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A group of Japanese firms led by trading house Marubeni Corp. plans to build a large floating experimental wind farm off the coast of Fukushima prefecture, which was hit by a nuclear disaster last year, a report said Tuesday. The project aims to generate around 12,000 kilowatts of power, which would supply the needs of more than 100,000 households, and is hoped to go into operation by 2016, Jiji Press news agency reported, quoting Marubeni officials. Marubeni plans to begin the experiment by the end of March, supported by Japan's industry ministry with financing from a supplementary budget for reconstruction following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami which triggered the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd, Nippon Steel Corp and Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co are in the consortium along with Marubeni, Jiji said, adding that an official announcement was expected in the following week.

Japan aims to cut domestic consumption of a heavy rare earth used widely in hybrid cars and electronics by 30 percent over the next two years as China keeps a tight grip on exports of the material, known as dysprosium. China ratcheted up export controls on the rare earth, mainly used in high-powered magnets, early last year, sending prices 10 times higher to around 3,000 yen per tonne by the middle of 2011, though it is now trading at about 2,000 yen. China produces about 95 percent of global rare earth supplies, but says that excessive production is depleting its reserves and damaging its environment. Japan's government said it would spend 5 billion yen ($65 million) in two years on assisting companies in cutting their usage of the dysprosium through recycling and the development of dysprosium-free products. It aims to slash the metal's domestic use by 200 tonnes to 400 tonnes a year.

Sony Corp. announced Wednesday that Kazuo Hirai, who leads the company's core consumer products business, will replace Howard Stringer as CEO and president effective April 1, as the electronics and entertainment company desperately tries to engineer a turnaround.
The 51-year-old Hirai, currently executive deputy president, was widely expected to succeed Stringer. The Welsh-born Stringer, one of the few foreigners to lead a major Japanese company, will retain his post as chairman of the board, Sony said in a statement. In 2009, Hirai, who has also led the company's gaming business in the past, was named as part of a new management team to lead Sony, and Stringer had recommended to the board that Hirai replace him. Hirai, who is fluent in English, will be Sony's youngest CEO.

Japanese film and camera maker Fujifilm has offered scandal-hit Olympus a capital and business tie-up, it said Monday as it announced a slump in third-quarter profits. Fujifilm said it has formally proposed a link-up to Olympus' advisors, seeing synergies in the pair's medical operations, although it did not reveal details.
"Olympus has a very strong business in endoscopes while Fujifilm is a leading firm in the areas of X-ray image diagnosis and ultrasonic systems," said a Fujifilm spokesman. Olympus is reportedly seeking a corporate alliance to shore up its finances after admitting covering up $1.7 billion in losses, and several Japanese and foreign firms including Sony have been mentioned as possible partners.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange's decision not to delist scandal-ridden Olympus Corp. was lambasted by critics who said the company's concealment of huge losses for many years constituted breach of trust. The TSE's rules stipulate that companies should be delisted when the effects of false reporting are judged to be serious from a "comprehensive" viewpoint. Makoto Minoguchi, standing governor of Tokyo Stock Exchange Regulation, the TSE's self-regulatory body, said at a press conference Friday, "The effects of the false reporting were not serious enough to delist the company's shares." However, Minoguchi harshly criticized Olympus by saying the company damaged investors' trust in the market, and he demanded fundamental improvements in corporate governance.