BUSINESS The ordinary Diet session that came to a close Saturday was characterized by a number of unprecedented events. [YOMIURI]

BUSINESS Nearly 40 percent of local business leaders believe their regional economies are slowing down or deteriorating because of soaring prices of crude oil and raw materials, according to a recent Asahi Shimbun survey. [ASAHI]

BUSINESS Japan’s government may signal it will consider cutting corporate taxes in an effort to encourage more foreign investment into an economy expected to grow at the slowest pace in five years this year. [BLOOMBERG]

BUSINESS Representatives from labor organizations, employers and the government have reached a broad agreement to raise minimum hourly wages to a national average of about 755 yen, up 68 yen from the current 687 yen, over the next five years. [YOMIURI]

BUSINESS The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission on Thursday urged the Financial Services Agency to slap an administrative fine of about 1.6 billion yen on heavy machinery maker IHI Corp. for submitting false financial statements. [ASAHI]

BUSINESS Citigroup Inc. offered 1,350 employees at its consumer finance unit in Japan early retirement with two months’ pay as the company withdraws from the business, a proposal the workers’ union called unacceptable. [BLOOMBERG]

BUSINESS Japan cut its overall economic assessment for the first time in three months on Monday, saying that exports, output and corporate profits are all weakening. [MAINICHI]

BUSINESS Domestic auto manufacturers are gearing up to produce passenger vehicles powered by environmentally friendly diesel engines. [YOMIURI]

BOOKS/MANGA A budget panel of the Tokyo metropolitan assembly on Wednesday approved a controversial plan to invest an additional 40 billion yen for Shinginko Tokyo on condition that the metropolitan government strengthens its surveillance of the heavily indebted bank and spends no more taxpayers’ money on it. [KYODO]

BUSINESS Business confidence among Japanese companies plummeted in the January-March quarter from the previous quarter, mainly on concerns of higher oil prices and the sluggish U.S. economy, a government survey showed Monday. [ASAHI]

BUSINESS The finance ministers of Japan and China agreed Sunday to protect Asia’s economy from the slowdown in the United States economy and the global turmoil being caused by the subprime-mortgage crisis, Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga said. [THE JAPAN TIMES]

BUSINESS Bank of Japan’s interim governor Masaaki Shirakawa vowed Friday not to let the absence of a governor hamper the country’s economic and financial activities while another central bank official said the economy is slowing “sharply.“ [AP]

BUSINESS Thirty percent of major companies plan to recruit more new graduates in spring 2009 than this year, indicating labor demand remains strong despite growing uncertainties over the economy, an Asahi Shimbun survey showed. [ASAHI]

BUSINESS Masaaki Shirakawa will be able to lead the Bank of Japan during the global financial crisis even though he’s an acting chief named only because two earlier nominations collapsed, economists said. [BLOOMBERG]

BUSINESS The government on Wednesday revised downward its economic assessment, suggesting that the nation’s longest postwar recovery, which started in February 2002, has hit a temporary lull for the third time. [ASAHI]

BUSINESS Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan Ltd. said Wednesday it will raise the prices of both fried chicken and other products on April 24 for the first time since its founding in 1970 due to materials price hikes. [KYODO]

BUSINESS Two rival cellphone carriers touting easy-to-use handsets are taking their battle to a new field: the Tokyo District Court. [ASAHI]

BUSINESS Wal-Mart Stores will buy the rest of Japanese chain Seiyu as the U.S. retail giant seeks the flexibility it says it needs to turn around the money-losing supermarket operator. [MAINICHI]

BUSINESS The total operating costs of Shinginko Tokyo bank were equivalent to nearly 40 percent of the 126 billion yen in losses the bank has accumulated since it started business in April 2004, it has been learned. [YOMIURI]

BUSINESS The dollar fell below 100 yen earlier today for the first time since 1995 and dropped to a record low against the euro after a Carlyle Group fund moved closer to collapse, adding to turmoil in financial markets. [BLOOMBERG]