CHRONOLOGY

MARCH–APRIL 2006

MARCH

3 Government statistics indicate that the consumer price index for January 2006 rose to 97.7, an increase of 0.5% from the same month last year and the highest growth rate since March 1998.

6 Ministry of Finance statistics reveal that corporate pretax profits for October–December 2005 climbed 11.1% from the previous quarter to ¥13.81 trillion for the fourteenth consecutive quarter of growth.

8 The Bank of Japan reports that the average balance of Japanese banks’ outstanding loans in February was ¥388.33 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 0.2%. It is the first such advance since December 1997.

Japan and the United States successfully conduct a next-generation interceptor missile test in Hawaii as part of joint efforts to develop a ballistic missile defense system.

9 The BOJ decides to end its five-year-old quantitative monetary easing policy, citing the stabilization of the consumer price index.

10 The cabinet approves a bill to streamline governmental financial institutions in accordance with Prime Minister Koizumi Jun’ichirô’s administrative reform policies. The bill calls for the Japan Bank for International Cooperation to be merged into a new institution and for the Japan International Cooperation Agency to absorb the bank’s overseas economic cooperation operations.

12 In a referendum concerning the relocation of US aircraft to Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, 87% of the city’s residents vote against the move. On March 16, Iwakuni Mayor Ihara Katsusuke requests that the relocation plans be scrapped.

13 The Cabinet Office releases revised data showing that the real gross domestic product for October–December increased 1.3% from the previous quarter and grew at an annualized rate of 5.4%, a downward revision of 0.1 point for both figures.

15 Unions representing workers at automobile and electronics firms win monthly pay raises for the first time in five years. Automobile giant Toyota Motor Corp. approves a ¥1,000 increase in basic monthly salary.

16 Cable and Internet broadcaster Usen Corp. agrees on a business tie-up with the beleaguered Internet firm Livedoor Co. The same day, Uno Yasuhide, president of Usen, pays ¥9.5 billion to purchase Fuji Television’s 12.74% stake in Livedoor.

20 Team Japan defeats Cuba 10–6 to win the first-ever World Baseball Classic.

23 The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport announces that, as of January 1, the national average for assessed land prices had fallen for the fifteenth consecutive year, down 2.8% from the year before. However, prices in Japan’s three largest metropolitan areas—Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya—increased for the first time in 15 years.

27 The government’s ¥79.68 trillion budget for fiscal 2006, starting in April, clears the National Diet upon approval by the upper house.

The Central Council for Education concludes that English should be taught as a required subject beginning in fifth grade, two years earlier than at present, but with a focus on building communication skills rather than achieving high scores on tests.

28 Prime Minister Koizumi meets with Miyeegombyn Enkhbold, prime minister of Mongolia. The two leaders witness the exchange of letters concerning yen loans for the development of small and medium-sized businesses and environmental conservation in Mongolia.

It is announced that NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) and five commercial broadcasters have made plans to construct a transmission tower in Tokyo’s Sumida Ward. “New Tokyo Tower,” at 610 meters, is to be the world’s tallest edifice.

31 Maehara Seiji declares that he will step down as president of the Democratic Party of Japan, taking responsibility for the flap over accusations made in the Diet by a DPJ legislator on the basis of what turned out to be a bogus e-mail message.

At a meeting attended by former Prime Minister Hashimoto Ryûtarô in Beijing, Chinese President Hu Jintao declares that he is ready to resume summit meetings with Japan as soon as Japanese leaders stop visiting Yasukuni Shrine.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications announces that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped from 4.5% in January to 4.1% in February. This is the biggest monthly decline since 1953.

APRIL

3 The Bank of Japan releases its quarterly tankan survey of business sentiment. The number of large manufacturers indicating a shortage of facilities and personnel outnumbered those with a surplus for the first time in 14 years.

6 The Cabinet Office announces that the diffusion index, a key gauge of the state of the economy, stood at 55.6% in February, staying above the growth-or-contraction benchmark of 50% for the seventh consecutive month.

