the high cost of importing fuel eclipsed a slight increase in outbound shipments. Imports rose 1.9 percent, while exports grew 0.7 percent.

Private consumption, which accounts for more than half of inflation-adjusted GDP, increased 0.3 percent from the previous quarter. However, the rebound in consumer demand is unlikely to last, economists say.

Schoolgirl knuckleballer headed to Japan pro league
Mon Nov 17, 1:30 am ET

TOKYO (AFP) – A 16-year-old schoolgirl with a mean knuckleball has been selected as the first woman ever to play alongside the men in Japanese professional baseball.

Eri Yoshida was drafted for a new independent league that will launch in April, drawing attention for a side-armed knuckler that her future manager Yoshihiro Nakata said was a marvel.

"I never dreamed of getting drafted," Yoshida told reporters Monday, a day after she was selected to play for the Kobe 9 Cruise.

"I have only just been picked by the team and have not achieved anything," she said. "I want to play as a pro eventually in a higher league."

Yoshida, 155 centimetres (five feet) tall and weighing 52 kilograms (114 pounds), says she wants to follow in the footsteps of the great Boston Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.

A female professional baseball federation existed for a few years in the 1950s, but Yoshida will become Japan's first-ever woman to play alongside professional male players.

^Interesting
Oh no, not another Wakefield, that guy has given me enough headaches. It's pain watching him pitch.

3-year old girl dies after abuse by mother's partner

KAWASAKI —
A man was arrested Tuesday night on suspicion of inflicting bodily injury resulting in the death of a 3-year-old girl, daughter of the 21-year-old woman he had been living with in Kawasaki since spring. Yudai Uematsu, 24, unemployed, admitted to the charge and said: �gShe wouldn�ft stop crying and she never listened to anything we said�cwe were trying to discipline the child.�h

Police said that the girl has been subject to physical abuse since summer, and there were also times when she wasn�ft fed for up to three or four days, and suffered from malnutrition.

According to the investigation, the girl was kicked and punched in early November, and her internal organs were ruptured Tuesday morning. The woman called for an ambulance, but the girl died at hospital. One of the ambulance staff noticed bruises on the girl�fs body and called police.

Police did not arrest the woman as she is soon to give birth to her third child, but they questioned her and forwarded the case to prosecutors.
_________________

Yup, as much as we all like Japan, they have their fair share of issues as well. On a much brighter note , , ,

Tomorrow, November 22nd is �h�����@�v�w�̓��h (ii fufu no hi) or "Happily Married Couples Day" They took a survey of 1000 married couples and asked them which kanji character best describes being married. The winner was:

�E pronounced "Nin" or "shino" it's meaning is "endure" "tolerate" or "suffer patiently"

gaijinmark wrote:

Yup, as much as we all like Japan, they have their fair share of issues as well. On a much brighter note , , , Tomorrow, November 22nd is �h�����@�v�w�̓��h (ii fufu no hi) or "Happily Married Couples Day" They took a survey of 1000 married couples and asked them which kanji character best describes being married. The winner was: �E pronounced "Nin" or "shino" it's meaning is "endure" "tolerate" or "suffer patiently"

Gaman dekinai = favorite phrase of men in those married relationships when they try to explain why they have a chick on the side.

gaijinmark wrote:

Yup, as much as we all like Japan, they have their fair share of issues as well. On a much brighter note , , , Tomorrow, November 22nd is �h�����@�v�w�̓��h (ii fufu no hi) or "Happily Married Couples Day" They took a survey of 1000 married couples and asked them which kanji character best describes being married. The winner was: �E pronounced "Nin" or "shino" it's meaning is "endure" "tolerate" or "suffer patiently"

so much for happiness.
Gosh after all the dramas I watched, I totally thought that mariage was all butterflies and bliss. The ultimate goal for every good Japanese office flower. Have drama scriptwriters been lying to me ?

EstherM wrote:

so much for happiness. Gosh after all the dramas I watched, I totally thought that mariage was all butterflies and bliss. The ultimate goal for every good Japanese office flower. Have drama scriptwriters been lying to me ?

After watching dramas, I thought all married couples had the mother raising the child alone in Japan, while the father worked in Milan, London, Capetown, or New York.

