Nikkei

Source: Nikkei 6/5-14 (Politics, Finance, Money & Markets, Energy, Industry). Check also most read: http://e.nikkei.com/e/fr/mostread.aspx & http://e.nikkei.com/e/fr/tnw/index.htm

Backlog of old bills before the end of the Diet:
- Nuclear regulatory commission to be created in Sept. 2012; independant from METI, unlike NISA; commission members to be appointed by Diet; limited right of PM to give instructions; decommissionned after 40 yrs (PDJ), provision of 20 yrs extension (LDP) dropped.
- Pension. DPJ agreed on full-fledged pension bonds, which would be repaid with the additional revenue generated by raising the consumption tax; had proposed not paying before actual augmentation but opposed by LDP. Social security. http://e.nikkei.com/e/ac/tnks/Nni20120613D13JF324.htm. Minimum pension (DPJ) dropped.
- Income tax. Off the table, from 40 to 45% and inheritance to 55% from 2015. Welfare payouts of 1989 and 1997.

Why REIT attractive? Average dividend yield of 6% (2.6% TSE's first section and the 0.85% on 10-year JGB). Buyers: foreign investors, regional banks and other domestic institutional investors. Also center on domestic real estate, so less vulnerable to the exchange rates and overseas news (#Trevor Hill, UBS Securities Japan)

Record output for automakers. Total 26 mo. Toyota 8.7 mo (Corolla compact sedan in China, SEA Fortuner sport utility vehicle, Aqua hybrid in Japan); Nissan Motor [7201] Tiida compact JV Guangzhou, global production target 5.4 mo. Honda Motor Co. [7267] hit hard by the Great East Japan Earthquake and flooding in Thailand, 4.3 mo. The eight Japanese automakers' share of the global market for new vehicles: from 32% in 2008 to 27% in 2011 (#IHS Automotive).

IMF. "We have looked at the current account development and the extent of yen appreciation over the last year, and have concluded that now the yen is moderately overvalued" (Lipton).

Misc.

- Australia-Japan FTA, 16 round, since Aug. 2007.
- Light side. Ishii: Ishii's husband, who was a subordin