2003.10.02

Japan-Markets   Nikkei surges 232 points in Thursday session. The TOPIX hits a three-month high. In the currency market, massive intervention again (up to $2 billion bought today according to our sources) ordered by the Finance Ministry at 110.50 level.   2003.10.02

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DPRK-Nukes (Reuters)   UPDATED North Korea claims it has already processed 8,000 spent fuel rods that could be used for nuclear bombs but does not intend to export its atomic capabilities. 2003.10.02

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Idemitsu Kosan chief may resign over Hokkaido storage tank fire [The Japan Times] In Japan, if you head a company which is responsible for enveloping a city of 173,000 in a cloud of pungent black smoke for two days, you are indeed expected to quit. 2003.10.02

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Africa conference closes with fair-trade entreaty [The Japan Times]   TICAD is the Japanese foreign ministry's pet project to demonstrate that it cares about the rest of the world ex-Asia. It is pretty much hobbled about being positively perceived in its home region because of the lingering animosities from its WWII colonialism. So Africa is safe territory for Japan. However, there are more than altruistic motivations here. The primary purpose of donating more than a billion dollars to Africa is to enhance Japan's chances to gain a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council. (It reminds us of Sasakawa's futile pursuit of a Nobel Peace Prize.) As is the feeling of many journalists who have covered Africa, we remain dubious about the improvements for the welfare of the contient  as long as rival tribes are grouped together into artificial "nations" created by colonial powers.  The other major problem is rampant corruption. At least this conference did take note of tackling that.   2003.10.02

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Yokota Ecstasy (Stars & Stripes)   You are a young enlisted woman in the U.S. Air Force assigned to Yokota Air Base. You take a gal pal to Roppongi to do some clubbing. You end up doing a little "e" and your "friend" turns you in. Next stop: court martial. 2003.10.02

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Yen-Dollar (Bloomberg) UPDATED Massive intervention ordered by the Finance Ministry continues to keep the dollar hovering at 111 yen. U.S. Treasury Department says such intervention by Japan "not unusual." Meanwhile Nihon Keizai Shimbun reports that Finance Ministry is now considering raising the ceiling on government borrowing to finance interventions in the foreign exchange markets by 10 to 20 trillion yen from the current 79 trillion yen. 2003.10.02

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DPRK-Talks (Kyodo)   As reported here yesterday... Japan's Foreign Ministry admits it was in contact (along with U.S. and South Korean representatives) with North Korean negotiators this week in New York. 2003.10.02

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Japanese space agencies merge. Three separate Japanese government agencies devoted to space and aeronautics have officially merged. [spacetoday.net] 2003.10.02

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