The closing value of the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s TOPIX index surges to 1775.67, surpassing its peak value during the “IT bubble” of 2000 and reaching a 14-year high.

7 Ozawa Ichirô is elected president of the DPJ, defeating Kan Naoto to become the party’s new leader. Ozawa pledges to devote himself to restoring confidence in the DPJ as the top opposition party.

The government reaches an agreement with the mayor of Nago in Okinawa Prefecture concerning the construction of two runways to accommodate the transfer of aircraft currently based at the US Marine Corps’ Futenma Air Station in Ginowan, Okinawa. But on April 8 Okinawa Governor Inamine Keiichi expresses his opposition to the revised plan.

9–11 Senior negotiators involved in the six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear program gather in Tokyo to attend a session of the Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue forum; they have some meetings to discuss restarting the stalled talks but reach no consensus.

11 The BOJ declares that it will leave interest rates at current near-zero levels. Although it ended its quantitative monetary easing policy on March 9, the central bank expresses its intention of maintaining the zero-interest-rate policy for the next few months.

The government announces that DNA tests have revealed that the husband of Yokota Megumi, who was abducted by North Korean agents in 1977 at the age of 13, is almost certainly Kim Young-nam, a South Korean man also abducted in the 1970s. Pyongyang has claimed that Yokota was married to a North Korean.

13 The BOJ reports that the index of corporate goods prices in fiscal 2005 rose 2.1%, the largest yearly rise since fiscal 1989.

14 The Financial Services Agency orders consumer lending firm Aiful to suspend retail operations at all of its offices for periods ranging from 3 to 25 days as a penalty for improper collection practices.

20 The Ministry of Finance announces that Japan’s trade surplus for fiscal 2005 dropped 30.3% from the previous year to ¥7.89 trillion, the first such decline in four years.

22 Japan and South Korea reach a compromise and avoid a potential clash after South Korea dispatched gunboats to the disputed Takeshima islets (called Dokdo by the Koreans) in response to Japanese plans to send oceanographic vessels to survey the waters in that area. Tokyo pledges to halt the surveys, while Seoul agrees to refrain from submitting Korean names for underwater topographical features around Takeshima at an international conference scheduled for June.

23 Japan reaches a deal with the United States to pay $6.09 billion to help relocate some 8,000 US marines from Okinawa to Guam. Shouldering 59% of the total cost, the Japanese government will provide $2.8 billion from its general account and finance the remainder of its share in the form of investments and loans.

A DPJ candidate narrowly wins a House of Representatives by-election in Chiba Prefecture, providing a boost to Ozawa Ichirô in his new role as the party’s president.

24 Prime Minister Koizumi meets with the current president of the European Union, Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel, and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso in Tokyo. Following this fifteenth Japan-EU summit, the leaders issue a joint press statement reaffirming their many shared commitments and views, including the importance of diplomatic efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue and the need for North Korea to abandon all of its nuclear programs.

28 The government submits a bill to revise the Fundamental Law of Education to include mention of patriotism. It also calls for the elimination of a clause that sets the term of compulsory education at nine years. If passed, the bill would mark the first changes to the law since it took effect in 1947.

The mother and brother of abductee Yokota Megumi meet with US President George W. Bush at the White House, where the president pledges American support for resolution of the North Korean abduction issue.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications reports that the consumer price index, excluding perishables, rose to 97.9 in March, marking a 0.5% increase from the year before. The CPI for fiscal 2005 was up 0.1%, rising for the first time in eight years.

The government reports that the average unemployment rate for fiscal 2005 came to 4.3%, down 0.3 point from the previous year.

30 Prime Minister Koizumi embarks on a six-day trip that will take him to Ethiopia, followed by Ghana and Sweden. On April 30 he meets with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who conveys his nation’s support for Japan’s bid to gain a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

© 2006 Japan Echo Inc.