Top Stories - Economy

March 18 (Bloomberg) -- Tokyo will start a city-wide cap- and-trade system next month, beating the central government to become the first jurisdiction in Japan to introduce mandatory pollution limits and trading in carbon credits.

Chrysler and General Motors are basically owned by the U.S. government which is currently controlled by the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party and the Obama administrating beholding to the unions. The United Auto Workers union has Toyota in their cross-hairs because Toyota factories in the United States are not unionized. Vehicles Recalls Stats: http://auto-recalls.justia.com/

Moody's Investors Service warned Thursday that Japan's credit rating could be lowered if the government fails to craft a convincing plan to get its fiscal situation under control.

Sounds ominous. How a "rich" country of a hundred and some million people depends so much of their economy on exports in this competitive global market is difficult to fathom, at least for me.

In Japan, Toyota recall woes were met first with disbelief and then with an onslaught of criticism from Japanese media outlets more accustomed to eulogizing the 'Toyota way.'

At the bottom of this Pudding container there is a hole to open to lay the pudding on the plate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18IjZqp5uyE

New, thrusting, dynamic JAL chairman 78-year-old Kazuo Inamori reckons his 'amoeba' style of management is what's needed to turn around the national airline. And it's not a reference to management intelligence.

Part three of a Yomiuri report on the mismanagement and corruption that created the environment in which a national carrier goes bust, and white elephant airports remain empty.

Japanese housewives, the invisible puppet-masters of Asia’s biggest economy, have begun raiding their stashes of “belly-button money” - the secret hoards of cash, stocks and financial assets they skim from the family budget and hope their husbands will never discover.

Shiseido Co Ltd, Japan's largest cosmetics company, has agreed to buy U.S.-based Bare Escentuals (BARE.O) for $1.7 billion, as it looks to speed up its expansion and break into a new part of the North American market.

The IMF says Japan's gross public debt will reach 227pc of GDP this year. The only reason why this has not yet blown up is because investors (mostly Japanese) have not yet had the leap in imagination required to understand their predicament, and act on it. Japan's deficits are already within the hyperinflation "red flag" zone.

A Weaker Yen and Stablility in Markets Going Forward According to new Finance Minister Naoto Kan - Yen rallies on news

Japan may be one the world's biggest economies, but it is not immune to poverty. According to Masanori Matsumura, a primary school teacher for 30 years, a growing number of children in Japan today cannot even afford classroom supplies "such as paints or craft materials." He adds, "The expanding poverty is hitting the most vulnerable victims - children." Such a situation has its social costs.

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. on Tuesday opened its first Asian flagship store in central Tokyo, drawing a huge crowd as well as police to control the brouhaha, as the U.S. teen fashion retailer turns its eyes abroad for growth amid sliding sales at home.

The good news for automakers is that Japan is mounting its own cash-for-clunkers program. The bad news is that foreign automakers -- like Ford and G.M. -- are effectively excluded, even though half the vehicles bought under the U.S. program were Japanese.