FUKUSHIMA, JAPAN (Reuters) – A decade and a half before it blew apart in a hydrogen blast that punctuated the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl, the No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima nuclear power plant was the scene of an earlier safety crisis.

Then, as now, a small army of transient workers was put to work to try to stem the damage at the oldest nuclear reactor run by Japan’s largest utility.

TOKYO (Reuters) – A Chinese automaker could rise up from the nation’s fragmented industry to emerge as a global competitor within the next five years through an acquisition of an established automaker, Nissan Motor Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said on Wednesday.

Ghosn, who was speaking at the Thomson Reuters Newsmaker event in Tokyo, said Nissan expected one or two Chinese automakers to emerge as a “global champion” for Beijing’s aspirations for a labour-intensive industry that governments around the world have taken steps to develop and protect.

TOKYO (Reuters) – A Chinese automaker could rise up from the nation’s fragmented industry to emerge as a global competitor within the next five years through an acquisition of an established automaker, Nissan Motor (7201.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said on Wednesday.

Ghosn, who was speaking at the Thomson Reuters Newsmaker event in Tokyo, said Nissan expected one or two Chinese automakers to emerge as a “global champion” for Beijing’s aspirations for a labor-intensive industry that governments around the world have taken steps to develop and protect.

TOKYO, June 22 (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research) could
offset some of the pressure on profits from a strong yen by
making a higher-priced mix of vehicles in Japan, including
top-of-the-line luxury Lexus models, a senior executive said on
Wednesday.

Toyota Executive Vice President Yukitoshi Funo, who was
speaking at the Reuters Rebuilding Japan Summit in Tokyo, said a
U.S. dollar below 80 yen would put additional pressure on the
profitability of the automaker’s exports from Japan.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) could offset some of the pressure on profits from a strong yen by making a higher-priced mix of vehicles in Japan, including top-of-the-line luxury Lexus models, a senior executive said on Wednesday.

Toyota Executive Vice President Yukitoshi Funo, who was speaking at the Reuters Rebuilding Japan Summit in Tokyo, said a U.S. dollar below 80 yen would put additional pressure on the profitability of the automaker’s exports from Japan.

TOKYO, June 22 (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research) could
offset some of the pressure on profits from a strong yen by
making a higher-priced mix of vehicles in Japan, including
top-of-the-line luxury Lexus models, a senior executive said on
Wednesday.

Toyota Executive Vice President Yukitoshi Funo, who was
speaking at the Reuters Rebuilding Japan Summit in Tokyo, said a
U.S. dollar below 80 yen would put additional pressure on the
profitability of the automaker’s exports from Japan.

KANAGAWA, Japan, June 14 (Reuters) – Hisao Nakamura still
can’t accept that his crisply cut field of deep green tea bushes
south of Tokyo has been turned into a radioactive hazard by a
crisis far beyond the horizon.

“I was more than shocked,” said Nakamura, 74, who, like
other tea farmers in Kanagawa has been forced to throw away an
early harvest because of radiation being released by the
Fukushima Daiichi plant 300 kilometers (180 miles) away.

KANAGAWA, Japan, June 14 (Reuters) – Hisao Nakamura still
can’t accept that his crisply cut field of deep green tea bushes
south of Tokyo has been turned into a radioactive hazard by a
crisis far beyond the horizon.

“I was more than shocked,” said Nakamura, 74, who, like
other tea farmers in Kanagawa has been forced to throw away an
early harvest because of radiation being released by the
Fukushima Daiichi plant 300 kilometers (180 miles) away.

TOKYO, June 13 (Reuters) – At least eight workers trying to
bring Japan’s crippled nuclear power plant under control have
been exposed to more radiation than allowed under new safety
standards, government officials said on Monday.

Three of six reactors at northeastern Fukushima melted down
after the March 11 quake and tsunami knocked out power to the
plant. Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from the
area around the plant.

TOKYO, June 6 (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp will
recall 50 Venza and Sienna vehicles manufactured in the United
States in March after being told by a supplier that they had
been equipped with faulty drive shafts.

In a recall notice filed with U.S. safety regulators and
published on Monday, Toyota said the defective vehicles were at
risk of suddenly losing power if the drive shaft were to break
on the road, increasing the risk of an accident.