Bank of Japan keeps policy steady; cuts export, output views
News On Japan via Reuters -- Aug 10
The Bank of Japan kept monetary policy steady on Thursday but cut its assessment on exports and output as companies feel the pinch from slowing global growth, signalling its readiness to expand stimulus again if risks to the outlook grow.
The central bank also maintained its warning that the global economic outlook remained highly uncertain, with improvements in overseas growth seen limited in scope.
"The pick-up in exports has moderated, while production has been relatively weak," the BOJ said in a statement announcing its policy decision. That was a bleaker view than last month, when it said exports and output were picking up.
As widely expected, the central bank kept its key policy rate in a range of zero to 0.1 percent and refrained from topping up the 70 trillion yen ($890 billion) target for its asset buying and loan programme.
Pressure for immediate action has eased with the yen having barely moved after last week's better-than-expected U.S. jobs data, as well as decisions by the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank to keep policy steady for now.
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May 18
| China cracks down on over-the-top anti-Japan dramas |
|  China's television regulator has ordered a crackdown on dramas about the country's battles with Japan during and before World War Two and demanded they be more serious, state media said on Friday, following viewer complaints about ludicrous storylines. (Reuters  ) |
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May 17
| Man kills 3 family members, then himself |
|  Police said Friday they have found four dead bodies in an apartment in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, in what is believed to have been a family murder-suicide. (Japan Today ) |
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May 17
| Chinese tourists a bane for Japanese hookers |
|  Shukan Post (May 24) conveys the difficulties experienced by other parts of the adult-entertainment biz in servicing customers from the communist nation.
A deri heru (“delivery health”) call-girl tells the tabloid that she is often requested to arrive at major hotels in the Shinjuku and Ikebukuro entertainment areas of Tokyo by Chinese visitors. (Tokyo Reporter) |
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May 17
| 6 dead in freighter fire at Wakkanai |
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The sailors are presumed to be Russians. (NHK ) |
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May 17
| Employee of real estate company stabbed in Tokyo |
|  Police on Friday said that a real estate company employee was stabbed by an unknown assailant in the lobby of an office building near JR Akihabara station. The man is currently in a serious condition in hospital. (Japan Today ) |
A 5-year-old boy sustained an injury at a shopping mall in Nagoya on Friday after his hand became trapped in an escalator. (Japan Today 
A 24-year-old woman was in a serious condition Friday after being stabbed by a man whom she reported to police for stalking her in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture. (Japan Today 
A 70-year-old woman has been rescued from a toilet in which she had been waiting for help for three days, Hiroshima police said Friday. (Japan Today 
A traditional dance was performed on Friday at an ancient temple in Nikko City, northeast of Tokyo. (NHK 
A bear was shot dead after it wandered into a school in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Thursday. (Japan Today