Japan used car exporter picks Philippines for next Southeast Asia move
TSU, Japan -- A Japanese company that deals in used cars will launch an auto auction business in the Philippines, hoping to capitalize on the country's young population and growing economy.
Apple International plans to work with a major Philippine financial group to launch a joint venture in Manila, with a goal of starting operations by next year.
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Japan Today
25 minutes ago
- Japan Today
Court rejects ¥13.3 tril damages verdict against Fukushima operator ex-bosses
'Take responsibility for the Fukushima nuclear accident!' a plaintiffs' banner says. By Kyoko Hasegawa and Caroline Gardin A Japanese court overturned a 13.3 trillion yen damages verdict on Friday against ex-bosses of the operator of the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, thought to be the largest such award ever in the country for a civil suit. Four former executives had in 2022 been ordered to collectively pay 13.3 trillion yen in a suit brought by shareholders over the nuclear disaster triggered by a massive tsunami in 2011. But the verdict was thrown out Friday by the Tokyo High Court, a spokeswoman for the institution told AFP. Shareholders had argued the catastrophe could have been prevented if Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) bosses had listened to research and implemented preventative measures like placing an emergency power source on higher ground. But the defendants countered that the risks were unpredictable, and the studies cited were not credible. "The defendants... cannot be found to have had this foreseeability at a point in time before the earthquake in question," Friday's court ruling said. The 13.3 trillion yen damages award was believed to be the largest amount ever ordered in a civil suit in Japan. It was meant to cover TEPCO's costs for dismantling reactors, compensating affected residents, and cleaning up contamination. The court spokeswoman said an appeal by the shareholders for an even higher damages order of 22 trillion yen had been denied. "Take responsibility for the Fukushima nuclear accident!" said a pink-and-white banner displayed by the plaintiffs after the ruling. Hiroyuki Kawai, head of their legal team, also issued a stark warning at a press conference on Friday. "If I were to summarize today's ruling in one phrase: It is a ruling that will lead to future serious nuclear accidents," he said. TEPCO declined to comment on the verdict. Three of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant's six reactors were operating when a massive undersea quake triggered a massive tsunami on March 11, 2011. They went into meltdown after their cooling systems failed when waves flooded backup generators, leading to the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Overall the tsunami along Japan's northeast coast left around 18,500 people dead or missing. In March this year, Japan's top court said it had finalized the acquittal of two former TEPCO executives charged with professional negligence over the Fukushima meltdown. The decision concluded the only criminal trial to arise from the plant's 2011 accident. © 2025 AFP
Asahi Shimbun
34 minutes ago
- Asahi Shimbun
High court rules TEPCO execs not responsible for nuclear disaster
Hiroyuki Kawai, center, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, criticizes the ruling in front of the Tokyo High Court in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on June 6. (Masaaki Kobayashi) The Tokyo High Court on June 6 rescinded a court order for former executives of Tokyo Electric Power Co. to pay the company about 13 trillion yen ($92.6 billion) over the Fukushima nuclear disaster. In absolving the defendants of responsibility for financial damages caused to the company, the court ruled the giant tsunami that smashed into TEPCO's Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on March 11, 2011, was 'unforeseeable.' The ruling overturned the Tokyo District Court's decision in 2022 to order the former TEPCO executives to pay compensation for failing to take measures that could have prevented the 'foreseeable' tsunami from causing the triple meltdown at the plant. 'This is unbelievable and unforgivable,' Yui Kimura, secretary-general of the plaintiffs' group, said of the high court's ruling. Hiroyuki Kawai, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, said: 'This is an extremely unjust and logically contradictory verdict. It allows a recurrence of the nuclear accident, and we will pursue the flaws in this decision at the Supreme Court.' The plaintiffs--42 shareholders of TEPCO—had demanded 23 trillion yen in compensation to the company from five former executives and others over the damage caused by their failure to take tsunami countermeasures. The five defendants were: Tsunehisa Katsumata, a former chairman who died in 2024; Masataka Shimizu, a former president; two former vice presidents, Ichiro Takekuro and Sakae Muto; and a former managing director, Akio Komori. Katsumata's heirs succeeded him in the lawsuit. The major issues in the lawsuit were whether TEPCO management at the time could have foreseen the occurrence of such a giant tsunami and whether they could have prevented the disaster by issuing instructions for tsunami countermeasures. In 2002, the central government released a long-term evaluation of earthquake forecasts that indicated the possibility of a major earthquake followed by a massive tsunami occurring off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture. The Tokyo District Court's ruling in 2022 noted that this long-term assessment was scientifically reliable because it was made by top-level Japanese researchers, among other things. Based on this assessment, the lower court found that TEPCO's management team could have foreseen the 2011 tsunami, and that the accident could have been prevented if the defendants had ordered the construction of a watertight structure to prevent flooding of the reactor buildings and other facilities. The tsunami knocked out power to the plant, leading to three reactors melting down and forcing thousands of residents to evacuate from the area. Based on the decommissioning and decontamination costs incurred and the amount of compensation paid to evacuees, the district court concluded that the former management had caused TEPCO more than 13 trillion yen in damages. At the appeal hearing, the defendants repeated their argument that 'the long-term assessment was unreliable, as it was criticized by seismologists and other experts.'
Yomiuri Shimbun
an hour ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Akazawa Holds 5th Round of Tariff Talks in U.S.; Eyes Agreement during G7 Summit in Mid-June
The Yomiuri Shimbun Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's economic revitalization minister, speaks to reporters near Washington on Thursday. WASHINGTON — Economic revitalization minister Ryosei Akazawa, who is now visiting the United States, had a meeting with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Thursday afternoon local time, during which he demanded the lifting of a series of tariff measures by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. On Friday, Akazawa was to hold talks with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who presides over the U.S. side of the tariff negotiations, aiming to speed up the arrangement of an agreement between the leaders of the two countries. This marks the fifth round of ministerial-level negotiations, for which Akazawa has visited the United States every week for the past three weeks. '[In this round of negotiations], we will further deepen our discussion of such topics as the expansion of trade, non-tariff measures and cooperation on economic security,' Akazawa told reporters ahead of the talks on Thursday. During the negotiations so far, the Japanese side has made proposals such as expanding its imports of farm products, which the U.S. side had demanded, and reviewing non-tariff barriers to automobile imports. With countering China in mind, the Japanese side is also considering a policy of collaborating to strengthen supply networks for rare earths and semiconductors. Since it is clear that some progress was made during the previous four rounds of negotiations, the Japanese side intends to bring the discussions to a close in hopes that an agreement between the leaders of the two countries can be made in time for the Group of Seven summit meeting in mid-June.
