Prime Minister Naoto Kan

Japan Reinserted 44 Billion Euro Stimulus Package

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Tokyo – In the fight against the economic crisis, the Japanese Cabinet issued another economic stimulus package at the equivalent of 44 billion euros. The money will go to employment and social programs, assistance for small businesses and investments in infrastructure.  There is hope that the package will stave off renewed appreciation of the yen. The package will be financed through a supplementary budget, yet Prime Minister Naoto Kan will still bring the stimulus package to parliament this month.

On Tuesday, the Japanese central bank had lowered its key rate for the second-largest economy in the world to almost zero percent to combat deflation. The bank announced  a program for the purchase of securities with a total of five trillion yen (about 44 billion euros) to help support the economy. The biggest problem for the recovery of the Japanese economy is the soaring yen. This has caused goods imported from abroad to be cheaper and Japanese exports to be one of the more expensive goods in the world.

Council for Science and Technology Has Selected 8 Priority Areas

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Japanese Government Council for Science and Technology (and former Prime Minister Naoto Kan, president ) on Wednesday selected 8 key strategy areas of science and technology in particular to focus on as part of a budget allocation request “action plan.”  One of them is the 100,000 genome ( genome ) to help decode the prevention of disease “research Genomukohoto “ with the current emphasis on life and health. Another area of focus is the environmental field of long lasting fuel cell development.

This development plan adopted by the cabinet in June is the first attempt to realize a new growth strategy A decision will be made soon at the plenary session in order promote concrete policies and budget requests to the ministry efficiently .

The Genomukohoto study takes about 20 years to register 100,000 people who wish to track the health status and to develop prevention methods against diseases such as dementia and strokes while using genetic information to decipher preventative methods.