Japan slipped from the number two position in the world as of the end of 2008 in grid-connected existing solar photovoltaic capacity, replaced by Spain, according to a recent study by an international body.

Japan's second lost decade holds worrying lessons for other rich economies. Its large fiscal stimulus succeeded in preventing a depression in the 1990s after its bubble burst—and others are surely correct to follow today. But Japan's failure to spur a strong domestic recovery a decade later suggests that America and Europe may also have a long, hard journey ahead.

As world leaders assemble in London for the Group of 20 summit this week, the latest evidence of the severity of the economic crisis emerged from Asia on Wednesday (April 1).

The Chinese government alerted all silicon, ingot, wafer, cell, and panel manufactures that it intends to announced a very aggressive Solar subsidy that is equivalent to US$3 per installed watt, in cash, as an incentive to aid the Chinese population to install solar. The Japanese may soon follow suit with an announcement of a substantial subsidy for solar installation.

Japan's unemployment rate has risen to a three-year high as companies continue to slash jobs.

Global sales of Nintendo's Wii console have passed 50 million, the company's boss Satoru Iwata has said. The Wii is now the fastest-selling games console in history, surpassing the PlayStation 2.

Japan's exports saw a record plunge in February, falling by nearly half compared with a year earlier, according to the country's finance ministry.

Seoul Semiconductor will supply 300 thousand pieces of LED for ‘LED Farming Demonstration Project’ of Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry of Japan. LED light source for farming is getting popular for energy saving and improvement of product quality. Competitive power of Seoul Semiconductor and possibility of its market expansion with diversified items in the Japanese market have been confirmed.

The European Commission and Japan are going to deepen their collaboration in energy research. The primal areas for cooperation are photovoltaics, power storage and carbon capture and storage.

Dongbu HiTek, the group's chip making affiliate, may supply its latest flat-screen driver chip for Japan's Panasonic and NEC.

Many Asian countries are handing out cash and vouchers to get people spending again. But real economic recovery may take a lot more. One-off payments aren't about to alter lifelong saving habits. To encourage higher spending, governments really need to improve public health, education, and retirement benefits—initiatives that would take years to kick in.

Three years ago, as head of Toshiba's (TSBAa.BE) power business, Norio Sasaki orchestrated the tech conglomerate's $5.4 billion acquisition of Westinghouse's nuclear-power-plant business. Now, as Sasaki prepares to take over the president's post, he will have to show the same willingness to take chances as he tries to help overhaul the company after its biggest-ever expected annual loss.

Brother Industries will release the "brother document viewer SV-100B," an information terminal equipped with an electronic paper module, in Japan June 1, 2009.

Japanese companies have cut spending on research equipment by far more than their US counterparts in response to the global slump, according to the president of Shimadzu, the scientific instrument maker.

Toshiba said on Tuesday it planned to start production of solid-state drives (SSD) overseas to cut costs and increase output, beginning assembly in the Philippines by the middle of the year. The Nikkei business daily reported Toshiba aimed to generate 100 billion yen ($1 billion) in SSD sales in the year starting April 2010, more than 10 times the current figure.

GfK Marketing Services Japan (GfK Japan) announced the results of its survey on sales trends of home appliances and information technology (IT) devices in Japan in 2008.

Japan's government is fortifying its defense of the corporate sector by broadening sources of public funding for companies struggling to cope with the deepening recession. Goldman Sachs analysts in a report Friday identified 15 Japanese technology companies on their financial risk watch list.

Japan's exports plunged 45.7% in January compared with a year ago to hit the lowest figure in 10 years, official figures have shown. Imports exceeded exports by 952.6 billion yen (US$9.9 billion). It is the largest gap since records began in 1980. Demand for Japanese cars in particular dropped by 69%. Trade in electronics and other goods has also slumped as global economies and consumer spending contract, pushing Japan deeper into recession.

Japan's chip industry, awash in red ink, plans to consolidate older fabs. Fujitsu, NEC Electronics and Renesas Technology all detailed scheduled closings of older facilities. Also, executives at NEC and Toshiba, which have been discussing a merger of their system-on-chip (SoC) operations, appeared reluctant to go ahead with a merger until internal restructuring efforts take effect.

Chipmaking equipment orders received by Japanese manufacturers fell to the lowest level in more than seven years in January, according to preliminary figures released by an industry group on Wednesday. The book-to-bill ratio, which stands for orders divided by billings, came to 0.55, the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan said.

Japan's economy contracted by 3.3% in the last quarter of last year - its worst showing since the oil crisis of the 1970s, official figures show.

Toshiba is planning to allow a total of about 16,700 workers to take on second jobs while they are on temporary leave due to production cuts in its struggling semiconductor and LCD divisions, company officials said Thursday.

The Japanese chip maker Elpida Memory said Wednesday that it may seek government funds under a new program intended to support nonfinancial firms hit by the economic crisis.

Asia's export-driven economies had benefited more than any other region from America's consumer boom, so its manufacturers were bound to be hit hard by the sudden downward lurch. Asia's low rate of consumption and borrowing means that it has huge scope to make consumption the engine of growth over the next decade.

Renesas Technology has announced a variety of structural reforms that will be undertaken to reinforce its business structure as part of the company's key strategy in achieving growth from FY2009 onward.

Shares in Japan's Hitachi slid 17% to their lowest in 29 years after it shocked investors with a record $7.8 billion annual loss warning and offered a cost-cutting plan that failed to instill confidence in a quick recovery.

SanDisk said that it had signed a definitive agreement with Toshiba to restructure the Flash manufacturing joint ventures operating at the 300mm Fab 3 and Fab 4. The result of the agreement will be basic SanDisk's transition to fabless flash-based products manufacturing.

Hitachi said the job cuts would be made globally across its car equipment and electronics divisions. The Japanese electronics and engineering group had previously predicted it would make a net profit of 15bn yen in the year to 31 March 2009.

Japanese electronics giant NEC has become the latest company to announce massive job cuts. The company revealed on Friday that it would be forced to undertake a major restructuring in which roughly 20,000 jobs will be shed. The cuts will come from both the Japanese and worldwide operations of the company.

The technology industry suffered another black day yesterday (January 30) as a host of big names including NEC and Hitachi, said they would make large losses in the year to March. Toshiba and NEC Electronics warned they would incur losses in the year to March. Even star performer Nintendo cut its profit forecast.

Toshiba is in talks to merge part of its chip operations with the semiconductor unit of NEC, a person with knowledge of the negotiations said, as they struggle with slumping demand and prices.