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Japan's prime minister at the time of the Fukushima nuclear crisis apologised today and said the government and its push for nuclear energy bore most of the responsibility for the disaster.
The race to pick Japan's sixth leader in five years was wide open on Friday after a scandal-tainted party powerbroker looked likely to refuse to back the most popular candidate just days before a vote.
Unpopular Prime Minister Naoto Kan will likely resign on August 30, his economics minister said on Tuesday, but who will succeed him as Japan confronts a nuclear crisis and a long list of economic difficulties remained up in the air.
The Japanese government has decided to suspend negotiations with India and four other countries on civil nuclear cooperation following Prime Minister Naoto Kan's call for Japan's eventual exit from atomic power, according to a media report.
Japan's economy offered more signs of recovery from the deadly March earthquake on Tuesday, but Moody's ratings agency warned both growth and government action may fall short of what is necessary to bring Tokyo's ballooning debt back under control.
Tokyo stocks fell for a second straight session on Monday, dragged down by a plunge in Chubu Electric after Prime Minister Naoto Kan called for the closure of its nuclear plant due to worries that a large earthquake could trigger another nuclear crisis.
Japan's parliament today passed an emergency USD 48 billion budget for massive reconstruction in the country's northeast which was devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami even as the operator at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant said it will build a wall to defend it against future tsunamis.
Japanese nuclear power plant operator TEPCO expects to stop pumping radioactive water into the ocean on Monday, days later than planned, a step that would help ease international concern about the spread of radiation from a smashed nuclear plant.
Highly radioactive water was found seeping into the sea from a crack in a containment pit of the troubled Fukushima nuclear plant, as Japanese Premier Naoto Kan promised full support to the tsunami-hit people of the northeast in his first visit to the region.
Industrial raw materials fell across the board on Tuesday, with crude oil down by around 2%, as risk aversion gripped financial markets after Japan warned of higher radioactive levels following fresh explosions at an earthquake-stricken nuclear plant.
Japanese stocks plunged 12% on Tuesday on reports of rising radiation levels near Tokyo and lurched towards their biggest loss since the 1987 crash, in a panic selloff likely to compound the economic impact on the quake-stricken country.
Panic selling sent Tokyo shares down 12.18% on worries Japan's nuclear crisis would become a catastrophe today, after radiation levels near a quake-stricken nuclear plant surged following explosions and a fire.
Japanese stock futures prices plunged 16% on Tuesday as the country's prime minister said radiation levels at a stricken nuclear plant had become high, deepening concerns about the disaster and its likely economic toll.
Japan's prime minister warned on Tuesday that radioactive levels had become high around an earthquake-stricken nuclear power plant after explosions at two reactors, adding that the risk of more radioactive leakage was rising.
This may be Japanese prime minister Naoto Kan's last chance at redemption. Just days before the deadly calamity, Kan was on the verge of stepping down as PM. Takahide Kiuchi, economist at Nomura, spoke to CNBC-TV18's Menaka Doshi about the situation in Japan, the rebuilding process and the government in power.
The Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima is built on the shoreline in northeast Japan. So when an 8.9 magnitude earth quake struck on Friday, the tsunami waves it spawned -- as tall as a house and speeding like a jet plane -- washed right over the reactors and put them at risk of a meltdown.
The Cabinet of Prime Minister Naoto Kan approved today a set of sanctions against Libya as part of international efforts to stop crackdowns by its leader Muammar Gaddafi on antigovernment protestors in the northern African country.
Japanese leaders vowed on Friday to push ahead with tax reforms needed to rein in bulging public debt, but doubts persisted over whether the government could succeed in the face of a divided parliament.
Japan's Nikkei average is expected to open higher on Friday on rises in tech shares thanks to brisk earnings results from Intel Corp, but gains may be limited by weak earnings results from domestic retailer Fast Retailing.
