Miyuki Hatoyama

TOKYO (Reuters) - The leader of Japan's tiny Social Democratic Party threatened on Thursday to leave the ruling coalition if her views on a U.S. military base were ignored, the latest sign of strains that are complicating policy decisions. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has formed an awkward coalition with the pacifist Social Democrats, whose support he needs to pass legislation, but whose stance on Tokyo's security alliance with Washington clashes with that of many in his own party. Japan is under pressure from the United States to implement a plan to shift a U.S. Marine base from the center of a city on the ... Read Full Story

TOKYO (Reuters) - The leader of Japan's tiny Social Democratic Party threatened on Thursday to leave the ruling coalition if her views on a U.S. military base were ignored, the latest sign of strains that are complicating policy decisions. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has formed an awkward coalition with the pacifist Social Democrats, whose support he needs to pass legislation, but whose stance on Tokyo's security alliance with Washington clashes with that of many in his own party. Japan is under pressure from the United States to implement a plan to shift a U.S. Marine base from the center of a city on the ... Read Full Story

Japan's central bank, under pressure to help boost a fragile recovery in the world's second-largest economy, said Tuesday it would pump more than 100 billion dollars into the financial system. Japan emerged this year from its worst recession since World War Two, but the recovery has been threatened by deflation and a surging yen. The government on Monday announced plans for more than 30 billion dollars in fresh stimulus spending in coming months but has also badgered the central Bank of Japan (BoJ) to take steps to help revive the economy. The central bank, in a hastily announced extraordinary meeting Tuesday, said it would ... Read Full Story

U.S. Ambassador John Roos, making his first trip to the southern island of Okinawa, urged Japan on Monday to honor an agreement to relocate a major U.S. Marine base. The issue has become a major sticking point in a wider reorganization of the 47,000 U.S. troops in Japan, including moving 8,000 to the American territory of Guam. Japan and the U.S. agreed in 2006 to move Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to a site farther north on Okinawa in the city of Nago. But Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has put the deal on hold and indicated the relocation site could be changed, frustrating American ... Read Full Story

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa will meet next week, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said, as a surging yen adds to debate over central bank policy. While the sources did not disclose the topic of discussion, Hatoyama and Shirakawa are expected to exchange views on deflation and the impact of a strengthening yen amid government pressure for the central bank to do more to stop prices falling and rekindle demand. Speculation has been mounting that the BOJ may loosen monetary policy further through printing cash to buy more government bonds from ... Read Full Story