"The Bank of Japan, on behalf of the Ministry of Finance, sold a record 17.8 trillion yen ($165.2 billion) this year. Zembei Mizoguchi, Japan's vice finance minister for international affairs, said the government would ``take action as needed'' in the foreign exchange market."
"Japan doesn't set a specific target for the yen, said Hiroshi Watanabe, head of the Ministry of Finance's international department, according to the Independent newspaper. The ministry is ``looking to stabilize the currency in the range of 108 to 110 to the dollar,'' which he believes overvalued for the nation's industry, Watanabe was quoted as saying."
Lets hope Koizumi gets a "Blairing". * Defense Chief Says Troops Necessary in Iraq*
By:NATALIE OBIKO PEARSON, Associated Press Writer December 07, 2003
*Defense chief says troops necessary in Iraq for humanitarian work*
TOKYO - Japan's defense chief said Sunday that a widely opposed troop dispatch to Iraq was a humanitarian mission, but added only the military was sufficiently equipped to carry it out.
Also, media reported the government had decided to beef up the weaponry that the Japanese ground troops will use when they head for their reconstruction work in southern Iraq.
"The reason it is necessary to have ground troops (in Iraq) is so that each person will feel they benefited because Japan came to help," defense chief Shigeru Ishiba said on a program aired by public broadcaster NHK.
"To provide medical assistance, help repair schools, provide clean water - the Self-Defense Forces have the capability to do these things," he said.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has pledged to send Japan's military to help rebuild Iraq. But he hasn't given specifics about the mission's timing and size, amid public criticism that it could get troops embroiled in growing violence and make Japan a terrorist target.
Opposition has intensified since two Japanese diplomats were killed there by gunmen on Nov. 29 - the country's first casualties in the U.S.-led war in Iraq and the first for Japanese diplomats in a quarter century.
"I have never said that it would be safe. But the Self-Defense Forces are the only ones who have the capability to guard against those risks, who have the deterrent power," Ishiba said.
Amid the growing public opposition to the troop deployment, about 800 protesters carrying placards saying "Stop the War" and flags emblazoned with the word "Peace" marched through downtown Tokyo Sunday. The demonstrators shouted "We're against war!" and "We don't need more victims. Oppose the troop dispatch to Iraq!"
Meanwhile, as attacks by insurgents have escalated in recent months - particularly by suicide bombers using vehicles to ram their targets - Japan's Defense Agency had decided to arm its ground troops with anti-tank weapons, a newspaper reported Sunday.
Soldiers expected to be dispatched near the southern Iraqi city of Samawah will be armed with 110 mm rocket launchers, the Yomiuri Shimbun said, said citing unnamed sources.
The weapons, which weigh 23 kilograms (50 pounds) and have a range of 500 meters (1,640 feet), can be used to intercept a vehicle threatening to attack troops, it said. Their use will be strictly controlled and they can only be fired after a suspect vehicle ignores orders to stop and a warning shot, the report said.
Japan's pacifist constitution strictly limits military activities. A special law passed in July to authorize the dispatch included a special provision letting troops carry weapons, but only to defend themselves under fire.
Major newspapers reported on Sunday that Koizumi's Cabinet was expected to approve the basic troop dispatch plan on Tuesday. Koizumi will address the public to explain the decision, they said.
Japanese media have reported that Tokyo hopes to have an advance air force team in Iraq this month, and to send transport aircraft and troops by January. Ground forces would follow, arriving in Samawah in February, they said.