TOKYO — With more companies seeking to settle disputes through arbitration, Japan’s public and private sectors are joining hands to create a new center for commercial arbitration to boost the number of cases handled in the country.   The new center for international arbitration could be set up as early as this year in Tokyo. Lawyer groups, corporations and other private-sector….Read more

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Back of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda met for an hour at the Kantei on May 17. In the first such meeting in four months since January, Kuroda explained to the prime minister that world economic growth is accelerating and Japan’s economy is recovering steadily.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) on May 17 finalized an assessment report that says Japan Nuclear Fuel’s uranium enrichment facility in the village of Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, satisfies new regulatory requirements. It became the second fuel plant to clear new regulatory requirements. The plant went on line in 1992.   The Aomori plant is the only facility in Japan that can….Read more

YANGON — Japan’s Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry has agreed to help attract small and medium-sized companies to the Japanese-backed Thilawa Special Economic Zone near Yangon, in addition to the multinational companies already present there, by establishing small rental factory spaces, the zone’s operator said Tuesday.   The OCCI comprising businesses in western Japan around Osaka and the Union….Read more

All papers reported on the restart on Wednesday of Reactor No. 4 at the Takahama Nuclear Power Plant in Fukui Prefecture. Kansai Electric Power Co. plans to start commercial operation of the reactor in mid-June. The reactor was shut down in February 2016 due to a technical problem and had remained halted along with Reactor No. 3 following the Otsu….Read more

TOKYO — Japan and New Zealand will work to bring the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact into effect at an early date, their leaders said Wednesday, putting their weight behind efforts to implement the agreement without the U.S.   Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the two countries standard-bearers of free trade at a news conference here following talks with New….Read more

NHK reported this afternoon that KEPCO will resume the operation of Reactor No. 4 of the Takahama Nuclear Power Plant in Fukui Prefecture at around 5 p.m. today if no problems are found in the inspection of 32 control rods. The network said the reactor will reach a state of criticality at around 6 a.m. on Thursday, adding that it will begin generating and….Read more

Nikkei reported online that the Commerce Department announced its final decision on Tuesday that steel concrete reinforcing bar products from Japan have been imported at unfairly low prices, saying that countervailing duties as high as about 210% will be imposed pending official approval by the U.S. International Trade Commission. In announcing the department’s finding on the dumping investigation, Secretary Ross said in a released….Read more