EstherM wrote:

Have drama scriptwriters been lying to me ?

the whole world's been lying to you not just scriptwriters.

p.s. am i being cynical?

Exactly what I would have done.


================

Japanese man releases hundreds of worms in train

8 hours ago

TOKYO (AFP) �\ A Japanese man was arrested for releasing hundreds of beetle larvae inside a moving express train to try to scare female passengers, police said Tuesday.

"I wanted to see women get scared and shake their legs," police quoted 35-year-old Manabu Mizuta as saying.

He was arrested on the spot by a patrolling police officer after releasing the creatures on the Keihan line in Osaka prefecture.

"He would go close to women on the train, any woman, and pour out the worms from containers," said a police spokesman.

Local police had been on alert after 18 similar cases of released worms had been reported this month by the same train operator.

"When the arrest was made, the man had nearly emptied a container, which is believed to have held 200 worms," he said. "You cannot count them because there are so many."

Mizuta had 10 containers in his backpack estimated to contain a total of 3,600 worms, police said.

"We have the worms sitting inside the police station right now," the spokesman said. "You see them wriggling inside their clear cases. It's really disgusting."[/b]

Tu_triky wrote:

Japanese man releases hundreds of worms in train 8 hours ago TOKYO (AFP) �\ A Japanese man was arrested for releasing hundreds of beetle larvae inside a moving express train to try to scare female passengers, police said Tuesday.

Mean! But a few bonus points for creativity.

kenjilina wrote:

p.s. am i being cynical?

No

Tu_triky wrote:

After watching dramas, I thought all married couples had the mother raising the child alone in Japan, while the father worked in Milan, London, Capetown, or New York.

90% of the time the husbands are the US though, in NY or Los Angeles!

Funnily there is some truth in that - when I was doing my internship in Japan, I met a lot of salarymen going abroad for some time (usually three years) and they never took their family .

Toyota Europe (based in Brussels not London or Paris!!!) on the other hand encourages their managers to bring their family but policies suggest that they stay no longer than 2, 3 years because apparently the wives refuse to go back to Japan (reminder: we are talking about Belgium not New York) which says also a lot about Japanese society.

EstherM wrote:

90% of the time the husbands are the US though, in NY or Los Angeles! Funnily there is some truth in that - when I was doing my internship in Japan, I met a lot of salarymen going abroad for some time (usually three years) and they never took their family . Toyota Europe (based in Brussels not London or Paris!!!) on the other hand encourages their managers to bring their family but policies suggest that they stay no longer than 2, 3 years because apparently the wives refuse to go back to Japan (reminder: we are talking about Belgium not New York) which says also a lot about Japanese society.

Wow, that's pretty interesting...

EstherM wrote:

Funnily there is some truth in that - when I was doing my internship in Japan, I met a lot of salarymen going abroad for some time (usually three years) and they never took their family .

a friend of my father's in japan, his father has his own fishing business and he's based in singapore for tax reasons and lives out there while the rest of the family are in japan. his wife has told him to get rid of the s class merc as he's never there to drive it.

AUUUGGHH!!!! Another tradition being wiped out!!! High school girls can wear pants now!!! http://fnn.fujitv.co.jp/en/news/headlines/articles/CONN00145593.html

is nothing sacred anymore?

gaijinmark wrote:

AUUUGGHH!!!! Another tradition being wiped out!!! High school girls can wear pants now!!! http://fnn.fujitv.co.jp/en/news/headlines/articles/CONN00145593.html

Sacrilege.

krim wrote:

is nothing sacred anymore?

No more upskirt shots with that mirror on your shoe, dude. Zanen desu ne.

Tu_triky wrote:

No more upskirt shots with that mirror on your shoe, dude. Zanen desu ne.

zanen desu... what's next? banning sale of used pantsu?

Tu_triky wrote:

No more upskirt shots with that mirror on your shoe, dude. Zanen desu ne.

Maybe not. It appears some traditions are harder to kill than others. From FujiTV News:

Quote:

A 50-year-old Health Ministry official was arrested on suspicion of secretly taking photographs of the legs of a female subway passenger with his cell phone.