CHRONOLOGY

JULY – AUGUST 2001

MAY

2 The Bank of Japan releases the results of its quarterly tankan survey of business sentiment. The diffusion index among large manufacturers, a measure of corporate confidence in the economy, slumps by 11 points to -16, continuing its long decline.

It is announced that baseball player Suzuki Ichirô of the Seattle Mariners drew the most votes for the All-Star Game. Helped by ballots from Japan, which were accepted for the first time this year, Ichirô became the first rookie since 1990 to be selected for the Major League Baseball extravaganza.

9 The Education Ministry announces that it will not accept demands made by the governments of China and South Korea for revisions to Japanese history textbooks other than the correction of two factual errors. The ministry states that it will continue efforts to “gain understanding” from the two nations.

14 Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. announces that it is considering introducing a voluntary early retirement program. Under the system, a 50-year-old employee would receive 40 months’ salary in addition to the normal retirement allowance.

20 Leaders of the Group of Seven meet in Genoa, Italy and agree to work together to prevent the global economy from slowing. Prime Minister Koizumi Jun’ichirô receives support for his pledge to implement structural reforms.

24 The five major domestic auto manufacturers announce their sales and production figures for the first half of 2001 (January-June). Nissan Motor Co. posts its first increase in domestic sales in five years.

2 The Koizumi administration faces its first test before voters nationwide in the election for the House of Councillors. The Liberal Democratic Party wins 65 of the 121 seats that were up for grabs, giving Koizumi a strong mandate to pursue his plans for structural reforms. On July 30 LDP executives agree that Koizumi will be automatically reelected party president if no challengers file their candidacies by August 9.

TOP

AUGUST

2 The Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare releases a survey showing that the average life span of Japanese women and men climbed to record levels in 2000. The life span for Japanese women rose to 84.62 years, the longest in the world. The figure for men was 77.64 years.

The National Police Agency announces that 1.3 million crimes were recorded in the first half of 2001, up 15.9% over the same period in 2000, the previous record, and the arrest rate slipped 6.3 percentage points to 19%. The arrest rate for serious crimes, such as murder, fell to 54.5%.

3 The National Tax Administration announces that land prices fell 6.2% in 2000, the ninth consecutive yearly decline. The average price of residen-tial land dips to ¥137,000 per square meter. The decline is greater in the Kansai region around Osaka than in the greater Tokyo area.

10 A report is released outlining reform plans for state-affiliated special corporations. Prime Minister Koizumi calls for the special corporations to be closed down or privatized, but resistance is expected to come from the ministries and agencies.

13 Prime Minister Koizumi visits Yasukuni Shrine, dedicated to the spirits of Japan’s war dead, two days before the anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. Koizumi had indicated that he intended to go to the shrine on August 15 but moved the visit forward in the face of intense criticism at home and abroad.

The Ministry of Finance announces in a preliminary report that Japan’s current account surplus declined 25.2% from a year earlier to ¥4.99 trillion in the first half of 2001. The ministry cites the global economic slowdown as a factor behind the decline.

14 The Bank of Japan decides on steps to ease monetary policy further, including an increase in its purchases of long-term government bonds from ¥400 billion to ¥600 billion per month. The move is intended to underline the central bank’s antideflationary stance.

20 Prime Minister Koizumi lodges a written protest with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Russia’s granting of fishing rights to third countries in the waters around four disputed islands near Hokkaidô. Permission to fish for saury has been given to boats from the two Koreas and Ukraine.

Computer maker Fujitsu Ltd. announces plans to cut 16,400 jobs by March 2002, mainly overseas.

28 Statistics reveal that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate reached the 5% threshold in July, the worst rate since unemployment figures began to be kept in 1953. The jobless rate is 5.2% for men and 4.7% for women.

29 Japan’s troubled space program gets a boost with the successful launch of the first H-IIA rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture.

© 2001 Japan Echo Inc.