Nearly half of endangered Japanese juvenile eels farmed in the country may have been illegally caught, a Kyodo News survey found Wednesday.   The survey found 45.45 percent of young eels caught in Japan between last November and April were possibly catches without authorization by prefectural governments or were cases of fishermen underreporting domestic catches.   Experts are calling for….Read more

The Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare (MHLW) decided on June 14 to conduct a large-scale national study on the cost effectiveness of drugs to optimize the drug prices paid by public health insurance. The study is aimed at gauging the general public’s sense of how much it thinks insurance should cover. Drug prices will be reviewed based on this….Read more

Nikkei wrote that concerning its EPA negotiations with Japan, the EU is considering the idea of eliminating tariffs on more than 90% of Japanese auto parts immediately after the effectuation of the EPA. If agreed upon, this level would be higher than that agreed on by the U.S. in the TPP negotiations. The paper wrote that the EU is likely….Read more

Nikkei reported online on an announcement made by Western Digital on Wednesday that it has asked the Superior Court of California to block Toshiba’s moves to sell Toshiba Memory by claiming that Toshiba is pursuing a “course that clearly violates our contractual rights.” While quoting the U.S. chip maker as saying: “Toshiba’s attempts to circumvent our contractual rights have left….Read more

Japanese automakers have never been cited for falsifying their diesel-emission test reports like Volkswagen. Instead of developing diesel cars for western markets, which require a higher level of technological development because they have stricter emissions standards for harmful substances than Japan, Japanese automakers are focusing on developing ecologically friendly cars such as electric vehicles (EV) and plug-in hybrids (PHV) that….Read more

On June 14, the Liberal Democratic Party began intensive discussions on domestic aid measures to reach a basic agreement on a bilateral economic partnership with the European Union. It will mainly discuss aid programs to ease the impact that a rise in farm produce imports from Europe will have on domestic dairy and livestock farmers. It will flesh out the….Read more

The Japanese government is considering bringing South Korean chip maker SK Hynix Inc. and U.S. investment fund Bain Capital into a consortium seeking to buy ToshibaCorp.’s chip unit, sources close to the matter said Wednesday.   The bid for Toshiba Memory Corp. being arranged by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry would be worth more than 2 trillion yen….Read more

It is public knowledge that one of the causes of Toshiba’s current financial downfall was its purchase of U.S. nuclear power company Westinghouse (WH) in 2006.

The government’s Headquarters for Healthcare and Medical Strategy Promotion held a meeting on June 14 and decided to create a new “international medical cooperation promotion organization” (tentative name) jointly funded by the government and the private sector to support Japanese drug makers’ overseas ventures. The plan aims to set up this new body in 2018 and call on private companies….Read more

Tie-up with US venture fund aimed at gaining expertise, global network   TOKYO — The public-private Cool Japan Fund is teaming up with a Silicon Valley venture capital firm to scout and develop young companies that eventually plan to extend their reach outside Japan.    The Cool Japan Fund will invest about 1 billion yen ($9.14 million) in a Japan-based….Read more